Trooper Vetter died from a gunshot wound to the head while conducting a traffic stop. Trooper Vetter had stopped a 72 year old driver for not wearing a seatbelt. While Trooper Vetter was sitting in his patrol car, the suspect, Melvin Hale, exited his vehicle and opened fire with a rifle. The Trooper was struck in the head. Melvin Hale then used the patrol car's radio to say he shot the officer and attempted to flee the scene. An off duty officer who was passing by witnessed the shooting and alerted other officers. Melvin Hale was then taken into custody after a brief standoff on the roadway. The suspect was known to local officers for claiming he would shoot any officer who tried to write him a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt. Hale plea bargained to save his skin, was convicted of murder, and is serving a life sentence.
Hale firmly believes God guided him in the slaying of Trooper Vetter. "If it was left to me, I would not have done it," he claims. "But I do what God wants me to do. I don't feel bad about it. God didn't want him enforcing that seat belt law. I know it wasn't popular with a lot of people, but they were not in my position. If I had not done it, I would have been in trouble with God. I fired two shots from the hip. That's a tough shot. God was directing the bullet."
There is evil in this world. Crazy evil. If you can stand it, read more here.
In the first hour of New Year's Day, in San Antonio Texas, a motorist with a CCW permit shot another driver to death when threatened with a baseball bat.
Police are stating they do not plan to charge the shooter, 24 year old Brian Correa. "It was apparent to us that he was defending himself," said police spokesman Sgt. Gabe Trevino. The medical examiner's office identified the dead man as Tomas Garza.
Witnesses state Garza swerved his Mitsubishi Lancer behind Correa's Chevrolet Camaro around 1 a.m. Tuesday, aggressively trying to hit the Camaro. The cars were forced to a stop at a traffic light, and Garza got out of his vehicle with a baseball bat. He hit the Camaro several times with the bat, according to the police report.
Correa ordered Garza to stop, but Garza advanced towards him. Correa defended himself, shooting Garza three times. "I'm still really shaken up. I don't really want to talk about it at all," Correa told a reporter when contacted at his home. The wailing Wilma's have yet to emerge.
Prosecutors in Summerville South Carolina will not be prosecuting Joseph Harriott. Harriott, claiming self defense, shot his roommate Brian Sessoms three times, in the chest, stomach and elbow, on New Year's Day.
The 25 year old Harriott tossed the 24 year old Sessoms out on his ear after Brian Sessoms hit his 16 year old girlfriend. He warned him that he would shoot him if he came back inside. Harriott's 21 year old fiance' called 911, describing Sessoms as intoxicated, in a violent rage and beating his girlfriend. She begged the dispatcher to expedite the police response.
Sessoms re-entered the home by climbing onto an air conditioning unit, and crawling through a second story window window. Harriott shot him in the abdomen as he came down the stairs. Harriott began to treat Sessom's injury, and his fiance' dialed 911 again. While waiting for officers EMS to arrive, Sessoms decided to fight. Harriott shot him two more times. "I shot Sessoms because he was trying to get to the girls," Harriott told deputies at the scene.
911 tapes reveal Harriott attempted to save Sessoms' life by applying direct pressure to an abdominal gunshot wound immediately after the shooting. Harriott can be heard in the background of the audio tape telling Sessoms not to fight him. Police recovered a .380 caliber handgun at the scene.
Prosecutor Scarlett Wilson states she will not to charge Harriott for the shooting. She refers to state law for self defense stating if the first shot is justified, a person can keep shooting until a threat is eliminated.
Still even though criminal charges will not be pressed, civil litigation is probably on the horizon. One must consider that Sessoms also lived at the domicile where the shooting took place. Real injuries occurred, and not much can be said for the mature decision making skills of a 25 year old man who has a 16 year old girlfriend. The Sessoms family is outraged that criminal charges were not brought forward. "We feel my nephew was murdered in cold blood," said Regina Sessoms. "He was not a home invader, he was living there and paying rent. How can it be self-defense against someone who was unarmed?"
