Mississippi: Good Guy With a Gun

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Bunkster

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http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070305/NEWS/703050350/1001/NEWS

Passer-by uses gun to halt attack

By Nicklaus Lovelady
[email protected]

Brian Albert Broom/The Clarion-Ledger

As customers watched in horror Sunday afternoon, a man stabbed a woman and attempted to set her on fire in the parking lot of a Jackson store, witnesses said.

The attack was stopped by a passer-by, who held the man at gunpoint until police arrived, witnesses said.

The suspect, Henry Watson, 42, was arrested and is expected to face aggravated assault charges, Jackson Police Department Cmdr. Lee Vance said. Watson's wife, Gracie Watson, 42, was transported to the University of Mississippi Medical center, where she was listed in good condition.

"It wasn't five minutes from when she had left my line when I heard a scream outside," said Theresa Stuckey, a cashier at the Family Dollar at 516 Nakoma Drive in Jackson. "I looked out, and (the attacker) was on top of her stabbing her, and stabbing her and stabbing her.

"She was screaming, 'Help, he's trying to kill me!' She was rolling on the ground, trying to get out of the way, but he kept stabbing her. He stabbed her about 20 times in the neck, back and arms."

As the attack continued, people were yelling at the man to stop and honking their horns, Stuckey said. She said she called 911.

"He was just standing over her hacking away," said Dolly Baker, who had just left the Save-A-Lot store next door when she saw the attack.

Baker said she watched the man pour gasoline on the victim then try to strike a match.

"He was literally trying to kill that lady in broad daylight," she said.

Baker said a passer-by stopped the attack.

"He told the man, 'Stop, or I'm going to shoot. And if you run, I'm going to kill you,' " Baker said.

The man held Watson at bay until police arrived at the scene.

"Right now, all we know is that (Watson) attacked his wife. For what reason, we don't know," Jackson Police Department Sgt. Eric Smith said.

Police said they are looking for the passer-by who stopped the attack and would like to talk to him but don't know who he is or where he went.

The incident occurred about 3:50 p.m.

Smith said he did not know exactly how many times Gracie Watson was stabbed but said it was more than 10 times.
 
[SARCASM]

He shouldn't have done anything. The law does not expect citizens to intervene. We are not police officers. Having a CCW does not give you an obligation to act, so it is wrong if you do. He should have just called 911 and been a good witness at the murder trial, especially since it was on someone else's property. If he wanted to go around saving lives, he should have become a cop or joined the army. A CCW is only for the protection of oneself and one's family.

[/SARCASM]


I commend this man for stepping above the expected bare minimum and putting his life and financial welfare on the line for a stranger. "The only thing required for evil to flourish, is for good men to do nothing". Well this man didn't do nothing. He acted, and saved a life. Good job.


On a side note, while I can't be 100% what I WOULD have done, since I haven't been in this situation yet, I will say that I think that I would have just shot the guy. If I see someone stab a woman 20 times and then try to set her on fire, that guy is going to get it right then, right there. The actual CCWer in the story showed a lot of restraint by just holding him there IMO.
 
Also how the guy said "stop or I will shoot or if you run I will kill you" That makes him look bad. I thought that shooting at someone while they run away is a big NO NO. I wonder if he had a permit for the pistol?
 
He did EXACTLY what he should of done.
No press, no lawsuit, no trouble from cops for 'branishing'...

(He might not have had a CCW...)
 
Agreed. Sometimes, not everything should happen according to protocol or to the letter of the law. Well satirized, taurusowner.
 
Also how the guy said "stop or I will shoot or if you run I will kill you" That makes him look bad. I thought that shooting at someone while they run away is a big NO NO.

Not necessarily. In many places, as long as you can articulate the idea that the person you shot had just committed (or was about to commit) a forcible felony, you have justification. In this case, since you just witnessed an attempted murder, you could pretty easily justify the thought that the attacker may well commit more attacks, or take hostages if he needed to, in order to escape.
 
Sounds like a smart man. Saying “And if you run, I'm going to kill you” is not the same as actually doing the deed. Maybe that was just a bluff.

News Shooter said:
The guy draws down on the guy until the cops arrive but leaves before the cops arrive?
As far as pulling a Houdini, makes him look even smarter.

Who knows, though? First, you have to wonder if the media got the facts. Then you have to wonder if the facts were accurately reported. In all actuality, the mystery responder was probably an alien anthropologist from the planet Gorzarg-5 on a research mission who violated mission protocol by interfering with test subjects.
 
What he actually said may have been different... we have to assume that the victim or others overheard him.

+1 on an Atta-boy for the fellow for doing the right thing, then disappearing!
 
How did the good citizen know that the knifeman was not an undercover cop? How did he know that the woman was not the actual bad guy and the knifeman was just defending his life? How did he know that the woman was not a terrorist with a dirty bomb and the knifeman was doing the only thing possible to keep the bomb from going off? :p

...

In Arizona, the law allows the threat of deadly force in certain situations where the use of deadly force is not allowed. In those circumstances, it's not unlawful to lie to the guy and claim you'll shoot when you won't. In Arizona.
 
