# Did we just narrowly avoid another shopping mall shooting? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 26, 2021, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-we-just-narrowly-avoid-another-shopping-mall-shooting/938793 "2021-03-26T18:47:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-we-just-narrowly-avoid-another-shopping-mall-shooting/938793/21 "2021-03-27T18:24:32Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > That’s the problem with the “good guy with a gun” axiom. Sometimes it’s hard to tell who’s who Hell, you can be a cop with a gun and other cops will still think you’re a bad guy. > [@](#): > > An off-duty officer was wounded by “friendly fire” as police looked for suspects after a stolen vehicle fled police and crashed late Wednesday. > > (snip) > > According to a department summary of the incident released later Thursday, two officers who encountered the armed off-duty officer ordered him to the ground. He complied. When they recognized the off-duty officer, they told him he could stand up and walk toward them. > > Another officer just arriving at the scene saw the off-duty officer get up and, not knowing he was an officer, fired his weapon once at the man. He hit the off-duty officer in the arm, the department said. > **[Off-duty St. Louis officer injured by 'friendly fire' after police chase of...](https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-courts/off-duty-st-louis-officer-injured-by-friendly-fire-after/article_761b9cc4-75d1-5023-a38f-c4096f99d114.html)** > > Gunfire erupted after police pursued a stolen car. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-we-just-narrowly-avoid-another-shopping-mall-shooting/938793/22 "2021-03-27T19:42:36Z")
> [@Defensive\_Indifference](#): > > Now, when the School Resource Officer responds to the sound of shots fired, do they: > > 1. Blast away at the person standing there with a gun. > 2. First ask if the person with a gun is a good guy or a bad guy. A lot of police just treat them like they’re dragons. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-we-just-narrowly-avoid-another-shopping-mall-shooting/938793/23 "2021-03-27T20:16:08Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Do you: > > 1. Use your weapon to shoot him and prevent the murder of dozens of children. > 2. Honk your horn at him and give him a thumbs up to show your support for him exercising his constitutional rights. Call 911 and go about your day? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-we-just-narrowly-avoid-another-shopping-mall-shooting/938793/24 "2021-03-27T20:19:48Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > Call 911 and go about your day? You’re going to call 911 to report that while you were out in public with a gun, you saw somebody else out in public with a gun? ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-we-just-narrowly-avoid-another-shopping-mall-shooting/938793/25 "2021-03-27T20:20:47Z")
Sure. Guns aren’t allowed on school campuses here only one of us was breaking the law. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-we-just-narrowly-avoid-another-shopping-mall-shooting/938793/26 "2021-03-27T20:46:43Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > So does loading up in the bathroom! - The bathroom is for unloading only. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-we-just-narrowly-avoid-another-shopping-mall-shooting/938793/27 "2021-03-27T21:00:14Z")
> [@Defensive\_Indifference](#): > > Now, when the School Resource Officer responds to the sound of shots fired, do they: > > 1. Blast away at the person standing there with a gun. > 2. First ask if the person with a gun is a good guy or a bad guy. It’s natural that in a country where everybody and his dog can own and carry guns, police are going to be far quicker to open fire on a perceived threat that in places where this is not the case. So it’s no surprise that there are so many police shootings. And the reaction to the latest mass shooting has been an upsurge in gun sales, so the US appears to be setting itself up to be a nation where everyone is shooting at everyone else because everybody fears the gun-totin’ bad guy, defined as “everyone except themselves”. I’m reminded of this quote from Bill Maher: “New Rule: Gun-control people have to stop pressuring Starbucks to ban guns. I want my gun nuts overcaffeinated, twitchy, and accident-prone. That way, the problem will take care of itself.” ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2022, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-we-just-narrowly-avoid-another-shopping-mall-shooting/938793/28 "2022-05-28T22:51:35Z")
I’ve never forgotten this story from 1990, also from Texas, about a man who shot at a car after a man killed his ex-girlfriend in public, with multiple witnesses. He hadn’t even intended to injure the perp, just disable his car. ISTR that the rifle he used was not properly registered, for which he got something like a $100 fine and some community service, and I was honestly OK with that. I’ve always believed that he was a hero, not a vigilante. > **[Grand Jury Declines to Indict Texas Man in Vigilante Shooting](https://apnews.com/article/f29dcfb8fbe43f1d1783b090d54a9d39)** > > DALLAS (AP) \_ A grand jury Wednesday declined to indict a copier repairman who shot a man to death after seeing the man gun down a woman in a shopping mall. The repairman said he was grateful, but didn't consider himself a hero. Todd Alan... I thought of that after this story emerged, of a woman who fatally shot a man who was later identified as a career criminal, whose weapons were all illegal, last night after he crashed a party, AR-15 in hand. While IDK the woman’s race (so far, she is anonymous, and should remain so if that’s what she wants), and it doesn’t matter, the perp was black, so I fear that the NRA and their cohorts may run with it. > **[Armed female bystander kills man firing at party in West Virginia](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61615236)** > > A woman at a birthday party drew her pistol and left the gunman with multiple wounds, police say. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2022, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-we-just-narrowly-avoid-another-shopping-mall-shooting/938793/29 "2022-05-29T07:17:29Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > > [@mikecurtis](#): > > > > So does loading up in the bathroom! - > > The bathroom is for unloading only.   Then he should have stepped out the back door onto the loading dock. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-we-just-narrowly-avoid-another-shopping-mall-shooting/938793.md?page=1)