A comment from Buffy: "I live in the town where the shooting occurred. The news media have no interest in accuracy. The shooter(Harriott)was 25 and was with his 21 year old fiance' who is the one who made all the 911 calls. The man who was shot (Sessoms) was 24 with a 16 year old girlfriend. His girlfriend had another 16 year old friend with her."
When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.
It seems the mainstream media has a hard time accepting the idea that a concealed weapons carrier can stop a massacre in progress. I'm not surprised. Even though the pastor of the New Life Church explained the position of his members who carry handguns in church, the media continues to portray Jeanne Assam as a security guard. She wore no uniform. She received no pay. She worshiped there by choice. Her only duty was to God, her fellow parishioners, and to her own conscience. She was a private citizen with a gun, not a hired security guard.
More recently, not being able to acknowledge the fact that a private citizen in the right place with a gun and the readiness necessary to use it effectively put an end to what police and gun free zones could not, the mainstream media has sought to discredit Ms. Assam. By digging up skeletons in her past, they are painting her as a disgraced police officer. A decade ago, Jeanne Assam was terminated by her superiors from the Minneapolis police force for not being truthful during an internal investigation.
Sgt. Jesse Garcia, a Minneapolis police spokesman, said Jeanne Assam worked at the department from March 1993 to November 1997. She was fired for lying during an internal investigation. Sgt. John Delmonico, president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, said police were investigating a complaint that Assam swore at a bus driver while she was handling an incident on a city bus.
"In giving a statement about the incident, she was untruthful and she was fired," Delmonico said. The swearing was caught on tape, he said. "The union arbitrated the case and the arbitrator upheld the termination."
They say nothing, absolutely nothing about Sgt. Jesse Garcia's hand in the publication of Ms. Assam's private personnel file.
It is not uncommon after a shooting for the righteous survivor to be reviled by the ignorant. Friends may ostracize the survivor. Relatives may disassociate with them. People whisper behind their back at church and in check-out lines at the supermarket. Rumors circulate. Reputations become tarnished. Old bones are examined by the ignorant trying to find the difference between the survivor and other people. Here's a tip for those who want to know the difference...........There is none. None. The righteous survivor is just like you, or me. They are a person struggling with day to day life, who managed to survive through their own determination to persevere and live and perhaps save a few others in the process. What the ignorant fail to realize is the righteous survivor of a lethal encounter was an unwilling participant in the act of saving their own life or the lives of others. The righteous survivor did not leave home with the intent to kill. It was forced upon them. The righteous survivor did not prepare to kill. They prepared to live.
After a shooting, a righteous survivor goes through much internal turmoil. At the very least they question what they could have done to avoid the event, and if their preparation in any way brought this new and unwanted identity to their lives. At worst they may contemplate and commit suicide. While the legal entanglements are inevitable, the emotional storms of self doubt and questioning are no less imminent.
The media makes their bread and butter by building people up and then tearing them down. Make an icon, then make an outcast. Many people will say the media leads the masses. No. The masses lead the media in the dance of influencing perceptions. If we do not accept the tripe they hawk as truth and reality, they lose their ability to influence. Truth is not on the newspaper pages. Truth is not on the six o-clock report, and it is not on the internet. Truth will be found within ourselves.
We need to stop looking at righteous survivors, people who have lived by regrettably taking the lives of others, as being somehow different. They are human with the same frailties and foibles as the rest of us. They are no different than the person who has faced and survived cancer, a devastating automobile accident, or any other life threatening encounter. They took action and they lived. The morbid curiosity of dark and unknown places that threaten us, that inner fear of our own immortality within each of us, should not compel us to harm another person while they are at their most vulnerable, assimilating a new, inescapable conception of themselves, and trying to rebuild their life from the confusing aftermath of a righteous shooting.
