25-year-old Terry Gillenwater went into the Good Family Pharmacy in Pinch, Kanawha County, Wednesday with intent to commit a robbery.
Gillenwater had a shirt wrapped around his face and when he approached the counter, pharmacist Don Radcliff joked that the young man looked like he was there to rob the place.
And that’s exactly what Gillenwater planned to do. Police say Gillenwater pulled a gun and pointed it at the workers behind the counter.
What Gillenwater didn’t know was that Radcliff had a concealed carry permit. According to police, Radcliff pulled his .45 caliber pistol, moved into a firing position and shot Gillenwater once in the shoulder.
Gillenwater stumbled and then raised his pistol to fire. Radcliff fired again, striking the barrel of Gillenwater’s gun. A third shot took Gillenwater down for good.
Police say as soon as Radcliff and others at the pharmacy knew the threat was over, they immediately began to administer first aid to Gillenwater, who later died.
Radcliff was not charged, nor should he have been. West Virginia’s Castle Doctrine law says, “A person not engaged in unlawful activity who is attacked in any place he or she has a legal right to be outside of his or her home or residence may use reasonable and proportionate force against an intruder or attacker.”
It’s doubtful Gillenwater went into pharmacy looking for a gunfight. He probably just wanted to grab some of the drugs from behind the counter and run off, but we don’t know. Junkies are unpredictable.
What we do know is that he had a gun which he raised in a threatening manner toward innocent people. For that he paid the ultimate price and Don Radcliff will have to come to terms with killing a man.
But life isn’t always a tidy affair. Actions have consequences. Wednesday morning, Gillenwater put the eight people in Good Family Pharmacy, as well as himself, at risk.
Individuals have to make their own decisions about whether or not to arm themselves. As for Don Radcliff, he made the call at some point in his life—perhaps because of his vocation—to buy and learn how to use a weapon. When the need arose to defend himself, he was prepared.