BASED Elderly Woman in Tucson Pulls Gun and Chases Shoplifter Out of Ross – Police Warn Bystanders Risk ASSAULT Charges for Stopping Crime

An absolutely “BASED elderly woman” in Tucson, Arizona, has gone viral after she allegedly pulled a handgun and chased a brazen shoplifter out of a Ross store as the alarm blared and the thief fled with multiple bags of stolen merchandise.

Video circulating on social media shows the suspected thief casually walking away from the Eastside Tucson Ross with bags in hand while the store alarm screams.

A bystander, identified across social media as an elderly woman and widely celebrated as a “badass grandma,” confronts the man and draws a handgun in an attempt to stop him from getting away.

Tucson Police confirmed they are investigating the incident as a shoplifting case and are using the viral video as evidence, according to KOLD NEWS 13.

Officers could not locate the suspect when they arrived. No arrests have been made. The department is still looking for the thief and asking the public for information.

And here’s the part that has Americans seeing red: authorities and legal experts are warning bystanders not to intervene, and that drawing a gun on a shoplifter could get you charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

WATCH:

KOLD NEWS 13 reported:

While the bystander’s actions may have been an attempt to stop a crime, legal experts warn that taking the law into your own hands can carry severe criminal consequences.

“It really depends on the details, but there is a statute that authorizes people to display or use a firearm to prevent certain crimes,” said Tucson criminal defense attorney Louis Fidel. “Shoplifting is not one of those crimes.”

Fidel warned that pointing a weapon in this scenario risks charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Introducing a firearm into a property crime is incredibly dangerous, putting the public, the bystander, and the suspect at risk of death over retail merchandise.

The incident also highlights the strict training guidelines major retail chains have in place for their employees.

“Large corporations and most of the small ones have told their employees, do not engage,” said Michelle Ahlmer, Executive Director of the Arizona Retailers Association. “Their lives and their safety is more important to us than the product.”

Ahlmer noted that violence against loss prevention staff is on the rise across the industry. When untrained customers attempt to intervene, she says, it often escalates an already volatile situation.

“I think they’re just frustrated,” Ahlmer said regarding bystanders who step in. “They see that prices are high, and every time somebody steals something, the result is prices go up.”

RELATED: Earlier this month, The Gateway Pundit covered a separate Tucson case in which bystanders intervened after a 70-year-old man was knocked down during an attempted robbery. In that incident, witnesses helped police locate the suspect, who was arrested on an attempted-robbery charge: “Good Samaritans Jump Into Action After Elderly Man Gets Knocked to the Ground in Attempted Robbery Inside Tucson Restaurant”