You never know when it's going to happen. Violence will never be removed from human society. Even if all firearms were banned, violence will still erupt. Vermin who seek to force their will on others, or to inform the world of their pathetic and pathological pleas for attention as they remove themselves from their own misery, will need to be dealt with. They will need to be dealt with swiftly, surely, and with the greatest of regard towards the safety of those whom they threaten.
Jeanne Assam may not have thought it was her day to be called upon as she got ready to go to Sunday service in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Never the less, she armed herself with her handgun. Jeanne Assam was granted a concealed carry permit by her state government, a right to self preservation that should be indisputably guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Over the years, this right had been eroded by ill guided thinking and politics, but in the past decade the right to keep and bear arms had made a resurgence. Jeanne Assam took advantage of new laws that gave her greater options to defend her own life as well as the lives of others. Because she is a community oriented individual, Jeanne Assam also was willing to place her life at risk to prevent the killing of innocents.
Twelve hours earlier, Matthew Murray had slain two people at a missionary training center, Youth with a Mission, sixty five miles away. Murray was still at large. Ms. Assam was aware of that fact, but that is not why she carried a gun. Jeanne Assam may have strapped a Glock under her jacket. She may have placed a .38 snubbie into her purse. The handgun and her mode of carry really does not matter. Ms. Assam says she was weak from a three day religious fast as she left her home on December 9, for the New Life Church. She had not slept since learning of the previous shootings. She was not weak though. She was not armed with only a handgun. She was armed with the will to use the handgun in the defense of herself and others. Her body may have felt weak, but her conviction and determination was resolute. Along with the pistol, that would be enough.
The wolf violently invaded the flock before Jeanne Assam arrived on the scene. Stephanie and Rachael Works lay dying. Their father, David Works, and Judy Purcell were wounded. A Vietnam combat veteran, Larry Bourbonnais, had found himself unarmed facing the murderer's fury. Two armed security guards, with guns drawn, were frozen, facing an unchecked killer, not acting. Bourbonnais pleaded with one of the men to relinquish his firearm so that a man with the will to kill might be able to persevere against overwhelming and deadly force. The armed man did not respond, continuing to hold a drawn handgun on a frenzied psychopath as though it were some talisman against evil.
Armed only with words, Mr. Bourbonnais used what he had. "First, I called him 'Coward' then I called him 'Shithead.' I probably shouldn't have been saying that in church," said Mr. Bourbonnais told the Denver Post. The gunman turned his assault on Bourbonnais, who survived only by finding concealment behind a non-metaphorical hollow, decorative pillar. Bourbonnais was struck in the arm.
Then another pillar appeared. Not a decorative one, this pillar was a pillar of immutable strength. Jeanne Assam entered the church hallway, approaching the deranged killer, demanding that he surrender....Now. The wolf turned a handgun on the approaching sheepdog. He managed to fire off three shots. Jeanne Assam responded with conviction and courageous determination to live and save others from death as she continued to close on the killer, firing off shot after shot into his body, emptying her gun and putting an end to his bloody rampage.
"I saw him, it seemed like the halls cleared out, and I saw him coming through the doors, and I took cover. I waited for him to get closer, I came out of cover, and I identified myself. I engaged him and I took him down," Jeanne Assam said modestly at a news conference in the Colorado Springs police station. "I didn't think it was my sole responsibility. I didn't think about this. It was, it seemed like it was, me, the gunman and God."
"I didn't run away, and I didn't think for a minute to run away. I just knew that I was given the assignment to end this before it got too much worse," she said. "I just prayed for the Holy Spirit to guide me. I said, 'Holy Spirit, be with me.' My hands weren't even shaking. Honestly, I was very focused, and it was chaotic and it was so loud. I'll never forget the gunshots. It was so loud. I was just focused and I knew I wasn't going to wait for him to do any further damage. I just knew what I had to do."
