Thugs pull gun on 70yr old vet. But he’s armed, too and quicker on the draw.

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A 70-year-old Vietnam veteran was dropping off a friend Thursday morning in Venice, Illinois, when, authorities said, two men pulled up next him in a vehicle and asked for directions.

But they really wanted something else: They pulled a gun on the vet in a robbery attempt, investigators said.

Unfortunately for the crooks, the veteran — who’s from nearby St. Louis — was carrying a concealed firearm authorized by the state of Missouri, KTVI-TV said.

And he used it, fatally shooting 19-year-old Billy Dickerson in the head and wounding 23-year-old Perry Richardson with bullets to the arm and chest, KTVI added.

“He feared for his own life,” Madison County (Illinois) State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons told KDSK-TV. “He feared for the life of his friend and just took decisive action in that moment.”

Also Richardson has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with Dickerson’s death, KTVI said, adding that once he’s released from the hospital, he’ll be taken to jail and held without bond.

“If you’re engaged in a forceable felony and someone — no matter who — dies during the course of your crime, you are accountable for murder,” Gibbons told KDSK.

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