The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Fort Worth CHL Holder Shooting of Robber Video

Double Naught Spy · July 15, 2007, 08:13 AM

There are a few of schools of thought. The first is that since everything turned out okay, he did fine. The other is that things turned out okay only because the bad guys screwed up even more than he did. I am of this school and as such think this is something that can be used as a learning tool. The last school of thought is that the guy should have just waited outside for his wife, calling 911 or whatever, as the cops suggest. I don't think much of that notion.

The guy is a hero, no doubt, but in being a hero, he did many things that were not very good. He was lucky that only the bad guy got injured.

So he sees the bad guys and figures they are up to no good and the bad guys go into the store where his wife is located and start robbing people. Does he call to warn his wife that possible thugs have entered the store? Nope, she has to call him.

So on the video, we see him enter the store with the cell phone in his RIGHT hand which turns out to be his gun hand. On entering the store, he walks right past one of the bad guys who fortunately either isn't armed or decides not to try to stop the hero. From the video, it does not even appear that the hero even saw the bad guy. He has something of target fixation whereby he is trying to get to his wife and is unaware of his surroundings.

So, he knows bad guys are in the store and his wife calls for help and he charges into the store, but is he ready to deal with the circumstances? Not really. In order to draw his gun, he will have to drop the cell phone first. That means a delay in responding to a threat. Given that he was wearing blinders, he walked within feet of the first bad guy at the door. Simply put, that isn't a great way to go into a situation you believe to already be very bad.

Chasing the bad guys wasn't real great either, but it worked. However, he should never have left the store.

He hit the bad guy twice while shooting on the move and shooting one-handed. He is taking large steps. He is trying to hit a moving target while negotiating objects in the store. In short, he has a crappy shoot on the move platform in a less than ideal environment while trying to shoot a moving target. There is nothing he could have done about the robbers running and the environment, but his shooting on the move could have been much better.

I believe there are three shots on the video fired by the hero. He hit the bad guy twice and one shot was a lower shot (hit the foot). That means that probably at least one shot went wild and of the other shots, they didn't appear to be COM. Maybe the guy just has a flinch or maybe his shooting platform could have been better. Either way, chasing the bad guys out the store and firing was risky. Given the time of day and lack of customers, there was no problem. Had the store been busy, maybe the guy would not have attempted such a chase. I don't doubt he was making up things as he went along, just like we would all do in a similar circumstance.

I have to wonder if the bad guy with the .22 actually had a loaded gun or not or if loaded, if it was ready to fire or not. Apparently, the bad guy never fired a shot. As good guys, we are fortunate that there is so much incompetence amongst bad guys. No doubt the bad guy will work on refining his craft and will commit other crimes in the future. Few good guys ever see action and of those that do, few ever actually see it more than once. They don't get to drawn on a lot of experience when they are called into action because they don't have a lot of experience in such matters.

July 15, 2007, 08:13 AM	#4
Double Naught Spy Senior Member Join Date: January 8, 2001 Location: Forestburg, Montague Cnty, TX Posts: 12,719	There are a few of schools of thought. The first is that since everything turned out okay, he did fine. The other is that things turned out okay only because the bad guys screwed up even more than he did. I am of this school and as such think this is something that can be used as a learning tool. The last school of thought is that the guy should have just waited outside for his wife, calling 911 or whatever, as the cops suggest. I don't think much of that notion. The guy is a hero, no doubt, but in being a hero, he did many things that were not very good. He was lucky that only the bad guy got injured. So he sees the bad guys and figures they are up to no good and the bad guys go into the store where his wife is located and start robbing people. Does he call to warn his wife that possible thugs have entered the store? Nope, she has to call him. So on the video, we see him enter the store with the cell phone in his RIGHT hand which turns out to be his gun hand. On entering the store, he walks right past one of the bad guys who fortunately either isn't armed or decides not to try to stop the hero. From the video, it does not even appear that the hero even saw the bad guy. He has something of target fixation whereby he is trying to get to his wife and is unaware of his surroundings. So, he knows bad guys are in the store and his wife calls for help and he charges into the store, but is he ready to deal with the circumstances? Not really. In order to draw his gun, he will have to drop the cell phone first. That means a delay in responding to a threat. Given that he was wearing blinders, he walked within feet of the first bad guy at the door. Simply put, that isn't a great way to go into a situation you believe to already be very bad. Chasing the bad guys wasn't real great either, but it worked. However, he should never have left the store. He hit the bad guy twice while shooting on the move and shooting one-handed. He is taking large steps. He is trying to hit a moving target while negotiating objects in the store. In short, he has a crappy shoot on the move platform in a less than ideal environment while trying to shoot a moving target. There is nothing he could have done about the robbers running and the environment, but his shooting on the move could have been much better. I believe there are three shots on the video fired by the hero. He hit the bad guy twice and one shot was a lower shot (hit the foot). That means that probably at least one shot went wild and of the other shots, they didn't appear to be COM. Maybe the guy just has a flinch or maybe his shooting platform could have been better. Either way, chasing the bad guys out the store and firing was risky. Given the time of day and lack of customers, there was no problem. Had the store been busy, maybe the guy would not have attempted such a chase. I don't doubt he was making up things as he went along, just like we would all do in a similar circumstance. I have to wonder if the bad guy with the .22 actually had a loaded gun or not or if loaded, if it was ready to fire or not. Apparently, the bad guy never fired a shot. As good guys, we are fortunate that there is so much incompetence amongst bad guys. No doubt the bad guy will work on refining his craft and will commit other crimes in the future. Few good guys ever see action and of those that do, few ever actually see it more than once. They don't get to drawn on a lot of experience when they are called into action because they don't have a lot of experience in such matters.