If you've ever had a gun pointed at you (I have, as a manager and another Pizza Hut employee walked out the back door after closing the store) your reaction will likely surprise you. Mine was that everything slowed way down and I noticed all sorts of things abou the robber that not only his hands were shaking but that he was shaking all over, that his voice was high-pitched with fear, and that he appeared very young. I had no doubt he would shoot us, possibly accidentally, but in the moment I was extremely calm. The other waitress and I had to nudge the manager to throw over the money bag and get down on the ground because he was arguing and refusing to give up the money. Just as we did that, an unrelated siren went past and the guy ran away. Once we were sure he was gone and the police were there, I fainted. The point is, you just don't know how you are going to react.
It's easy to say, 'just hand over your money, nothing is worth your life,' but when you are living hand-to-mouth and have a child to feed and know you don't have a support system that is going to shower you with support & funds the equation isn't so simple. So I understand how it could be possible that in Sherry West's case *either* choice could have been seen as a matter or life or death. And really, any decent human being cannot truly accept the idea that someone would actually SHOOT A BABY IN THE FACE over a little bit of money. No matter what socio-economic class you come from the very idea is horrifying. Human beings just don't do that. *Elkins* does that and I leave the obvious conclusion unstated.
And that's why, IMO, the robbery part was secondary with Elkins. He liked the power of ordering people around, threatening them, and then shooting them if they 'dissed' him by not obeying.
