In Las Vegas, crime does not pay

Victor Sung Park, 59, told police that Thomas Cola, 21, entered Mr. Park's Sahara Pawn shop at 2400 S. Jones Blvd. last Friday and asked to examine a Cartier watch.

Used, the fancy timepieces can run $2,500 to $30,000.

Mr. Park reported -- and police say surveillance footage from inside the store confirms -- that the late Mr. Cola then darted for the door with the valuables.

According to Mr. Park's arrest report, the storekeeper then shot Mr. Cola in the back. The would-be thief stumbled outside, collapsed, and was taken to University Medical Center, where he died.

Mr. Park was charged with murder with a deadly weapon and remained in the Clark County Detention Center late Monday in lieu of $100,000 bail. Officers retrieved a Smith & Wesson revolver from the scene.

Though District Attorney David Roger declined to speak specifically about this case, he did say that under Nevada law, individuals may use deadly force to protect themselves or others in life-threatening situations, but the law does not allow individuals to use deadly force to reclaim property.

The district attorney is correct. And let us hear no protests from aging Lone Ranger fans that Mr. Park "should have shot the watch out of his hand." Before you point a loaded firearm at someone, you had better be sure you're willing to destroy that target.

On the other hand, many a storekeeper -- already struggling to make ends meet, in these times -- is doubtless silently congratulating Mr. Park for putting the fear of God in others who may be tempted to take up the late Mr. Cola's line of work. "What was he supposed to do?" we can hear them asking, "tell him to have a nice day?"

Hiring a large man with striped pants and experience as a defensive lineman to stand near the door would have cost a lot less than Mr. Park now faces in legal costs. It's incumbent on adults who go armed -- as they have every right to do -- to know when they can legally use that firearm, and when they cannot. From what we now know, Mr. Park should not have fired.

On the other hand, our Anglo-Saxon tradition guarantees the accused a jury of one's peers. If this case ever goes to trial, here's hoping no one waives that vital right on Mr. Park's behalf.

He should be judged by a dozen of his fellow pawn and jewelry shop proprietors, fully informed of the "lesser included charges" available to them.