Yeah it does seem like the system worked pretty well in this case, in so far as you want to see a rapid escalation of charges in response to violent or potentially violent crimes. Brandishing a firearm in any context is very serious, and when you're downright using it to intimidate and rob people when you've committed an act which not infrequently leads to death or at least serious injury. Worse you are using that for the violence and you know it, so this guy is about as far from the victim as possible.

By contrast the kid who was shot after allegedly robbing someone in a convenience store without a weapon was a very very different story. There are many issues with how the system treats minorities especially black people, and poor people in general, but this article doesn't seem like it's describing one of them.