Posted on January 26, 2012

DA: Robbery Victim, 65, Justified in Shooting of Teens on Trail

WFMZ, January 26, 2012

A 65-year-old man was justified in shooting two of three teenagers who were attempting to rob him as he rode his bicycle along a popular river trail Wednesday morning, authorities announced Thursday.

{snip}

The teens knocked the man off his bicycle and onto the ground in their third random robbery attempt in about an hour’s time, said Berks County District Attorney John Adams.

Two of the teens were assaulting the man when he pulled out a gun and shot them, police said.

The man is licensed to carry a gun, said Adams, who noted that the man told investigators he feared for his life. Adams said the man had no choice but to shoot.

One of the alleged assailants, Julius Johnson, 16, a student in the Reading School District who skipped school Wednesday, died at the scene of a gunshot wound to the chest, officials said.

{snip}

Another teen, a 15-year-old student in the Governor Mifflin School District, was also shot and taken to a hospital for surgery. {snip}

The third teen, a 16-year-old boy, was uninjured and committed to the county’s Youth Detention Center.