A CCW is only for the protection of oneself and one's family.

While this was posted under a Sarcasm banner, I don't quite agree with this. Louisiana statues on CCW state that it is for one's self, family and any person that can not reasonably protect themselves. Thus it would be unjust for someone that does have a CCW and is carrying to just around and wait for the guy to stop. Regardless of it taking someone carrying a gun to make the guy stop, other people should have been trying to do something prior to that. It was a grocery store for deities-sake. Someone throw a can of corn at the guy or something. Yes, that was stated in all seriousness. There should have been plenty of stuff around to use as a deterrant to make the guy stop prior to the CCW guy showing up. Those other viewers should all be very ashamed of themselves for not truly attempting to help.
 
+1 on the people needing to do something before the hero with the gun.
I can't say much more than that, as I once watched as a woman nearly choked to death on some food because I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to do the Heimlich or not, or whether someone else was going to do it. I kick myself to this day for not having the brains or cajones to act quickly and correctly. She ended up okay, but I felt the sleeze.
Kudos for the hero. If the account is accurate and he did the mystery hero thing, sure, maybe he wasn't legal, but maybe he had a date or something. Maybe he was afraid of the law, maybe he just wants to be left alone. The press can be a pain. I hope he tells a friend what happened and that friend buys him a steak dinner.
 
Police said they are looking for the passer-by who stopped the attack and would like to talk to him but don't know who he is or where he went.

It is entirely possible that this good man has been a good samaritan in the past and recieved a tremendous load of misery from the authorities as reward for his good deed. Perhaps this time he felt anonymity was the better and more discreet thing to do. The phrase "no good deed goes unpunished" didn't appear out of thin air without a reason.
 
Quoted as saying

"stop or I will shoot or if you run I will kill you"
Oh, yes?

According to whom?

He left. He wasn't interviewed. I'm guessing the victim didn't actually hear him and is, in any case, an unreliable witness.

That leaves . . . ?

The bad guy? A random witness?

Any number of reasons not to stick around.

Must have been a telephone booth nearby.
 
I thought that shooting at someone while they run away is a big NO NO.
In NYS the use of deadly physical force is authorized to stop a laundry list of violent crimes from being completed, or to prevent the immediate egress of the perpetrator. Murder is of course on the list, so is forcible rape, and violent robbery.
Police said they are looking for the passer-by who stopped the attack and would like to talk to him but don't know who he is or where he went.
I wonder if the hero was a "prohibited person".
 
Good for him for saving her. In many places nobody will lift a finger to save someone else. The being in a public place making people safer is a fallacy, as someone being attacked or murdered especialy if the attacker is armed, or there is multiple attackers will usualy not be stopped by anyone until authorities arrive, which is often too late. The only difference is there will be many witnesses after the fact to hold the individual(s) accountable.

I have lived in some seedy places for short times before, and gang beatings or rapes in public parks or in broad daylight on a street/alley would happen frequently with no rescue of the victim even though the crimes were widely witnessed. The gang members were often armed, and the locals wouldn't want to incur the wrath of the thugs' retaliations later, or have to be involved in the legal issues afterwards. So the victim was allowed to be victimized.

This happens less frequently in nicer areas, but the response is often the same, and in fact worse as the locals are so horrified and shocked and not used to standing up for themselves physicaly, let alone someone else. So calls to the the police are faster, the police response is faster, but the victim is still usualy on thier own until authorities arrive.

Police then often encourage this behavior and tell people to be good witnesses and not get involved in such things. That there was nothing they could have done..person was armed after all, don't beat yourself up over not helping, you did the right thing by witnessing the murder and helping catch and prosecute the bad guy after the fact. It is really sickening.
Then again it is self serving as it increases the police budget, as the community wants faster response times as thier safety is left in the hands of people outside the community. Police get better salaries, better budgets, and the police brass get more local authority. So everyone pays a lot more to live in a less civil or self reliant police state.

Good job on someone doing something to save this woman. Anyone that told themselves afterwards that her being burned alive would have been out of thier hands and there was nothing they could have done should just drive off the nearest cliff and counsel themselves as they fall that the car was already moving and wheels pointed in that direction and there was nothing they could do.
 
That this guy left actually raises in interesting question. If you have just used deadly force or the threat of deadly force against a BG, is there any duty under the law to either 1) wait for the police to arrive and give a statement, or 2) if you need to flee, report the incident to the police?

Suppose they do ID this observer and bring him in for basic questioning, is there anything they can charge him with for just disappearing after what he did?

I know the answers to these questions may vary depending on state/jurisdiction, but I'm still curious.
 
Well, at least the good samaritan shooter doesn't have to worry about a Grand Jury, or civil suits... unless he were somehow identified. Doubt the police really will look too hard for him.

And I bet someone will take exception to this statement at some point...
 
A CCW is only for the protection of oneself and one's family.

In California, you are allowed to use a CCW for the protection of others in immediate harm. Does not have to be you or family. Can be a stranger. I know for sure, I asked my CCW instructor this exact question at my class a few weeks ago.
 
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