Robert Earl Vaughn rescued Mary J. Edmunds and Merrill C. Allen from assault, South Paris, Maine, October 12, 1999. Ms. Edmunds, 60, and Ms. Allen, 58, clerks in a convenience store, were approached by a 17-year-old boy, who, armed with a gun, demanded money. Ms. Edmunds presented the cash tray to the assailant, and he collected money from it as he threatened Ms. Allen with the gun. Vaughn, 39, ironworker, whose wife owned the store, was standing in a kitchen area not far from the assailant but out of view. He approached the assailant and reached to disarm him. The assailant turned and shot Vaughn in the chest at close range. Vaughn then struggled with the assailant over a course that took them out the store’s front door. They fell to the ground, the assailant dropping the gun. The assailant and an accomplice fled but were apprehended shortly by police. Hospitalized 25 days, Vaughn required two surgeries to repair multiple internal organs damaged by the gunshot. He suffered other ill effect and was out of work for about four months.
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