He wasn’t alert and aware of his surroundings.
Bruce Franks Jr., an incoming Missouri state representative, was carjacked at gunpoint Monday night, and the attackers got away with Franks’ cellphones and his personal handgun that he left inside the car, police say.
Franks said he was robbed about 7:20 p.m. in the parking lot of the Schlafly Tap Room, 2100 Locust Street, by two men. One of the robbers was armed with a gun. Franks was unharmed, but his car, two cellphones and a black .40-caliber Smith and Wesson gun were taken by the robbers, police said.
“I’m good,” he said in a telephone interview early Tuesday. “Just a little shaken up, but I’m fine.” On social media, he said in part: “Glad to be alive.”
Franks said he was at the Tap Room for a holiday party. He was sitting in his car in the parking lot returning a call when someone suddenly opened his car door, he said.
“I looked up and the guy had a gun and he told me to get out,” he said. “I got out and he pointed a gun at me and told me, ‘Get the hell out of here.’”
Franks ran into the Tap Room, where a friend called police. He said the robbers drove off with his phones and other possessions inside the car.
When the robber first opened the car door and Franks saw the man’s gun, Franks said he thought for a split second about reaching for his own weapon in the console. But he immediately realized he shouldn’t try to get it.
“If I reached for a gun, and he already has a gun pointed at me, that’s more reason for him to shoot me,” Franks said. “I would rather both of us survive.”
Franks said he long has supported a person’s right to carry a gun. He said he has had his concealed carry permit since he was 24 and has taken the necessary gun-training courses.
Franks said he didn’t get a good look at the robbers. A police summary of the robbery provided descriptions, based on videotape that police watched, along with Franks.
The first suspect, the one holding a gun, is described as a black man, 19 to 24 years old and 150 pounds. He had a dark complexion and was clean-shaven. The second suspect was a black man, 19 to 24 years old and 150 pounds. He had a dark complexion and wore a red bandana.
HT: Guns