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Lessons to be learned here.
Lessons from this: Video of CCW shot from behind by Texas cop-killer (Las Vegas 2014)
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Lessons to be learned here.
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Hey, Richard. I really like the job the narrator did in this video. Well thought-out, and well presented.
This is about as textbook as a real-life incident can be, all captured on video. The armed citizen's mistakes should provide many takeaways. Here are a few of mine:
He immediately went tunnel-vision on the assailant he identified as a threat and closed on him, forgetting that distance was his friend;
He failed to check his world. The female was gun-in-hand during the entire lead-in to the shooting;
He totally disregarded cover/concealment;
He attempted to apprehend the threat instead of stopping the threat. This one is arguable, for sure, but if I, as a private citizen feel compelled to draw on an armed assailant/active shooter, I feel compelled to shoot him without verbal warning. If he is ready and willing to die anyway, chances are good that he will raise his gun and fire on me rather than submit to my commands.
Great topic. Thanks
This is about as textbook as a real-life incident can be, all captured on video. The armed citizen's mistakes should provide many takeaways. Here are a few of mine:
He immediately went tunnel-vision on the assailant he identified as a threat and closed on him, forgetting that distance was his friend;
He failed to check his world. The female was gun-in-hand during the entire lead-in to the shooting;
He totally disregarded cover/concealment;
He attempted to apprehend the threat instead of stopping the threat. This one is arguable, for sure, but if I, as a private citizen feel compelled to draw on an armed assailant/active shooter, I feel compelled to shoot him without verbal warning. If he is ready and willing to die anyway, chances are good that he will raise his gun and fire on me rather than submit to my commands.
Great topic. Thanks
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Very good lesson here .
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Never assume a perp is alone. The female shooter was holding her gun right out in the open when the CCer went by her to engage the male perp. If the CCer had proceeded with greater awareness and caution, he would've seen the gun in her hand. He should've eyeballed her carefully as he approached her from behind. The male perp had just fired a shot in the air and everybody else was running for their life, but here's a woman not far behind the shooter who's just casually pushing her shopping cart as if nothing happened - that should've been a pretty obvious clue for the CCer that something wasn't right about her. Unfortunately, the CCer wasn't a sharp enough tack to grasp the situation, and it cost him his life.
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Absolutely. When it's come to shooting, shoot... don't talk.*
* paraphrased from a line in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
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I can see a few cases where going after a shooter might be the prudent thing to do, but frankly very few. In nearly all cases, try to get the hell out of Dodge and let the police do what we pay them to do.
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The only reason I would've gone in the store is if my wife was in there.
If he wanted to be genuinely helpful, he could've stayed near the door and assisted any elderly/infirm/female/child customers in getting out the door in a hurry. He decided to play cop, and sadly it cost him his life.
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Yours is probably the most widely-held opinion in dealing with such situations.
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Agreed. Only way I'd engage the guy is if either family is in harm's way, or it was the only chance I had to survive.
One hopes.
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Very well done video. Just heartbreaking.
Did you notice the CC'er tunnel vision on the male?
As far as OC, did you see that no one took a second look at people walking in public, gun in hand? Relate that to reactions to your OC rig, or a little printing on your CC.
Did you notice the CC'er tunnel vision on the male?
As far as OC, did you see that no one took a second look at people walking in public, gun in hand? Relate that to reactions to your OC rig, or a little printing on your CC.
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It's defensive carry, not offensive carry. That guy went on the offense, and paid the ultimate price for it, unfortunately.
In a mass shooting, the hero helps people get to safety. The hero guards a door for people who are unable to escape. The hero defends. Going on the offense to hunt down the bad guys gets you killed either by the bad guy, or a cop. Because face it, when the cops show up all they know is there's a guy with a gun inside. And guess what? You're a guy with a gun. And this could've gone another way entirely. Maybe the woman accomplice wasn't there, and the good guy shot the bad guy. Only as the good guy was shooting the bad guy, a cop looking for a guy with a gun walks into the aisle, sees the shooting, and shoots the good guy. There are all kinds of other ways the good guy can negatively interfere too. It's just adding one more element into a chaotic environment. It's pointless.