Sgt. Jeff Johnson of the Colorado Springs Police Department reported that Matthew Murray was carrying two handguns, a rifle, and close to 1,000 rounds of ammunition. He obviously had plans. Investigators have said that Murray, 24, may have, in fact, died of a self inflicted gunshot wound. Autopsies should be cold and clinical things, based on factual evidence and removed from the shifting sands of human interaction. That is well and good. Murray may have brought about his own end. It is indisputable, however, that his killing spree was brought to an abrupt halt by a woman with steel determination, the will to to preserve lives, and a handgun.
George Orwell once said: "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." Sometimes the sheepdog is neither rough, nor a man. That is as it should be. Introduce a woman to shooting today. The life she saves may be your own.
On the evening of April 15, in South Bend Indiana, Tim Watson had just returned home from dinner and a movie. His two daughters, ages 3 and 13, and his 10 year old niece were with him. Watson's younger daughter needed to use the restroom, so they went inside their home. They were being watched.
When they came back outside, Terry Fennessee confronted Tim Watson, accusing him of having a relationship with his estranged wife. Watson asked to put the children in his car before speaking with Fennesee. Then, he turned his back on the man.
Fennesee pulled a gun and shot Watson in the back. Watson fell to the ground, and his assailant stood over him, aiming the firearm at his head. Watson pleaded with Fennesee, "Don't kill me in front of my babies!"
His three year old daughter was crying "He shooting my daddy! My daddy dead!" Fennesee responded with obscenities and shot Tim Watson again and again, in the head, back and chest.
Fennessee later told his sister, Tina Clump, that the shooting was in self-defense and that he fired at Watson because he believed the man was reaching for a gun in his vehicle. Police found no weapon in Watson's car. Fennesee is charged with one count of attempted murder, a Class A felony. At a court appearance last month, Fennessee told a reporter that he never meant to hurt anyone and that he was innocent of the charges against him. He posted $7,500 bond the same day he turned himself in at the St. Joseph County Jail.
Fennesee is presently free on bond. Watson is gradually recovering from gunshot wounds to his back, shoulder, rib cage, head and the side of his chest. He has sustained nerve damage and brain damage. He still carries a bullet lodged in his lung. Watson's children have suffered untold mental trauma. Tim Watson is in hiding, fearing for his safety. Apparently, a trial date is set.
This felonious and vicious attack raises several curiosities.
How was Fennessee able to claim self defense and post bond when he was on Watson's property, apparently lying in wait, and Watson had no means of self defense? Hell, Watson was shot in the back, and then again and again as he writhed and pleaded on the ground, in his own blood. While children watched and screamed. Witnesses attest to this fact. Why the hell was Fennesee allowed to turn himself in at the St. Joseph County Jail? Don't officers of the law still form manhunts? Or does that just occur when a fellow officer is shot? Seven thousand five hundred dollars bond? Was this judge smoking something? Finally, why the hell must Tim Watson and his children hide in fear while their rabid attacker walks free? Why is this son of a bitch free at all? Why?
By God, I'm glad I still live in a place where peace officers still have dogs and shotguns! This, this is why I carry a gun.
On Friday, Feb. 17, 2005, a CCW holder armed with a .45 caliber handgun saved a policeman's life in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Perry Stephens retrieved his .45 caliber handgun from his car to stop Robert temple, a trained boxer, from pounding Officer Brian Harrision's head into mush over a traffic ticket. Officer Harrison had already shot Temple once in the abdomen with his .38 caliber handgun while Temple was astride him beating the supine officer into unconciousness.
Perry Stephens shot Temple four times center of mass, but the direct hits failed to stop the enraged attacker. Stephens then put a .45 caliber bullet into Temple's cranium, scrambling his brains and ending the man's attack forever. The Baton Rouge black community became incensed as the NAACP tried to use every race baiting tactic available to portray this incident as a racially motivated killing.
After six hours of testimony before the East Baton Rouge Parish grand jury, the decision was made that no charges could be filed. Stephens’ attorney, Tommy D’Amico, said he expected his client to be cleared. "I believe he saved the officer’s life. He certainly saved him from suffering great harm," D’Amico said. "It has always been obvious to me that my client is nothing less than a citizen hero because he stepped up to save the officer while others stood and watched."
