We’ve been busy with family lately, and we’re just now catching up on the news of the weekend. Included with that is the news of what happened in Vegas. Interestingly, catching up on the story after the police have had time to investigate a bit more, you see different information from what is often left out of “breaking” coverage. One is that the victim at Wal-Mart was a concealed carry holder who actually successfully confronted the male shooter, but didn’t realize that he had a partner in the crime.
From the report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, police say that the concealed carry holder confronted the male shooter while the female shooter was pushing a shopping cart. She then slipped behind the concealed carry holder and shot him at close range, unfortunately.
“He had no idea the wife was walking behind him,†the police official said of the murdered man. “This guy (Wilcox) was not some idiot with a gun. “He had no idea the wife was walking behind him,†the police official said of the murdered man. “This guy (Wilcox) was not some idiot with a gun. To me, he was a hero. He was trying to stop an active shooter.â€â€
“but didn’t realize that he had a partner in the crime.”
Not nearly enough people actually train for situational awareness and how quickly tunnel vision sets in with stress.
The fastest quick draw grand master shooter in the world who doesn’t see it coming can fall to some idiot who can’t figure out the safety.
Assume if there is a threat you can see, there is one you can’t and moving your eyes around is not the same thing as seeing.
Hero indeed, but dead hero none the less :(
I just read the whole article. It sounds like this couple was the gun prohibitionists’ long awaited wet dream – they left a Gadsden Flag on one of the cops’ bodies, they wanted to be part of the Bundy Ranch militia, they were from fly-over country (Indiana), and left behind an anti-government manifesto. If MSNBC isn’t going nuts yet, just wait.
The male was a prohibited person as he was a felon. It doesn’t look like any background check stopped him from obtaining a firearm.
Not to mention, they apparently told people that they were leaving to go kill some cops, and no one appears to have been concerned enough to do anything about that. (At least as referenced in that article, maybe they did call the cops to try and report them and that was omitted.) They also say their “best friend” claims she didn’t know they were crazy, but was also holding on to their plans to shoot up a courthouse and execute public officials. These people were setting off all sorts of alarm bells and yet no one reported anything.
Sadly, I fear that this may be used as an argument AGAINST concealed carry. That said, I hope that it convinces more people that concealed (and open) carry is a good thing.
I didn’t read any useful information about what started the Walmart confrontation, just the fact that he was ambushed from behind.
As someone from Dan McKown’s home town, and who was here and got in on all the original press coverage, I’m even more fond of Tuco’s advice than ever: “If you have to shoot, shoot-don’t talk [or anything else].”
I guess I missed the edit window. Add to the end:
“But without knowing more about the Walmart scenario, it’s not clear if failure-to-follow-that-advice was part of what went wrong there (as it did for Dan) or not.”
He apparently had no trouble telling that the male suspect was a “bad guy with a gun” by his actual actions aside from being armed in public.
While I do not know the civilian in this incident, one of the murdered officers, Alyn Beck, was a friend. This entire incident is a tragedy. A tragedy that 3 good men, 2 with young families, had to die senslessly. A tragedy that the evil killers appear to be ready made for the anti gunners to have a melt down hissy fit of ecstasy as they crawl over the dead and grieving to push a useless agenda. Should the civilian, Joseph Wilcox, have done something differently when the deranged shooter fired a round in the air in the Walmart? Would any of us? He took action he felt necessary. We can debate forever situational awareness, and I will certainly use this situation on the radio, tv and print as a training example (much like any other shooting we owe it to the dead to learn from their sacrifice), but ultimately he made a choice to defend himself and others from a homicidal man who WAS an immediate threat and I’ll not ridicule that call.
Michael,
Who’s ridiculing anybody? The whole point of an after-action review is to learn something (even if that something ends up being “you can do everything right and still be ambushed”.)
Kirk,
I should have been clearer. I’m not suggesting anyone here has (or would) ridicule any of the good guys involved, though a few in Las Vegas have. Fortunately they are in the minority. Our Sheriff made a point of calling the civilian a hero, which he was.
Your point is very well taken. Alyn was a use of force/tactical/firearms instructor who was as vigilant as any officer I’ve ever known and he was ambushed too. After action evaluation is vital to law enforcement and armed civilians alike and hopefully these three brave mens sacrifices will be put to good use.
I went to the Goodwill down there at one point to pick up some cheap furniture for an apartment.
We kept on driving and went somewhere else. Not a nice part of town IIRC. It would definitely be a “if you need to stop the car here, be armed and bring a friend” type of place IMO.