And the Award For...

...the most predictable follow-up story goes to the Boston Herald for this piece on the locals' reaction to the recent shooting of an armed robber by a gas station attendant in Medford.

We'll begin with the voices of reason:

What he did was justice," neighbor Pat Darrigo said of Walid "Wally" Awad, who pulled a gun from his coat and fired five to eight rounds at the masked duo who allegedly held him up at Fred's Gas Auto Service on Mystic Avenue on Tuesday night.

"He's a hero," another neighbor said of Awad, 32, who was identified by a local gas station owner. "He took charge of his own safety."

"In this case, he did the right thing," said Gorges, who called Awad a "nice guy."

And then there's folks like Abby here:

"It's wrong. You're supposed to give them the money, let them go, get a description. No blood," said Abby Fayed, owner of the nearby Harvard Street Garage, which was held up by a teen a year ago.

Since I'm a nice guy, Abby, I'm going to save you the trouble of scrolling down a couple posts. Abby, meet Danielle...

The 22-year-old fashion student from Parma, Ohio was gunned down in a violent armed robbery at a Subway shop off West Hillsborough Avenue Saturday night; she died hours later.

The chilling surveillance tapes captured footage of the bandits brandishing guns, almost from the moment they rushed into the store.

"Why couldn't they have just left her alone? She was so tiny and so petite and she was non-confrontational. She wouldn't have hurt a fly -- why couldn't they have just let her be?" Kerr wondered.

...and Jamie.

An Ohio man was arrested in West Virginia after abducting a convenience store clerk, shooting her 10 times and leaving her to die along a county road, police said yesterday.

[snip]

Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla said Hightower waited for the clerk, Jamie Kelly, 25, in the darkened rear parking lot of Merrin's Market in Amsterdam.

Hightower jumped Kelly just after 10 p.m., closing time, Abdalla said. He forced her into her car, demanded money and shot her when they arrived at a remote area along a county road in East Springfield, Abdalla said.

Kelly was found by a passerby. She managed to give police a description of her assailant and the car before she died yesterday at 3:52 a.m. at Allegheny General Hospital. Abdalla said she left behind a 5-year-old daughter.

I'm sure I'll update this as I get around to reading more local coverage of this story.