In a mass shooting, the hero helps people get to safety. The hero guards a door for people who are unable to escape. The hero defends. Going on the offense to hunt down the bad guys gets you killed either by the bad guy, or a cop. Because face it, when the cops show up all they know is there's a guy with a gun inside. And guess what? You're a guy with a gun. And this could've gone another way entirely. Maybe the woman accomplice wasn't there, and the good guy shot the bad guy. Only as the good guy was shooting the bad guy, a cop looking for a guy with a gun walks into the aisle, sees the shooting, and shoots the good guy. There are all kinds of other ways the good guy can negatively interfere too. It's just adding one more element into a chaotic environment. It's pointless.
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Stopping an active shooter isn't pointless. I'm fairly certain the intent of the OP was to demonstrate how it isn't done.
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In most cases it is. You exacerbate the situation, possibly put others in danger, interfere with police, and likely end up getting yourself killed either by a shooter or the police. Or, another guy carrying going on the hunt.
So between spending your time and energy making yourself and other safe, and taking an action that likely will result in your death, it is pointless to go on the offensive.
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Active shooters inflict an average of eight casualties per minute for every minute they go unchallenged. Since police response time almost always involves at least a few minutes, the casualty count will grow if nobody acts. All decisions incur risks, to be sure. The intent of the OP was to learn from the video and minimize those risks if one does to act against the shooter(s).
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This is a pretty well documented case but there are still many lessons to be gleaned. At the outset I will say that I consider Mr. Wilcox to be a true hero. You can armchair QB him eight ways from Sunday but the fact is that he risked, and ultimately lost, his life trying to stop what he almost certainly believed was an active shooter. Bear in mind that there had been a few high profile shootings in the months before this incident. Even though he was killed I don't think it's accurate to say he failed. The odds are very good that he disrupted or altered the plans of the two maggots that had in fact already killed some cops.
That said, he made some serious mistakes- and some of them are mistakes most of us would also make. Out of all the active shooters you can think of how many were female? It's very uncommon indeed. Tunnel vision (locking in on the guy shouting and waving his gun) blinded him to his surrounding. Cognitive biases about what a perp looks like probably played into it as well. Even a well trained person can miss seeing a "tailgunner". The situation unfolded rapidly but Wilcox jumped in too quickly, before he had a chance to assess the situation.
Beyond the tactical errors, this video highlights a fact that we mustn't lose sight of; any time you decide to fight, there's a chance you will lose. You can do everything right, you can carry the right gear, you can have excellent training, etc...and still lose. When the violence starts all bets are off.
That said, he made some serious mistakes- and some of them are mistakes most of us would also make. Out of all the active shooters you can think of how many were female? It's very uncommon indeed. Tunnel vision (locking in on the guy shouting and waving his gun) blinded him to his surrounding. Cognitive biases about what a perp looks like probably played into it as well. Even a well trained person can miss seeing a "tailgunner". The situation unfolded rapidly but Wilcox jumped in too quickly, before he had a chance to assess the situation.
Beyond the tactical errors, this video highlights a fact that we mustn't lose sight of; any time you decide to fight, there's a chance you will lose. You can do everything right, you can carry the right gear, you can have excellent training, etc...and still lose. When the violence starts all bets are off.
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The lesson to take away from this is to get to your car. There are very few trainers, law enforcement or others that would consistently be able to detect a trailing accomplice with any degree of certainty. Y'all can John Wayne, all you want...I will be on my way to the car.
Yes! You can see how Mr. Wilcox locked in on the male shooter right away. It looks like the male shooter was a little ahead of the female because she grabbed a shopping cart. Too bad that he didn't notice that they were both carrying large bags with them. That might have given him a clue that they were together. I have learned to get behind cover and observe without being real obvious. That is what I did when I was in a store with my wife and a guy came in with a winter parka on in the middle of the summer. But the guy with the parka wasn't shouting or shooting so that was a different story. Even if you are going to make for the exit you need to learn to get behind cover until the danger has passed. Wasn't this a video of the same couple who had just murdered a couple of police officers in a restaurant just minutes before? I'm guessing that the shooter he didn't want to name was Amanda Miller because that was what she was called before.
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