A “regular customer,” who was described as “kind and polite,” was filling up his car at a central Phoenix gas station when a man allegedly tried to rob him at gunpoint. Unfortunately for the would-be robber, things didn’t go as planned.
Aaron Duwan Frazier Jr learned the hard way that crime doesn’t pay when he picked the wrong guy to try to rob on a Saturday night. While at the Sinclair gas station near 12th Street and Highland Avenue in Phoenix, Arizona, Frazier allegedly approached a regular customer, who was trying to fill up his car at the pumps, the head clerk said. When Frazier demanded money, he got something else entirely.
Although the “regular customer” was described by the head clerk as “kind and polite,” Frazier provoked a different side of him that fateful Saturday evening. “He don’t bother nobody. He comes to the pump, fills [the] gas, [and] drives off. That’s it,” the head clerk said, recalling the customer’s usual demeanor. When confronted by Frazier, however, the would-be robbery victim decided that turnabout is fair play.
At approximately 6:30 pm, Aaron Duwan Frazier Jr confronted the unnamed customer and attempted to rob him at gunpoint, according to AZ Family. However, rather than emptying his wallet, the intended victim had a much different response. As The Blaze reported, “The gas was unleaded, but the customer’s response to the criminal threat was not.”
After reportedly going to the back of his vehicle, the would-be victim allegedly armed himself with a gun before firing several shots and striking Aaron Duwan Frazier Jr. He then reportedly called 911 himself. Police arrived to find 24-year-old Aaron Duwan Frazier Jr with gunshot wounds. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died. The armed customer was detained at the scene but was not arrested.
The head clerk, who recognized the man being robbed, witnessed the robbery and the aftermath. He explained that a customer came inside the gas station to warn him that there was a verbal argument unfolding at the pumps. Then, he heard three gunshots ring out. When he looked outside, the customer who fired the shots was calling 911.
“I heard three gunshots and then … he went on the floor,” the head clerk recalled. “I went to the door and saw that happening and I called 911,” he continued, saying everything happened very quickly and noting that had things gone another way, it could have been “really bad and ugly.” Even though things could have been worse, the clerk still has fears. “This is the first time something like this has happened here. Never ever,” he said, adding that this was the first violent crime he’s aware of in the area, and now, he’s worried about crime increasing.
Unfortunately, it seems the clerk’s fears may already have come to fruition with crime seemingly on the rise. “Robbery is not a sustainable way to earn a living,” the Fraternal Order of Police Glendale Lodge #12 tweeted in response to news of this shooting, adding that this was “1 of 3 self-defense Phoenix metro area shootings reported in the news today.”
Indeed, just 90 minutes after the robbery was foiled at the Sinclair gas station on the Saturday night in question, officers responded to another apparent self-defense shooting on the other side of the city after a man attempted to enter a home with a lone woman inside near 44th and Whitton Avenues just after 8 p.m., according to AZ Central. However, she wasn’t alone for long.
The woman called upon family for backup, and a family member reportedly arrived in time to confront the suspect outside the home. A verbal altercation occurred before the suspect threatened the man’s life. When the suspect raised a black object believed to be a gun, the family member was forced to shoot him in self-defense. Similar to the Sinclair gas station robbery, the shooter was not taken into custody.
Sadly, Phoenix doesn’t fair well on the Neighborhood Scout’s crime index. In fact, it ranks number 4 with 100 being the safest. This means, “The chances of becoming a victim of a property crime in the city are reportedly 1 in 29 and the likelihood of falling victim to a violent crime is 1 in 118,” according to The Blaze. Knowing this, perhaps it’s no wonder that citizens of the city are arming themselves in preparation to defend their person and property should the need arise — and in the two cases discussed here, it worked. It’s hard to argue with those stats.