Kwame Asanté, executive director for the Baton Rouge chapter of the NAACP, and the Rev. Leo Cyrus, a member of the Baton Rouge Area African-American Ministers, were unavailable for comment.
"Werner Herzog made a documentary about a hippie-dippy surfer dude who lived with grizzlies in Alaska. He petted them and gave them names like Mr. Chocolate until, one day, the "grizzly man" was eaten alive by one of his furry pals. The lesson, Herzog explained, was that it's dangerous to make friends with an indifferent predator.
The events of Saturday, March 25, convey something of the same message. Not that the enormous, bearlike Kyle Huff—6 feet 5 inches and some 280 pounds—was as obvious a danger as a griz, but he was a predator nonetheless. He stalked his prey, young people he'd met at a zombie-themed rave. These kids invited this oddball loner to party with them. He returned the favor by drinking their beer, smoking their pot, and then blowing them away with his 12-gauge shotgun and semiautomatic pistol. He killed six and wounded two critically. Then he blew his own brains out.
We're lucky he did. With our justice system, even with a conviction it's unlikely Huff would have wound up on death row, and even if he had, it would have been many years and many appeals before his date with a lethal injection or the hangman's noose. He did us all a favor.
Still, he left us with questions about why he became a cold and calculated killer who taunted his victims as he gunned them down. These unanswered questions would likely have remained had he lived..........
If you think gun control could have prevented this crime, consider that Huff's arsenal included a baseball bat and a machete. This guy was going to find a way to kill, no matter what.
There is evil in the world and no amount of legislating or second-guessing will snuff it out. An Alaskan grizzly might be a deadly predator, but it acts out of instinct for its own survival. We expect more of our fellow humans. Kyle Huff may have had his reasons for doing what he did, but even if we had the answer, it wouldn't save us from the stark reality that there are predators among us who feed on the innocent."
Early in the morning on March 25,2006, Kyle Huff returned to an all night party. He spray painted "NOW" on the sidewalk as he carried a shotgun and two bandoliers of 12 gauge ammo. Once inside, he went about creating a massacre of the party for no readily apparent reason. Huff's last act, when confronted by Steve Leonard, a sworn officer of the law, was to blow his own brains out with his shotgun. Police spokesman Sean Whitcomb stated police found an "assault rifle", multiple "banana clips" carrying 30 bullets each, a machete and several hundred more rounds of ammunition in Huff's automobile. Whitcomb said the gunman was "extremely dangerous" and it was fortunate there were not more victims.
Four young men and two young women were killed and two people were hospitalized in serious condition. The city of Seattle, in it's shock and grief, wonders what could have averted this tragedy. Seattle's Chief of Police, Gil Kerlikowske, has long been a fierce proponent of gun control. In fact, he was honored the previous day by CeaseFire, a radical anti-gun organization, for his diligence in opposing the second amendment.
Kyle Huff was charged with felony criminal mischief in 2000 after shooting a statue with a shotgun at an art exhibit. Kyle Huff was should have been a felon. Possessing a shotgun was should have been illegal for him. It was should have been illegal for him to possess a shotgun. Every weapon found in his car, if possessed by Huff, was should have been illegal. Gun control legislation did not persuade Kyle Huff not to obtain firearms. Gun control legislation did not dissuade Kyle Huff from going on a mad rampage. Only an armed officer of the law arriving on the scene stopped this massacre. Seven people died in Seattle, and more were injured and scarred for life. Anti-gun legislation did nothing to stop it.
This massacre was stopped by an armed response. Steve Leonard did not stop this massacre. An officer of the law did not stop this massacre. Only an armed response, by Steve Leonard, a sworn officer of the law stopped this massacre. If one, only one, of these party goers had been sober with a concealed handgun, the mass murderer could have been stopped sooner. Perhaps his would have been the only life lost that night.
