Detroit Armed Robber Shot By His Intended Victim

Joshua Fordham already has one armed robbery conviction to his name, and another may be on the way after he was arrested and charged with trying to hold up two men outside a Detroit deli last month.

The defensive gun use didn’t make the local news reports at the time, but WDIV-TV got ahold of the criminal complaint this week, and to their credit didn’t sit on the story of Fordham’s encounter with an armed citizen.

On Feb. 8, Shot-Spotter detected three gunshots in the parking lot of Carmen’s Delicatessen in Detroit. Police officers rushed to the scene and were flagged down by two people, they said.

One man approached officers with his hands over his head and told them he owns a concealed pistol license. He said he had fired a shot in self-defense while being robbed outside the store.

The man told police that he and his friend had gone to the store that night and noticed an old man and a young man talking outside. The younger man was wearing a blue Detroit Lions jacket and a ski mask. He was later identified as Joshua Fordham, the criminal complaint says.

When the CPL holder and his friend went inside, Fordham and the older man followed them, according to authorities. As they left the store and walked to their car, Fordham continued to follow, court records show.

Fordham began arguing with the two men and threatened to kill the CPL holder’s friend if the CPL holder didn’t give up everything he had, officials said.

Authorities say at that point the concealed carry licensee handed over his wallet to Fordham rather than risk any harm to his pal. But the armed citizen’s cooperation ended when the man with a gun started patting him down. Drawing his pistol before the suspect could discover it on his own, the concealed carry holder fired one shot at the armed robber. Police say surveillance video shows Fordham pointing his gun at the armed citizen in return, but according to officers when they found Fordham and a gun a short distance away from where the attempted robbery took place, the pistol had apparently malfunctioned.

ClickOnDetroit reports that Fordham previously pled guilty to charges of armed robbery and illegal firearm possession back in March of 2014 and was sentenced to 5-to-15-years in prison. Clearly, Fordham didn’t serve the maximum possible time behind bars since he was out on the streets less than a decade after accepting his plea deal, but it’s unclear exactly how long he actually spent in state custody.

Well, now Fordham’s now facing a whole new armed robbery charge, along with felon-in-possession of a firearm.  The armed citizen and his friend, meanwhile, were both unharmed in the encounter and police aren’t pursuing any charges against the man for his defensive gun use. That’s definitely the proper outcome, at least for the armed citizen, but I still want to see what kind of deal prosecutors offer Fordham this time around before I consider this case closed.

Read the original article in its entirety at Bearing Arms.