14 DAY TRIAL // One man has been fatally shot as he was trying to pickpocket customers at a store carrying LeBron James shoes, reports say.
WSB-TV reports that the shooting took place in front of Wish Clothing in Atlanta on Saturday, June 22.
Sports fans were waiting in line to buy the $180 (€137.5) sneakers in the Miami Heat player's line at 5:30 a.m. when one patron shot the alleged robber.
"(The suspect) wanted to pick-pocket everybody. But people out here, they weren't going for none of that," customer Taylor White says.
More than 24 clients were standing outside the store on Moreland Avenue in Little Five Points. They told authorities that the victim was picking pockets outside the store throughout all of last week.
"I didn't even expect him to come up here, thinking it was that sweet; Thinking it’s that candy land like that," White adds.
The killing is being investigated as a crime of self-defense, Atlanta police officer John Chafee informs. The shooting victim is yet to be identified.
"A number of witnesses were interviewed and this appears to be self-defense. At this time no charges have been filed and the investigation continues," Chafee says.
Other patrons saw the unnamed shooter pull out a handgun and shoot at the robber, who was also armed. He stumbled and fell a few feet away from where the line was formed.
"He really stood up for all of us. I salute the homie that did that," White notes.
As previously reported, LeBron has made a splash in the 2013 NBA Finals, even playing without his headband during Game 6.
"I guess the headband was the least of my worries at that point. [...] I basically just told myself, give it all I got. […] If we go down losing, I’m going to go down with no bullets," he described.