Concealed Carrier Shot With His Own Gun When Trying to Stop Domestic Violence Incident

A good samaritan driving down the road on New Years Eve was likely alarmed when he witnessed a man fighting with a woman in the road. According to police reports he saw the man push the woman into the street and hit her on the side of the head.

What would you do?

This good samaritan stopped his car to try to help out the woman. At some point in the altercation, our good samaritan thought the attacking man was drawing a gun. So, our good samaritan drew his gun.

I wish I could say that was the end of the altercation. That the abuser calmed down at the site of the gun and the situation was de-escalated. Not the case.

The alleged criminal took the firearm from our good samaritan and shot it with him repeatedly.

Police reports show the victim had gunshot wounds in his right arm and chest/stomach area.

It so happened to be that an officer, responding to the domestic violence report arrived on scene just in time to see the shots fired. This likely led to EMS responding faster and ultimately served to help the now bleeding concealed carrier.

Ultimately the alleged criminal/shooter/abuser/bad person was apprehended after a brief standoff with police and is being held without bond.

It is never my intention to make light of these situations or the impacts they have on people but I do think from the facts that have been reported that there are some lessons we can learn.

Lesson 1: When It’s Your Turn You Need to Act

I’m not a believer that every time you draw a gun you should follow through with shots. If the presence of the gun can de-escalate a situation I consider that a great bonus. Further, I can see myself drawing a firearm just to shortcut my response time should I later feel a response is necessary in a situation.

However, when the magical/horrible moment arrives that it is clear you need to act, you need to act. Hesitation from that point forward is dangerous. In this case the good samaritan thought the other man had drawn a gun. Perhaps as he drew his own gun he realized he was mistaken? I don’t know.

What I would assume is that when the attacker closed distance to the degree of taking the gun from our good samaritan it would have been clear that the time had come.

Lesson 2: Don’t Assume The Presence of the Gun Will Solve All Problems

Certainly, we’ve all read enough news stories to know that sometimes all you have to do is introduce a firearm into an equation in order to completely defuse the threat. Love it when that happens!

However, and I don’t have any actual data at all, but from my anecdotal experience which is limited to reading news stories and interviewing people involved in DGUs, I sense that the majority of the time the introduction of the gun only escalates the situation.

If you present the firearm you should expect that things are going to get worse and perhaps very quickly.

Lesson 3: Distance = Time and Options

If someone can take your gun from you, they are all too close to you for my comfort. In this case our good samaritan chose to insert himself into the situation. He got to choose where, when, and how he inserted himself.

Choose to create distance because the further away the threat is the more time you have to make decisions and the more options you have to choose from.

Lesson 4: Having Medical Gear On Hand Can Save Lives

When guns are involved people get hurt. Sometimes the good guys too. If you take some shots to an arm and your chest are you prepared to stop the bleeding so you can survive long enough for EMS to arrive?

We don’t have enough information in this incident to know for certain, but certainly its possible that a shot to the arm could cause very serious bleeding such that you may only have 1-5 minutes until you bleed out beyond saving. Shots to the abdominal area aren’t as bad as other parts of the body but certainly really bad things can happen there.

Do you have a trauma kit in your vehicle? Perhaps wrapped around your ankle under your pants? Do you know how to use that gear?