Two armed citizens stepped up to the plate this week, eliminating threats and saving countless lives.
On Saturday, July 16th and Sunday, July 17th two separate incidents happened in two different states where civilians utilized their 2A rights to eliminate lethal threats.
On Saturday in St. Louis 26-year old Lance Bush, a homeless man who was living in the city, made the grave error of attempting to rob a gas station, holding the clerk at knife-point. He had been on a “violent crime spree” targeting multiple gas stations in St. Charles, Mo., early Saturday morning when a customer taking a bathroom break at a third station shot and killed him.
“Police Officers arrived to discover the suspect had been shot by a citizen during the armed robbery. The suspect was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced deceased,” St. Charles police said in a Facebook post.
An alert citizen who had stopped at the store to use the bathroom felt that something was off when he saw a black SUB pull in. He decided to stick around for a few moments. Luckily for the store clerk it’s a good thing he did, as he watched a man exit the vehicle and enter the store, only to appear moments later dragging the clerk to the counter with a knife to her neck.
“The witness retrieved his 9mm handgun, entered the store, and confronted the suspect,” police said. “The suspect grabbed his backpack and told the witness, ‘I have something for you.’ The suspect then comes from around the counter and approached the witness who fired several times at the suspect who fell to the floor.”
The witness and the clerk both called 911. When police arrived, they noticed that the black SUV had been reported stolen on Friday. Inside the vehicle were items they believed had been stolen from the second gas station.
Greenwood, Indiana 911 received multiple calls from people around 6:05 pm reporting an active shooter at the Greenwood Park Mall. Jonathan Sapirman, the 20-year-old gunman, entered the mall’s food court and opened fire, killing three people before 22-year-old Elisjsha Dicken, of Seymour, took action. He quickly fired off 10 rounds from 40 years away, striking the gunman 8 times and eliminating the threat.
“The real hero of the day is the citizen that was lawfully carrying a firearm in that food court and was able to stop that shooter almost as soon as he began,” Greenwood Police Chief Jim Ison told reporters during a press conference on Sunday night.
Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers also confirmed that the suspect was “shot by an armed individual,” whom he called a “good Samaritan.”
“This person saved lives tonight,” Myers said in a statement late Sunday. “On behalf of the City of Greenwood, I am grateful for his quick action and heroism in this situation.”
The Johnson County and Marion County coroners’ offices identified the slain victims as a married Indianapolis couple — Pedro Pineda, 56, and Rosa Mirian Rivera de Pineda, 37 — and Victor Gomez, 30, also of Indianapolis. A woman and a 12-year-old girl who was hit by shrapnel were wounded in the attack, police said.
Surveillance footage shows the killer entered the mall shortly before 5 p.m. Sunday evening. He was armed with multiple firearms and spent approximately one hour in a bathroom before he opened fire at patrons in the Greenwood Park mall food court. Police said he exited the bathroom at 5:56:48 and was neutralized by 5:57:03.
A lawyer for Dicken said Monday that his client wouldn’t be making any comments until police had completed their investigation.
“Because we want to respect the ongoing criminal investigation by the Greenwood Police Department and take time to honor the three innocent lives lost, we won’t be making any substantive comments on Sunday’s events until after the authorities’ investigation is closed,” attorney Guy Relford said in a statement.
Despite what the left may claim, good guys with guns do make a difference. Both of these gentlemen stepped up and did something that many would. Because they were excercising their Second Amendment rights they were able to save countless lives.
