Tulsa Jeweler Confronts Robber in Store

Monday, December 20th 1999, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

A Tulsa man came very close to losing his life this past weekend when a armed suspect shot fired a pistol at him during a robbery. Lucky to be alive is not a clichÃ©, but a reality for Dean Wright. Heâ€™s been in the jewelry business for 50 years and is loved by his family. His life nearly ended Saturday night just before closing time. "He turned around and I saw he had a stun gun in one hand and a semi automatic in the other," said Wright. "He tossed me a pillowcase and said, â€˜Fill this up.â€™"

Wright repairs Rolex watches and restores old jewelry for his customers. He wasn't about to let someone take his customersâ€™ cherished possessions without a fight. He told the robber "no." Then the robber told Wright to get on the floor and Wright responded by saying, "No, if you're going to shoot me, then shoot me here in my chair. I'm not getting on the floor." That's when the robber fired three shots. When Wright still refused to hand over the items, the suspect shot him over and over with the stun gun. "It hurt, but not like I thought it would," Wright recalled. I thought it would drop you to the floor."

The suspect finally grabbed a box filled with repair watches and ran out the door. Wright says he'd do the same thing over again, but heâ€™s very thankful that he gets to get to share Christmas with his family. "I'm going to have another Christmas with my grand kids.," he said. "They'd be sad if Papa Dean wasn't there. I just hope everyone has a good Christmas, because I know I will."