Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
An armed citizen targeted by carjackers at a Dallas gas station on Wednesday was able to draw his gun and defend himself, killing one of his assailants and wounding another before they fled the scene.
Authorities say three suspects were involved in the carjacking attempt, with one individual apparently remaining behind the wheel of the car they arrived in while the other two went after what they thought was an easy target. Instead, they ran into someone who refused to be a victim.
“I’d seen a youngster grab another youngster and put him in the car. But his feet was still hanging out. They drove off and tried to make a turn but the door was still open,” said William Hughes, who was standing nearby when the shooting happened.
The suspects sped from the scene. The group drove to Methodist Charlton Hospital, where investigators said one of the suspects died from his injuries. Police said the other suspects sustained non-life threatening injuries and are currently in custody.
Some people who live in the area said neither the attempted carjacking nor the shooting is surprising.
“Oh man, there’s always problems in this area,” Anthony Walker said. “I mean, the violence is always. Just last night, you had the helicopters flying around looking for people, you know.”
Which may be a big reason why the armed citizen had their gun on them Wednesday.
Police haven’t released the identities of any of the three suspects or the victim, who apparently left the Quick Trip gas station shortly after the would-be carjackers sped away. Authorities say he did call 911 after the carjacking happened, but has not been taken into custody or charged with any crime. While the investigation continues, there should be plenty of surveillance footage and witnesses who can corroborate the driver’s story.
I doubt you’ll see this defensive gun use featured on any of the cable news networks, with the possible exception of Fox. In fact, it looks like the actions of this armed citizen aren’t getting much attention from the local media either. The only outlet that appears to have covered the story so far is WFAA-TV, with the Dallas Morning News and other local television stations silent on this armed citizen’s actions.
While much of the press may want to downplay or simply ignore defensive gun uses like these, the reality is that every day there are countless Americans who are able to successfully defend themselves and other from violent criminals because they were exercising their right to keep and bear arms. Most of the time these gun owners never have to pull the trigger because the presence of that firearm is enough to stop an attack from escalating further, and those incidents may not even be reported by police, much less picked up by the media.
When an armed citizen shoots two of the three men who were trying to carjack him, however, I’d say that’s a pretty newsworthy event. If WFAA had access to this story, other media outlets in the Dallas/Forth Worth area did too. Kudos to them for running with the story while their competitors turned a blind eye to what looks to be a clear case of self-defense.