A Nurse with a Gun

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Good Samaritan In Burger King

Miami(WSVN) -- Miami Police are investigating a double shooting that left one dead Tuesday afternoon. According to Miami Police, there was a robbery attempt at the Burger King located on 54th Street and Biscayne Boulevard.

Authorities said a customer pulled out a gun, which led to a shootout between the customer and subjects. The subject was shot and killed on the scene. Authorities transported the customer to Jackson Memorial Hospital. Police said a possible second subject fled the scene in a black four-door sedan that may be a Toyota.
This story is still developing. Some reports only refer to one robber, other reports say two. Some reports say they wore masks. (Edited to add: Update here.)

In the coming days, many people will speculate on what the defender did wrong. What did he do (or fail to do) that allowed him to get shot? One thing is certain. Even when you do everything right, Lady Luck can be smacked down by Brother Bad News, and the righteous defender bleeds, sometimes profusely. Making the commitment to continue fighting through injury and training to do so is what separates survivors from the morgue.

I think I'll practice some one handed drills next range trip.

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18 Comments:

Blogger Laughingdog said...

I frequently practice shooting my carry guns one-handed, both strong and weak side. But I never thought about it beyond that before your closing comment.

I'm not sure how to go about practicing clearing a gun with one hand. But reloads seem a little more obvious.

9:21 PM  
Blogger Joseph said...

Getting shot is one of the possible outcomes of getting into a gunfight or merely drawing a firearm. That said, I'd say it is a win for the good guys. The fella who drew down on the baddy(s) can rest assured he didn't go down with a whimper if it were to come to that.

There should be monuments to ordinary folk who stand up to those that would do evil's bidding.

9:52 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Did the press refer to the robbery suspects as subjects and is that the new politically correct term for criminals?

9:55 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Clearing a gun with one hand means dropping the magazine and then placing the (top) front end of the slide (above the barrel) against a hard edge, making sure the barrel clears, and then pushing forward on the gun. The slide should slide back and clear the round in the chamber. You can use this technique to rack the slide to chamber a round too. Make sure you keep your finger out of the trigger guard.

11:07 PM  
Blogger Don said...

I think it's pretty clear what he did to get shot: he was in a Burger King when some dumbass decided to rob it with a gun.

11:19 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

According to police, a gunman wearing a ski mask entered the Burger King at Northeast 54th Street and Biscayne Boulevard at about 4 p.m. and tried to rob it. But a Good Samaritan with a concealed weapons permit confronted the robber. They exchanged gunfire, and the robber was killed, police said.

The customer who opened fire was shot several times and taken by helicopter to Jackson Memorial Hospital in critical but stable condition.

12:59 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cover. GOT to remember cover. If you ignore it, the odds drop dramatically. Good Samaritan had a choice of if, when, and where to draw and if, when, and from where to fire. He apparently chose poorly.

I do appreciate his effort and caring and hope he comes out of it as best he can, for he's on our side.

7:54 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The only one-handed shooting I normally practice on a regular basis is strong-side shooting, from a high retention position.

The story doesn't tell us enough about what went down. However, I like to use every story like this as a what-would-I-do-in-a-similar-situation. It's why we always did after-action reports, to try and make sure we do better next time. To do otherwise is to insist on re-inventing the wheel every time.

It's possible that after drawing his gun and aiming it, he did a TV-scene-like "drop the gun! drop the gun!" like in that dumb CT marketing video before shooting. Watch the scene at ~0:30 - after wisely drifting back out of the robber's peripheral vision and grabbing some cover, Jarrett actually lets the guy pivot almost all the way around and point the shotgun in his direction before he "fires". I suppose that's got something to do with Oregon state deadly force law.

In any case, best wishes for the full recovery of the shooter with no lasting disabilities or disfigurements.

9:42 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I notice nobody has suggested that maybe he shouldn't have pulled the gun.

Obviously we don't (and never will) know exactly how things played out in the restaurant leading up to the shooting, but tactically I wonder if the safer move (for the shooter and any innocent standers by, forget the criminals), would have been to leave the gun in the holster...maybe make a move on the robbers OUTSIDE the building as they left, or not at all and called the cops. Just because you're armed, that doesn't make a gun your only play.

Certainly, if the robbers seemed intent on causing physical harm then he did the right thing. I just hope he never has to ask himself WHETHER he did the right thing...and I truly hope he makes a full recovery.

9:54 AM  
Blogger Cowtown Cop said...

I would have to say that the armed citizen won that exchange of gunfire. He lived through it and the bad guy didn't. Getting shot is not an indicator of faulty actions, it's just what happens sometimes in a gunfight.

11:16 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've often thought about this and I wonder if the problem was this. Instead of just flat out shooting the bad guy with a gun pointed at someone he tried to act like a cop and get the bad guy to drop his gun and cooperate.

I'd be alot more likely to just shoot the guy in the back COM. Why give him a chance to start shooting innocent people, or more importantly (for me) me?

12:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Typical sloppy reporting. They don't tell us whether the defender verbally challenged the robber before firing, or whether the robber simply didn't go down fast enough to prevent return fire. Hell, they don't even tell us what calibers were used.

1:19 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

He is in my prayers. Interestingly, most responders at a major gun forum said they would NOT have pulled their weapon. their consensus is that their weapon is for the protection of THEIR family. At first i was disappointed with their response....but they mention 50-100k in medical bills his family will pay....how he may be disabled for life and not work etc etc etc.
they do have valid points, i admit

2:47 PM  
Blogger closed said...

The reports I read say he verbally challenged the robber. The CCW carrier who got shot during the Tacoma Mall shootings did the same thing ... verbally challenged the perp.

If you look at David Kleck's statistics, your odds of getting hurt multiply if you open your mouth.

My suggestion: If deadly force is justifiable, then simply use it immediately.

Shut up and just shoot. It's safer.

3:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great last comment - shut up and shoot. Still, I've got to applaud the guy for carrying and stepping up to the plate when he had a chance to make a difference. Let's hope he pulls through.

5:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Pull his weapon, don't pull his weapon; challenge, don't challenge. All good questions. Unfortunately, it is difficult to make a conclusive decision based on the limited information that we have. There is one thing that many people never consider. That is that it is very likely that a single, or even multiple, shots will not immediately incapacitate an adversary. In short range gunfight, you may very well get shot.

AS for clearing a gun with one hand, good luck. If you showed up to the gunfight with two good hands and now have only one, that means that you probably have been wounded. You are in pain and probably not thinking clearly anymore. Unless you have practiced extensively at one handed malfunction clearance drills, you might as well drop it and pull your back up weapon. Practice doesn't hurt, though. Single hand shooting and reloading is much more useful and should be practiced regularly; both strong and weak hand.

9:12 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Here is more detail.

That's when Landers, armed with a concealed weapons permit and his 9mm Glock 19, asked Jean-Baptiste to put the gun down, according to the police report.

Jean-Baptiste refused and began firing his
[Bryco .380] and Landers shot back, police reported.

I applaud his willingness to intervene, but I agree, when it comes out of the holster, it comes out to shoot, not to intimidate.

8:07 AM  
Blogger JJR said...

Thanks for posting this, Xavier; Excellent story.

"Shut-up and shoot" @ kbarret FTW!

That and GO TO COVER. Immediately.
Then take your shot.

Still, I chalk it up as a win for the good guys and hope the defender is able to make a full recovery.

11:55 AM  

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