Armed citizen held cop-killer white supremacist at gunpoint till police arrived

[RamboLiberal]

Two eyewitnesses gave graphic testimony on Wednesday morning about the April 2 slaying of veteran Chattanooga Police Sgt. Tim Chapin on Old Bird's Mill Road in Brainerd.

A nearby resident told of being outside at a yard sale when he heard gunfire and then he watched a gunbattle between Sgt. Chapin and Colorado parolee Jesse Mathews.

Harlan Murray said he then went inside his house, got a gun, and held Matthews at gunpoint until police soon arrived and handcuffed him.

-----

He returned to the road and confronted the man who had shot the police officer, aiming the gun at him and telling him, "Get down." He said the man, who did not have a gun in his hands, did not comply even after he told him a second time. He said he directed, "Get down now." He said the man then knelt down.

http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_198893.asp

From Massad Ayoob:

Last evening in Chattanooga, I paid my respects at the wake of Sgt. Tim Chapin. He was murdered a few days ago in a running gun battle with a heavily armed robber. The same punk wounded another Chattanooga cop, Officer Lorin Johnston, before a hail of police gunfire took the perp apart. The cop-killer was wearing a ballistic vest, and that and excellent trauma care saved his worthless life to stand trial and face a well-deserved lethal injection.

The killer is said to be a white supremacist with a long history of violent crime, released not long ago to a halfway house from which he walked away to begin the one-man crime wave that ended so tragically in Chattanooga.

We now learn that the killer, wounded by police gunfire, was captured by an armed citizen. Harlan Murray was involved in a yard sale nearby when he heard the gunfire, and ushered the good people safely into the house, where he accessed a .22 caliber revolver.

Moments later, Murray confronted the suspect, and ordered him to the ground at gunpoint. Debilitated by police bullets, the murderer reluctantly complied. Chattanooga cops quickly rushed to the scene and took over.

http://backwoodshome.com/blogs/MassadAyoob/2011/04/

Ayoob suggested to a friend in CPD they chip in to buy Harlan Murray a larger caliber gun.

[PavePusher]

1. Amen to Ayoobs' suggestion! n/t

[TPaine7]

2. This is fiction, and not the good stuff either...

1) The citizen, who had doubtless been drooling most of his life over the possibility of killing someone, didn't even shoot a cop killer!
2) He didn't shoot himself
3) He didn't shoot the neighborhood children by accident
4) The police didn't shoot him when they arrived
5) The white supremacist cop-killer didn't take the gun from him

It's a little late for April Fool's jokes, don't you think?

[petronius]

3. There's a simple explanation: all gun owners are RW, racist, anti-govenment freaks,

so shooting a white supremacist cop-killer would be like shooting a buddy... :sarcasm:

(Glad the guy was stopped, albeit too late, and I'd say the neighbor was very lucky the murderer was disabled...)

[Hoyt]

6. Yep, and he used a .22 in his house (not in waistband). Didn't need a hi-cap mag or tactical weapon.

Give him credit for handling this sensibly without having to tote in public.

[TPaine7]

8. He most assuredly did "tote in public"

He returned to the road and confronted the man who had shot the police officer, aiming the gun at him and telling him, "Get down."

He didn't use the gun in his house, he used it in the road. And it's a very good thing there were no lives at stake during the time he "returned to the road." Otherwise the lack of a ready gun could have been a fatal mistake.

[Hoyt]

10. He wasn't afraid to go outside without a gun. Left it at home. And if .22 is any indication, he

was not a gun obsessed cowboy, training almost daily to shoot someone. If he had, he would have "taken advantage" of the situation and shot him (although in this case, that might not have been so bad).

I'm glad to see someone acting reasonably -- something you don't read often from the guns in public crowd that hangs out here.

[TPaine7]

11. He wasn't afraid to go outside with a gun. Took it with him. And since .22 is not any indication,

I too am entitled to speculate wildly.

I choose to see him as a gun-obsessed Steeler--I can't stand the Dallas Cowboys--who always has the latest hi-tech glue gun for use in his hobbies. Oh, and a responsible handgun owner too, well trained in safety.

As I said before, it's a good thing no lives hung in the balance while he got his gun. Wouldn't you agree? Lots of people aren't that lucky. That's why many choose to carry concealed weapons in public; sometimes it's necessary to use a gun in public. In those cases, it's better to "tote" than to die--or watch helplessly as someone else does.

[Hoyt]

12. Lives seldom hang in the balance except in carriers dreams/nightmares.

The shoot first and let God sort it out mentality is out of place in society.

[TPaine7]

14. People seldom need seatbelts. n/t

[friendly_iconoclast]

18. Or smoke dectectors, or fire extinguishers, or defibrillators, or CPR... n/t

[Atypical Liberal]

9. So...

What do you think the limits ought to be for caliber and magazine capacity?

[RSillsbee]

17. .73 caliber muzzle loader?

Even that might be a little much for him

[notesdev]

4. Next up

he gets sued by the perp

where there's a lawyer, there's a way

[WatsonT]

5. Why didn't the criminal take the gun away from him and use it on the gun owner?

It's so incredibly easy that in nearly 100% of cases that's exactly what happens.

I guess he wanted to be caught.

:sarcasm:

[chibajoe]

7. That article reads like an 8 year old wrote it.

The home owner was very lucky that Matthews had run out of ammo and ditched his gun; a .22 revolver isn't going to do much against somebody wearing body armor.

[Hoyt]

13. Actually, the neighbors were lucky some cowboy toter wasn't near by to perform the "duck and shoot"

maneuver that some poster here is so fond of. The guy handled it well, and without relying on a hi-cap mag, tricked out gun, overconfidence from hours on the range shooting paper targets, or other gunner garbage.

Sorry for the policeman.

[PavePusher]

15. "tricked out gun"

Another term you haven't defined yet.

Whatever could you possibly mean...?

[oneshooter]

21. He doesn't know what it means. It just sounds"scary!". n/t

[PavePusher]

19. Still no definition. I'm shocked..... n/t

[DonP]

20. You have a very active fantasy life about guns and gun owners, don't you?

You keep posting all these horrible scenarios where innocent bystanders lie bleeding and police shoot "wanna be cowboy toters" etc.

None of that ever seems to happen ... except in your imagination, does it?

You really ought to see someone about that. It's bordering on obsession and not the good kind.

[RSillsbee]

16. I wouldn't have told him twice

He returned to the road and confronted the man who had shot the police officer, aiming the gun at him and telling him, "Get down." He said the man, who did not have a gun in his hands, did not comply even after he told him a second time.

He just dusted a cop? he'd get one chance to comply then I'd start shooting

TYPO