A legally armed bystander stopped a potential massacre at a back-to-school picnic in a Florida park on Saturday, shooting a gunman who had returned to the park for revenge after engaging in a fistfight there earlier in the day.
The gunman, who was airlifted to a local hospital in critical condition following the shooting, was the only one of more than 100 picnic attendees to sustain any injuries. The bystander, a vendor operating at the picnic, was licensed to carry a concealed weapon.
“We are extremely grateful that nobody else was injured in this incident,” Titusville deputy police chief Todd Hutchinson said in a statement. “This suspect opened fire at a crowded public park. This could have been so much worse.”
Dwight Harvey, a local DJ who organized the community event, described the incident to Florida Today.
“I was like, who lit firecrackers? I turned around and just said, ‘Oh no, he’s got a gun, he’s got a gun,’” Harvey said. “I thought to myself, ‘Did this just happen?’ People were taking cover, everybody was scattered.”
Harvey then juxtaposed the incident with the high-profile shooting of an unarmed black man in a Florida parking lot earlier this month, suggesting deadly force was justified in the former but not the latter.
“This was standing your ground, in a situation like this with kids involved. Not what you saw in Clearwater — that was murder,” Harvey said, referring to the parking-lot shooting. The gunman in that shooting was not arrested, prompting harsh criticism from Republican lawmakers and NRA representatives, who claim the local sheriff’s use of Florida’s “stand your ground” law to justify his inaction constituted a misinterpretation of the relevant statutes.
Local police have not yet announced whether the armed vendor will face charges for firing on the aggressor in this weekend’s case, but it seems unlikely as state law provides broad protection for armed individuals who use deadly force in the face of a grave, imminent threat.
Reprinted with permission from - National Review - by Jack Crowe
God Bless this armed bystander for standing up to this “grave and imminent threat.” This is how we protect our friends, family, and the people in the park just out for a picnic or anywhere. Let the word get out to the crooks and robbers and rioters, “You will be stopped and you will never know what hit you or where it came from because we will not stand for it.” Go governor Desantis for creating a safe and secure society where we can relax and live again.
Thank you for protecting us, your fellow citizens, when no one else would…The only loser in this story is the “Fake Media” they think that there’s not enough to sensationalism so they’ll twist this story to suit their own perspective of what the truth is. Like EVERY OTHER LIE, the left promotes the TRUTH will set us free.
Thank God for the individual with “Conceal Carry permit”
This is just another news story that the Fake News Media will ignore. Or they will distort the facts with their usual liberal leftist gymnastics to make it fit their anti-gun agenda.
It has become entertaining just watching the national network news. It’s kind of like watching a murder mystery, and guessing how they will abuse the news night after night. But I can only stand so many murder mysteries before they become tiresome.
Incidentally. ….does anyone know what the “BS” in CBS stands for? It’s got me stumped.
CBS stands for Columbia Broadcast System.
OK. Thanks PaulE. My neighbor thought it stood for something else. I will set him straight.
More precisely, from 1928 to 1974 it was the Columbia Broadcasting System. Ownership has changed a few times since then and the legal name has been different but always included just the initials CBS. For some decades, I’ve referred to it as Communist B*ll Sh*t.
The last I heard it was where the former Westinghouse parked it’s treasure chest when it broke up.
Thank God he was there! Florida police there should honor the man.
Do you see how the police can not respond in time? If we only depend on the PD there would have been a bunch of dead and wounded. Continue to arm yourself America! We need more heroes like this guy.