Joe bought a gun . . .

Joe bought a gun. He walked right into the sporting goods store, up to the gun counter, and picked out a semi-automatic .12 gauge shotgun with a box of buckshot shells. The entire process took no more than twenty minutes.

Joe left town and drove for a couple hours before exiting the highway and driving down a winding county road for another ten minutes. Joe pulled into a service station and parked his car. He sat in his vehicle, loaded five shells into his new Benelli shotgun, and chambered in a shell.

Joe clicked off the safety and walked into the convenience store. There was no one in sight but the attendant behind the counter. Her name was Janice. She tried to run when she saw the shotgun but Joe shot her as she turned. She took some buckshot to the brain and died almost instantly.

Joe walked behind the counter, stepping carefully over Janice, picked up the phone, and dialed 911. "I've killed a lady. I'm robbing the store," Joe told the 911 operator. He then emptied the cash register, walked out to his vehicle, and drove away.

A short ways down the road, Joe came upon another service station. He pulled in and exited his vehicle. The owner of the service station was a capable man named Bill. Bill saw the look in Joe's eyes when Joe approached the door of the service station, and he saw the gun in his hand. Bill was ready with his own shotgun by the time Joe raised his, and Bill pumped a slug into Joe's abdomen.

Bill immediately called for an ambulance and approached Joe with compassion. "Let me help you, son."

As Bill tended to Joe's wounds as best as he could, it became clear that Joe might not survive. Bill asked him, "Why did you do it, son? Why did you bring that damn gun into my store? I had to shoot you. What, were you going to rob me? Why?"

As the light of life flickered in Joe's eyes, with his dying breath he responded, "Damn it all. Shamu and Moby Dick put me up to it. They are waiting outside for me right now. I'm gonna go get them. Be right back, mister."

And with that, Joe died. Bill would go on to give a full account of Joe's actions and his last words to the police and to the press. Then, the following morning, the Sunday paper headline read,

"The Outlaw Joe Sees Whales"