But Chief Kerlikowske wants those evil guns off the streets. What is lost on Kerlikowske and others like him is the guns are not evil. The people wielding them can be though. An evil person armed with a firearm will not be stopped by legislation. They will not be deterred by legislation. They will only be stopped by an armed response.
Update: On Nov. 21, 2000, police arrested Kyle Huff for shooting downtown sculptures with a shotgun and a handgun. Originally charged with felony criminal mischief, the charge was later reduced to a misdemeanor and small a fine. Link. The relevant passages above have thus been altered.
Seven dead, two injured. Huff had to reload at some time during his rampage. One armed citizen...........
It happened again between San Francisco and Los Angeles. In Pismo Beach California, a mad man armed himself with two handguns, entered a Denny's restaurant and began taking lives. He managed to kill two people and shoot two others in the butt before barricading himself inside the restaurant. Lawrence E. Woods, 60, eventually ended the stand off by taking his own life.
"For 64 year old Frank Velasquez and his 5 year old great-grandchild, it was supposed to be a special day. They were going to have lunch together. Seeing his grandchildren made the Army veteran happy.
The pair walked into the Denny’s restaurant off Five Cities Drive and Fourth Street in Pismo Beach shortly after noon. Velasquez’s wife, LaVina, 72, was with them. It was familiar territory. Velasquez ate at the restaurant at least twice a week. "That was one of his favorite restaurants," said his granddaughter, Crystal Tanner, 27, of Santa Maria. "Today was their special day."
Minutes later, LaVina and their great-grandchild watched in horror as Velasquez was gunned down by a man who walked inside and began shooting."
Frank Velasquez was murdered in front of his grandchild. It will be a memory that will likely shape that child's life forever.
Oppressive gun laws in California did not prevent this horror. Oppressive gun laws in California aided and abetted this horror. A single person with a concealed handgun and the willingness to use it could have prevented this tragedy. If Mr. Velasquez, a law abiding veteran of the US Army, had been allowed to carry a firearm under his clothing, the outcome in Denny's would have been different. His beloved grandchild would not carry a horrible memory of his death; a child would still have a grandfather. Perhaps more lives would have been saved. This memory was brought to a child in part by a delusional attempt at preventing violence by controlling the means to quell violence.
It seems the late Mr. George Temple was indeed an enterprising businessman. While Officer Brian Harrison was writing Mr. Temple a traffic citation, Mr. Temple decided to grease a palm and bribe the law officer. Police officials would not say how much money Temple offered Harrison, only that Temple had several thousand dollars on him at the time. Officer Harrison refused the bribe and began the process of arresting Mr. Temple for bribery. Public bribery is a felony in Louisiana. According to court records, Temple was already on probation for simple battery and simple damage to property at the time of his death.
Thus, Officer Harrison was arresting a felon with a history of criminal behavior when Mr. Temple, a trained boxer, lashed out with brute force against the law officer. When Perry Stephens intervened to assist the officer, George Temple was on top of Officer Harrison, beating him to a bloody pulp. Temple already had one of Officer Harrison's bullets in his abdomen. Citizen Stephens shot Temple four times in the torso. When Temple did not stop his attack, Citizen Stephens stopped the attack the only way he could. He put a bullet in Temple's head.
The NAACP is demanding a federal investigation into this incident of a thug attacking an officer of the law and being stopped by a law abiding citizen.
Lessons learned: 1. Multiple COM hits with a .45ACP may not stop a determined attacker. 2. A cranial shot will stop a determined attacker. 3. Sometimes policemen are damned glad citizens carry guns. 4. The NAACP would rather support thugs than the law.
A witness has emerged to reveal several pertinent details in the shooting involving a police officer which has caused racial discord in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Auto Zone store records place this witness in the parking lot as the fight and deadly shooting occurred. The witness tells a story not heard before, stating he heard exactly what was said between Officer Brian Harrison and his attacker, George Temple. Out of fear of retaliation, the witness has requested his identity not be disclosed.
