Police say armed shoppers slowed search for Walmart shooter

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Bruenor
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Police say armed shoppers slowed search for Walmart shooter

Post by Bruenor »

Can understand wanting to protect yourself in an incident, but drawing a firearm when you don't see a threat.. hmm OF course maybe they could see him from where they were.. I can see both sides here, and am torn. Yes I want to protect myself and my family, no I don't want to be mistaken for the bad guy, by a police officer or some overzealous citizen.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... oting.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Police say startled shoppers at the Colorado Walmart where a shooter opened fire and killed three stalled the search process after they drew their own handguns in defense.

The shoppers' immediate response to the violent event 'absolutely slowed' investigation as it left authorities scanning through surveillance tapes in pursuit of the single armed attacker.

The few innocent yet armed individuals were eventually weeded out as suspects, amid the several hour-long investigation which began Wednesday night and into Thursday morning.
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Re: Police say armed shoppers slowed search for Walmart shoo

Post by WY_Not »

I don't know. If you are hearing the shots, I'd probably at the very least consider erring on the side of caution as well. Having your own firearm drawn and at low ready, even though you can't see the shooter but can hear the shots, might just give you that extra little bit of time needed if the shooter were to come around the end of the aisle and turn towards you and your family. Or it might just get you shot if the person coming around the end of the aisle is a LEO. Tough choice and not one I envy those who were in the situation.

As for the LEO's complaining about those actions slowing their investigation... Frankly I couldn't care less about their convenience. The safety of my family is first and foremost.
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Re: Police say armed shoppers slowed search for Walmart shoo

Post by Javelin Man »

Perhaps it made the police be more thorough in their investigation. It was probably very obvious which the bad guy was (hint, the guy pointing the gun and firing shots with people in front of him falling down) so I really don't see how this hindered their investigation.
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Re: Police say armed shoppers slowed search for Walmart shoo

Post by Chuck »

The options upon hearing gunfire are to prepare to defend yourself, or don’t prepare to defend yourself so it’s easier for the police do perform their clean up reports.

Not much to think about there
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Re: Police say armed shoppers slowed search for Walmart shoo

Post by Brian D. »

{Channeling John Wayne } "Well, pardon me all to hell for not just standin' around waitin' tah be shot, officer!"
Quit worrying, hide your gun well, shut up, and CARRY that handgun!

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Re: Police say armed shoppers slowed search for Walmart shoo

Post by WestonDon »

Should be obvious to the police who is in a defensive posture and who is in an offensive posture.

I suspect any delay was caused by the default assumption by the police that anybody with a gun must be the bad guy.

If the shooter had happened to encounter one of these citizen carriers we might have a whole different narrative.
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Re: Police say armed shoppers slowed search for Walmart shoo

Post by techmike »

Brian D. wrote:{Channeling John Wayne } "Well, pardon me all to hell for not just standin' around waitin' tah be shot, officer!"
Well done Brian, well done!
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Re: Police say armed shoppers slowed search for Walmart shoo

Post by M-Quigley »

Here's another police comment

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/late ... g-50883278" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Thornton police spokesman Victor Avila said Thursday that investigators reviewed store surveillance footage Wednesday night and saw "a few" people inside the store who drew weapons in response to the gunfire.

Avila did not know if any of them were security guards employed by the store.

Avila said officers watched the footage and ruled out each person out as a potential shooter before releasing statements identifying the lone shooter.

He says the customers who pulled out guns did not slow officers' response to the crime scene.
I know of at least one Walmart in my area that has a security person who might be armed, because he is also a cop. I know what Walmart's policy is on the regular employees carrying, but not off duty police working security.
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Re: Police say armed shoppers slowed search for Walmart shoo

Post by Mr. Glock »

WestonDon wrote:Should be obvious to the police who is in a defensive posture and who is in an offensive posture.
.
Not really, PD aren’t super-trained and things move pretty fast. I’ve seen how hard that
can be in FoF and wouldn’t trust Barney Fife to be so discriminating in real life. We would need to defend ourselves (BG) and protect ourselves (from poor target ID by LEOs).
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Re: Police say armed shoppers slowed search for Walmart shoo

Post by WestonDon »

Mr. Glock wrote:
WestonDon wrote:Should be obvious to the police who is in a defensive posture and who is in an offensive posture.
.
Not really, PD aren’t super-trained and things move pretty fast. I’ve seen how hard that
can be in FoF and wouldn’t trust Barney Fife to be so discriminating in real life. We would need to defend ourselves (BG) and protect ourselves (from poor target ID by LEOs).
I would agree with you in the real time, heat of the moment, adrenalin filled, life and death situation. It is my understanding that the original complaint was about viewing the security recording after the perp had already left the premises.
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Re: Police say armed shoppers slowed search for Walmart shoo

Post by High Power »

Another consideration is that these are anti-gun cops saying this stuff to discredit an armed citizenry.
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