Jalopnik
So there's these two stations over on Fort Street near Springwells in Detroit. One's a BP and the other's a Marathon station. Both are known for offering pretty decent gas prices downtown and we've bought gas at both stations depending on which station seemed to have the daily price leverage over the other. But apparently the penny price war between the two stations we'd always taken advantage of has now gone deadly. Last night BP station owner Jawad Bazzi got a bullet to the head over a 3-cent difference in the cost of regular unleaded. Here's what we're told happened:
The Marathon station on Fort near Springwells dropped its price to $2.93. That angered Jawad Bazzi, whose regular gas was priced at $2.96.We're told because the Marathon station's now closed, the price at the BP is now at $3.09 for regular. Somewhere we think Bazzi is smiling. UPDATE: Will the gas station owner be charged? One local Detroit TV station weighs in here. [via Freep]Bazzi walked across the street with a couple of employees to confront the Marathon owner and his posse.
The groups argued, then began throwing punches. One of Bazzi's employees hit a Marathon employee with a baseball bat, injuring him.
That's when the Marathon owner grabbed a handgun and fired three or four times. Bazzi, 45, of Dearborn Heights was shot in the head.
The Marathon owner, whose name wasn't released Friday, was arrested. He's identified as a 51-year-old Warren man.
Comments
Wow.
Free Market Competition is what makes America great. Look for this topic to occupy the talking heads on FOX news for the better part of next week.
Somehow I don't think Milton Friedman had this in mind.
gas for under $3.50 a gallon, man, it's like unicorns and leprechauns east of california.
wow
If someone came at me with a baseball bat... and I had a gun, I believe that they would get a couple in the head too!
@ruggels: It's $6.50 a US Gallon over here, but they are doing Peanut M&Ms for £2 for two bags....
What you lose with one hand you win with the other
@Rust-MyEnemy: next year mercedes will debut a direct-peanut-injection engine. europeans will save money, big time!
If you're going on a petrol jihad, better take something other than a baseball bat!
So a bunch of scumbags come on to your property, attack you with baseball bats and force you to defend yourself anyway possible and that gets *YOU* arrested?
At least the dead douchebag got to rise his prices!
I'm not quite sure how I should react to this, although the particular picture you chose for the post elicited an amused if somewhat dark chuckle.
@Tocsin:
I do hope that gas station signage was a Photoshop Job.
You would imagine that all gas stations near downtown Detroit would have firearms hidden near the registers. All the Popeye's fried chicken places have 2 inches of bulletproof glass between the lobby and the attendants... I would think the gas stations would have the same.
Never bring a baseball bat to a gun fight. Never.
@humphrmi: Neither did Adam Smith, although Thomas Hobbes probably did.
@holeydonut: lol yeah... nice PS
I've gotten lost in that area once... Not somewhere where I'd like to hang around.
Yea but what's the vig on a gallon of diesel?
@Trick: Well, he could have aimed at his knees or so instead of his head....
Its about 2.73 at my local station last I checked... Should I tell the clerk to watch for gun wielding Californians?
Harsh.
I said on here the other day that fuel was roughly $9.20 per US gallon across much of the UK. It turns out that I made a mistake and used imperial (British) gallons in my calculation. However, I've just done a calculation using the correct value and worked out that earlier this evening I payed $8.12 per US gallon for diesel.
@TexanIdiot25:
It's Michiganers...
Or Damn Yankees.
@sos10:
Warning shots also do wonders, although it depends on what the situation was - but somehow from the tone of the relationship between the owners that the article gives, I don't think either would have had much in the way of qualms over shooting the other.
and this is news? I would expect this kind of behavior coming out of Detroit.
I think I know which gas stations they are talking about too.
It was Arab muslims that initiated the attack.
@Tocsin: He used what's known as a "Blackwater warning shot".
@smokeydog001: So?
@WarShrike: RIGHT, reading Ruggle's comment made me think of California for some reason
@WorkingOnYourInvoice:
lol - but the FBI said of the 17 deaths in that particular Blackwater issue, 14 were unjustified. But that means 3 were justified... so I think in this case $0.03 per gallon clearly falls in the justified category.
@WorkingOnYourInvoice: COTD!
@Novaload:
I second that motion!
@SKAZ
As opposed to black muslims.