The witness states he was parked just a couple of spaces away from the black Mercedes Benz George Temple was driving. At first, he didn't pay much attention to the man getting a ticket from the police officer, until he heard Temple and Officer Brian Harrison start to yell at each other. The witness says Temple called the officer a punk and said "you're just jealous of my car". Next, the officer and Temple started to struggle in a fight that went to the ground, with Temple on top of the officer. According to the witness, "You could here them muffled... 'Mother' this and that. 'I told you not to mess with me, I told you -- I'm a beast, I told you not to mess with me. I told you, I told you.' "
The witness says the officer took quite a beating.
Witness: "I mean, Mr. Temple was a big man."
Reporter: "What was the officer saying?"
Witness: " 'Help me, help me!' That's when he started screaming."
That's when a bystander in a neckbrace, Perry Stephens, shot Temple four times with a .45 automatic, and when Temple still would not stop the attack, Perry put a bullet in Temple's head. Even though the witness believes Stephens likely saved the officer's life, he does take issue with one part of Stephens' story. The witness says he never heard Stephens give a threat or a warning before he shot Temple. "The man probably saved the officer's life... but he did not give out a warning," he says. "But if this would have been on a dark road, we would probably be looking for a cop killer, to be honest with you."
Stephens eventually ended the struggle between Temple and Harrison with a shot to the back of Temple's head. "I heard Temple had a daughter, my heart goes out to the family. But Mr. Temple was aggressive to the officer. If the officer would have shot him, I probably wouldn't have even called Channel 9."
The NAACP is busily creating turmoil with the investigation, attacking the Baton Rouge Police Department's policies as well as Officer Harrison. The witness sees it differently. "I say the officer did everything he needed to do. If I would have been pulled over, I wouldn't have had an attitude, because the officer did everything he was supposed to do." The witness says he doesn't want any trouble or attention. He says he just couldn't sit on the truth anymore. Incidentally the witness is a black man. Sorry NAACP, it's going to be hard to play the race card against him.
On Friday, Feb. 17, 2005, a CCW holder armed with a .45 caliber handgun saved a policeman's life in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Officer Brian Harrision was escorting a funeral procession when he pulled over 24 year old George Temple II, a local businessman, to write him a ticket for breaking into the procession. That's when Temple physically attacked Harrison. During the struggle, which went to the ground, Officer Harrison shot Temple once in the abdomen. Police say Perry Stephens, who was wearing a neck brace and using a cane, was walking out of a store when he heard Officer Harrison yelling for help. Harrison was on his back with Temple on top of him. Stephens went to his car and grabbed his .45 caliber pistol.
Stephens ordered Harrison's attacker to stop the attack and get off the officer. The verbal commands were ignored. The armed citizen fired four shots, all of which struck Temple in the torso. With Temple still on top of the officer, Stephens advanced toward the struggle. He again ordered Temple to stop the attack, and get off the officer. Those commands are ignored. Stephens then fired a fifth and final shot into the head of George Temple, turning his brains into mush, and stopping his deadly attack with justified lethal force.
Taking two events where the good guy fell victim to the deranged shooter, and analyzing what went wrong is a task worthy of a skilled diplomat. A Tactical Analysis of the Tyler Courthouse Shooting and the Tacoma Mall Shooting by Syd of The Sight is just such an article. Syd has done both Mark Wilson and Dan McKown justice, recognizing their heroism while examining their mistakes. From that, we all can learn, and perhaps be better prepared to survive. Thank you Syd. Give it a read!
On November 21,2005, Dominick Sergio Maldonado, 20, of Tacoma, Washington pleaded not guilty to assault, kidnapping and firearms charges for shooting up the Tacoma Mall. He is being held on $2 million bail. Police say Maldonado stormed through the mall shooting randomly at shoppers. He surrendered to law enforcement about four hours later after shooting six people and taking four hostages in a Sam Goody music store. On November 22, police were still trying to determine how Maldonado, a convicted felon, had obtained the two weapons he carried into the mall. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is helping Tacoma detectives trace the history of the weapons. Enough about the criminal scum. His deranged actions simply set the stage for the real story.
