Hero: Off-Duty Cop Interrupts Beauty Store Holdup, Shoots Gun Out Of Robber’s Hand

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Just to warn everybody, NewsFeed is probably going to try to buy this woman’s life rights.

NewsFeed doesn’t really feel great about cheering on violence, but we promise you, this story is about as awesome as any one that ends with a 19-year-old man getting his middle finger shot could be.

Feris Jones was a 20-year police veteran who had spent the past 12 working evidence collection in the NYPD’s crime lab. In those years she had never fired a shot in anger. Jones was off-duty this past Saturday evening and was getting her hair done in Sabine’s Hallway in Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy neighborhood (three blocks from NewsFeed’s old place!) when a teenaged robber burst into the salon with a revolver. The gunman herded Jones, two employees and one other customer into the salon’s bathroom. It was then that Officer Jones began to act.

According to department spokesman Paul J. Browne, Jones gave the other customers her cell phone and told them to call 911. She pulled her weapon out and, returning to the salon, ordered the assailant to drop his weapon. He refused, and fired four shots at her — all missed. The New York Times paints what happened next:

She fired back, emptying her five-shot revolver. One shot knocked the gun from the man’s two-handed grip, piercing his right middle finger and grazing his left hand, according to the police. Another shot hit the lock on the front door, jamming it. The gunman tried to flee, Mr. Browne said, but could not get the door open. Finally, he grabbed his gun, kicked out a lower panel on the door and crawled out. Officer Jones followed him out the door to see which way he was running.

A suspect, 19-year-old Winston Cox, was arrested on Monday after bloodhounds followed the trail of blood to Cox’s mother’s house. Cox told the arresting officers that he was the man who had been shot by Jones.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly praised Officer Jones, noting “her reserve under fire was matched only by her marksmanship.” (From New York Times via Reddit)