As a suburban resident of L.A., the use of a baseball bat *OR* a firearm over US$0.03 per gallon is sheer insanity. I have a baseball bat under my bed, but it is set on "Stun"... (until of course it get used on ME... always the danger with defensive weapons).
The mullah had issued a fatwah that these infidel Marathon scum were to suffer, but there was no scimitar handy to lop off their head... What's a devout man to do in this situation, but use a Louisville Slugger? Sharia clearly states no guns may be used to settle disagreements of this kind.
Fertilize Detroit hoodlum stock with The Religion of Peace, and you birth a strange and ugly bird indeed.
i was driving home this morning, and saw a gas station sign that had regular for $3.20 a gallon... so i said "well, fuck you, Gulf" to no one in particular... then i saw that the sunoco and shell stations another 100 feet down the road were up to $3.25...
i could swear i was paying less that $3 a week ago...
@DoctorNine: geez, tone it down a bit please. that sounds like it is more likely an indian name.
Jawad Bazzi is an Arabic name moron. I think you need to learn the difference between Arabic and Indian! 99% of the gas stations in Detroit are owned by people of Arabic decent.
And for those who generalized that "oh, thats Detroit" keep in mind this crime was committed by people who own the stations and live out in the burbs, not actual city residents!
@Detroitwhat: ok, i may be wrong. you both need to take it down a notch.
We don't have enough detail to make much of a judgment in this case, but if you swing a bat at someone hard enough to injure them, you should assume that any observers will believe you intend to kill, and that they will respond accordingly.
Shooting to injure is generally not recommended in self defense situations.
Jawad Bazzi signed his death warrant weather he or someone with him grabbed that bat. Sure we need more info to be sure. But as it stands, his group brought the weapon and descended upon the other business. All actions have consequences.
In this day and age fights are rarely settled with fists. IE: A bat was brought over.
I remember a time when Michigan wasn't polluted with signs bearing the British Petroleum logo.
@Novaload:
@Tocsin:
Drinks are on me!! Hennessey and cokes all around! Mmuuurpp...
@Brian B: What he said.
@harumph: And what he said.
When it all comes down to it, he was defending himself. They came across the street, confronted and attacked with a lethal weapon. This guy was just protecting his employees, he has that right...
MORONS! who the hell cares about this BS - when you kill someone you should get the legal books thrown at you - you took someones life - pull out your gun and start blasting knee caps - who the hell opens fire at a gas station anyways? they shoulda both killed each other and life would continue peacefully
Right on. We consumers need to fight back.
Regarding "warning shots" and "aiming at the knees": The narrative as provided doesn't provide enough information to draw a conclusive indication of fault or guilt, although the favor leans away from Bazzi and his bat-wielding posse. Anyone who has taken or taught a CCW class will tell you there is no point to pulling a weapon and firing dismissively around or above an assailant. If circumstances are bad enough to force you to brandish (itself a crime in almost every locality) a legally-posessed firearm, the bearer must be prepared to pull the trigger... and if the trigger is pulled, the intent must be to fire the weapon at the assailant until the imminent threat of deadly harm has been eliminated. To that end, however, the firearm-wielding defendant must be prepared to prove in court the assailant's means, motive, and opportunity to inflict deadly harm, as well as demonstate an inability of the defendent to exercise his "duty to retreat", another law of most states designed to prevent the escalation of violence between two parties. Complicating the issue is that a firearm is considered a deadly weapon, any use of a firearm (aiming at knees, shooting over the heads) is considered use of deadly force (regardless of aim or outcome). And if the defendant was unwilling to use it to its full effect, doubt is raised as to whether the use of deadly force was necessary in the first place, opening the defendant to both criminal charges and civil suits by the surviving assailant.
That's a lot of consideration to contemplate in a heated moment of anger and confrontation, and is the main reason I personally don't ever see myself actively practicing concealed carry... the legal implications are too much of a hassle. The unnamed defendent undoubtedly will face a trying and difficult legal process, in both criminal and (moreso) civil courts. But watching a buddy/employee be injured by a baseball bat is a strong start to his legal defense.
Damn, Ray, that's a rough town you live in.
Something tells me the human population is inching closer to critical mass.
Ahh, that's market competition for you!
@ShadowFalls: A gun should only be used as a deterrent. Not actually fired on human targets.
Incidents like this incite the cause for more gun control. The existence of morons like you are why even I'm considering for gun control.