Brendan "Dan" McKown was delivering a bank deposit for Excalibur Cutlery, a mall gift store, when gunshots scattered shoppers at noon in Tacoma. Dan McKown was an armed CCW holder. Witnesses state that McKown stood about 20 feet from the gunman when he faced him and drew his own pistol before being shot. Whether he spoke to the gunman is unknown. "Our understanding is that Dan drew his weapon and confronted the gunman," his stepmother, Beverly McKown, said during a news conference Tuesday at Tacoma General Hospital. “Dan is always one who believed in protecting people and he put his life on the line for other people,” McKown's father said. “His actions and the actions of others like him may have prevented additional casualties by confronting the aggression and possibly changing the gunman’s action early in the conflict.”
McKown, 38, was shot twice in the abdomen and has been on life support, said hospital spokesman Todd Kelley. The two bullets severely damaged McKown's intestines and abdominal muscles, but doctors were able to repair the damage. Tragically, McKown also suffered injury to his spinal cord. A second surgery to remove bullet and bone fragments from his spinal canal was successful, Kelley stated, but the bullets caused "significant nerve damage that will likely result in permanent paralysis." McKown was being brought out of a medically induced coma Tuesday. The other shooting victims were treated at hospitals and released. A longtime friend of McKown's who talked with witnesses after the shooting said McKown always carried a gun. "He's always been worried about the way society is going, and for him, carrying a handgun was less for himself than for others," Syrus Corbin said. McKown "has always had a fear of being there when someone flips out and just starts shooting people, and I'll be damned if it didn't happen to him." Employees of the Kits Camera store, where McKown fell, cared for him for more than an hour before he could be rushed to the hospital. He was conscious, they said, but were unsure if he said anything.
The McKowns, of Yelm, Thurston County, described their bachelor son as a look-alike of late-night TV host Conan O'Brien, with a great sense of humor, a passion for photography and a deep Christian faith. They said that while they are worried he may be paralyzed for life, they are certain McKown's faith will sustain him. The Dan McKown Medical Fund, set up to help offset McKown's expenses, has been established through the Bank of America. Donations may be made at any Bank of America branch, the family said. The account number is 83799 577. The family would also like to encourage people to go to their local blood bank and donate blood in Dan McKown's name.
The McKowns, who are active in prison ministries in part because McKown's father spent some time behind bars years ago for his own "bad choices," said they have been praying nonstop for their son and for Maldonado. "We are not angry," said Beverly McKown. "We are praying for Dan and we are praying for this boy. God is a healer."
Many, including myself, will argue whether Brendan McKown's decision to take on a rifleman while armed only with a handgun was a wise decision. What is inarguable is that it was a courageous decision. Brendan "Dan" McKown, thank you. Your actions are a credit to CCW holders everywhere.
Xavier is a Registered Nurse who specialized in complex wound care. He has practiced for over fourteen years in his community. He often provided nursing service in areas where law enforcement refused to enter without back-up. Xavier now works in surgery.
Xavier has been an avid shooter for over 30 years. He strongly supports the 2nd Amendment, opposes gun control of any sort, and carries a weapon 24 hours a day.
Xavier is known on various internet gun forums as XavierBreath. He is married with three children, and is moderated by an apathetic one eyed cat, a goofy Golden Retriever, and a stalwart German Shepherd Dog. One day, he hopes to be deserving of them all.
Domari Nolo
Xavier can still be emailed at
treatmewithbenignneglect@gmail.com
He might read your email.
He might delete it on sight.
He might publish it and comment on it.
The Five Rules of Concealed Carry
1. Your concealed handgun is for protection of life only.
2. Know exactly when you can use your gun.
3. If you can run away -- RUN!
4. Display your gun, be prepared to go to jail.
5. Don't let your emotions get the best of you.
