Gilbert Dorland, owner of Western Jewelry and Coin in West Seattle, shot a would-be robber in the chest on Feb. 20 after two armed men, masked by bandanas, rushed into his store.

Dorland, 42, keeps six guns in his store, including a Smith & Wesson 22-caliber semi-automatic handgun he keeps by his workbench where he was drilling amber at the time. He grabbed the gun and fired a shot as soon as the masked men entered the store.

“It happened so fast,” Dorland told JCK. “The two ran in with guns straight out pointed at me and Jim [Rogers, Dorland’s employee]. He said, ‘Don’t move!’ By the time ‘move’ came out of his mouth, I shot him in the chest. I saw in his eyes retreat so I refrained from any more shots. They backed out of the shop as fast as they entered.”

Dorland said that after the would-be robbers fled, he slowly left his workbench and went outside to see where they went and if he actually did shoot the person.

“I was looking out to see if I had any broken glass,” he said. “I saw them driving away. Police came about five minutes later, and not long after that they received a report that a gunshot victim was dumped out at a hospital with a bullet in his chest.”

Media reports state that a Jeep Cherokee, similar to the one driven by the would-be robbers, dropped off a wounded man at Harborview Medical Center.

The injured man was identified as Brandin Thomas, 19, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported. Thomas was charged with first-degree attempted robbery and was booked into the King County Jail with bail set at $100,000. An arraignment was set for March 3. His accomplice, who was reportedly carrying a gun in each hand, was still at large at press time.