A wealthy Los Angeles entrepreneur says that he has been stripped of his firearm permit for "yelling" at police after he used his gun to deter a break-in at his home, while his infant was sleeping inside.
On Saturday evening, Ricci was returning from the gym around 7:30 p.m. when he was confronted by two masked intruders that had hopped the gate to his $2 million home.
“Out of nowhere, boom, I had a gun to my back. And there was another guy running up at the same time and I couldn’t really make out what he was saying,” Ricci told Fox News.
Ricci's wife, her friend, their nanny, and his five-month-old daughter were inside the home as a shootout ensued outside.
The incident was captured on video by Ricci's security camera.
Ricci is seen trying to enter his house while holding a cup of hot tea, which he throws in the face of the attempted intruder.
“It was burning my hand and I couldn’t wait to go into the house and put honey in the tea so I could drink it,” Ricci said. “I f—ing slammed him in the face [with the tea].”
Ricci quickly went to pull out his own gun.
“As I went to grab the gun, he turned and he’s holding my sleeve — I think so I wouldn’t hit him — and when I went to go get the gun, I shook him off. He backed up and went to turn around, and I charged at him to grab him,” he said.
At this point, one of the intruders squared up with his own gun, instead of running off.
“At that point. I knew I was getting shot by the other guy and I couldn’t see who else was coming in. And this kid was also turning back around with a gun pointed back at me, and I just started firing and they both started firing,” he said.
Ricci said that the men were both males, likely in their early 20s.
The suspects fled, which was captured on another security camera.
“The one kid shot one, the other kid shot twice. And then after that, they hopped over the fence, they continued to keep shooting at me,” he said.
Ricci's home has been targeted by criminals twice in the last year. If he had not been armed, he does not believe that he would have survived this one.
“It saved our lives,” he said. “I’m a tough guy … but there’s only so much I could do against a gun. They would have pistol-whipped me, they would have pistol-whipped my wife. They would have come in the house and there’s nothing in my house.”
Ricci maintains that though it looks like he shot them while they were fleeing, they were still firing at him. Another prime example why the Second Amendment is so important 👇🏼
“November 2023, Vince Ricci, a concealed carry holder in Los Angeles, was forced to defend himself, and his family, in a terrifying shootout at his front door is demanding Los Angeles leaders prosecute criminals… pic.twitter.com/R0nars4dO9
— Johnny Skidmark (@Skid5150) November 12, 2023
“I know I didn’t do anything wrong, because I had two chances I could have shot both kids in the back. I chose not to do it. But in the video, it looks like ‘oh, they were running away.’ They weren’t running. They were firing back at me,” he said.
When the Los Angeles Police Department arrived at the scene, Ricci says that their investigation was "sloppy" and they did not even collect shell casings from the scene.
“I almost couldn’t believe it, the sloppy police work they did. There’s a couple of them that care … There’s a handful of real cops, and then there’s the rest of them,” he said.
In California, it is far more difficult to obtain a concealed carry permit than in other states. Ricci said it took months for him to be approved.
He told Fox News that his permit has been stripped, not because of the shootout, but because he yelled at the police officers who were responding.
"After successfully defending my home and my family and my five-month-old child, California has now decided to suspend my Second Amendment [rights]," Ricci said.
