A couple of young thugs met their match when they tried to carjack the wrong guy... One of them shot to death with his own gun... the other arrested.

The "wrong guy" was an off-duty police officer who apparently knew what to do when a teenager threatened him with a revolver and demanded his car keys.

I wonder if the next armed punk who considers approaching an innocent citizen will think about what happened to the kid Sunday afternoon in Florissant and consider doing something productive instead of destructive. Sadly, I doubt it.

I've talked to a couple of widows of police officers in my career. I'm so glad there's no officer's widow to talk to this time. I feel bad this St. Louis County policeman, minding his own business on his day off, was forced into defending his life by taking another life. Even though it appears he had every right to do so, he's still going to have to live with this forever and that can't be an easy thing.

I'm sorry this 18-year old is dead. I'm sure he had the ability to do good. But he made a choice.

---