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“Police can't respond fast enough, it's impossible. They're not patrolling this block 24 hours a day,” said Club Billiards owner Steve Yager.
Before you go into Club Billiards the sign says: beware of dog. But who you should really worry about is Yager, not the dog.
“I don't pull a gun unless I intend to use it. That's an old western proverb that goes back to Wyatt Erp days,” said Yager.
Yager is just as hard as his bite.
“I'm going to protect myself and my family. That's a constitutional right,” said Yager.
It's not that he's mean. He's just playing the cards he was dealt. Monday morning he says a man tried to rob him in broad daylight.
“He says well why don't you go ahead and give me your billfold so I don't have to pull my gun out?”
He had a surprise for the young man.
“I said really? I reached out and got my gun, close as me to you,” said Yager.
Yager says he never saw the robber's gun, but nonetheless wasn't taking the threat lightly.
“He says I was just joking and says I didn't mean it. His eyes got that big around. Well I'm going to tell you what I do mean it, I don't appreciate that kind of humor. I will shoot you if you make any false moves,” said Yager.
The next move? The suspect took off. Yager had the trump card in this case- his concealed carry license.
Wichita police say he had the right to defend himself. As for his patrons?
"Most of ‘em say you should have shot him. I'm not in this to shoot people that don't need to be shot," said Yager.
His actions may have become just as notorious around the neighborhood as the gangsters hung high on his wall. Yager says he just did what he had to do. No one was hurt, but before that suspect took off, Yager had a warning for that man: if he were to ever come into his neighborhood again he says he wouldn't hesitate to shoot him on sight.