Tucson Shooting Hero Joe Zamudio: I almost shot the (wrong) guy

[Ruby the Liberal]

Run time: 06:38 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-3GTwalrGY   Posted on YouTube: January 11, 2011 By YouTube Member: SaveOurSovereignty3 Views on YouTube: 39901   Posted on DU: January 12, 2011 By DU Member: Ruby the Liberal Views on DU: 2926

 
Zamudio talks with Ed Schultz about taking the safety off of his pistol, coming onto the scene and finding one of the other tacklers of the gunman holding the gun. He went after him and told him to drop it, which the guy did. The crowd called out that he was going after the wrong guy, so he jumped on the gunman and helped hold him down.

At 5:05 in, he mentions that he almost shot the wrong guy.

Thank heavens this kid was level headed and didn't just react out of shock.

[valerief]

1. Right. Someone else with a gun might shoot first and ask questions later. nt

[eleny]

2. I saw that interview with Ed Schultz and heard him say that!

Nobody was discussing it here at the time so I thought I misunderstood. Zamudio sure did say that he first went after the guy who had the gun. And that was someone who yanked it out of the shooter's hand. Then others yelled that it was the wrong guy.

A bit later in the interview Zamudio said he took the safety off his gun as he was running towards the scene. Then he said he would have shot the guy with the gun. I did a double take at the screen because it sounded like he would have shot the man who was helping subdue the shooter and who happened to have the gun in his hand at the time.

Btw, Zamudio was shopping at the Safeway and saw the chaos as he was exiting the store.

[Ruby the Liberal]

3. I posted about this last night and promptly got it handed to me

by someone arguing for more freedoms for gun owners. Called me a liar, so I waited for the video to go up.

Now everyone who cares can hear it for themselves!

[eleny]

5. Now I'm sorry I didn't just ask about it

You know how we can do that and others chime in or clarify. It's been on my mind since the interview. So thanks and I'm sorry that you took some heat. Nerves are raw. But I heard what you heard. And btw, when Zamudio made that statement he said it more quietly. He's a soft spoken man anyway, so that statement easily went under the radar. He was big enough to admit it.

If we're off base in his meaning, Zamudio can always come forward and clarify.

[doc03]

8. The fact is he kept a cool head and didn't shoot anyone. I think

if anything this proves people with a CCW are not vigilantes out to kill someone. In a case like that a trained law enforcement officer may have reacted exactly the same. We were given an example exactly like that CCW class. The example we were given is if you came upon someone holding someone at bay with a weapon (ball bat, knife, gun or just using their fists) you can't just assume he is the attacker he may have subdued the attacker. That guy is obviously a law abiding citizen since he passed a background check for a CCW.

[kath]

19. I thought that in AZ, you could carry a concealed weapon WITHOUT a permit. No?

[booley]

11. if the comments are any indication...

they are claiming schultz didn't' air the whole video. That he cut zamudio off before he could make the point vindicating that.

Perhaps. It is possible, even when I happen to agree with the interviewer. I will need to look further.

But after another video where a tea bagger was saying her now infamous "if ballots don't work bullets will" line, I had cons claiming it was the left that was actually spreading the violence.
So I tend to take these claims with a grain of salt.

[JDPriestly]

10. You are correct. The young man suggested that he could have shot

the wrong man since he mistook someone trying to stop the shooter for the shooter.

Still, this young man makes the most important point: we need to take care of each other better. No one should be as alone and lacking help as Loughner appears to have been.

A family with a child with serious mental illness needs a lot of support and help.

[eleny]

12. he kept on repeating that thought about taking care of each other

Universal health care has a place in that. And it's only a start.

[Blue State Bandit]

4. I was wondering if anyone else had caught that.

He grabbed the wrong guy. He had his hand on the butt as he walked out. Then he seamed to slip it out.

This is why everyone carrying doesn't work. If a cop had been rolling by at the moment, he could had been shot himself.

[eleny]

7. Good final point, BSB

Hard to imagine it being any worse but it could have been.

[Atypical Liberal]

13. But that never happens.

This is why everyone carrying doesn't work. If a cop had been rolling by at the moment, he could had been shot himself.

The simple fact is that this blue-on-blue friendly fire never happens. Every time this argument is trotted out against concealed carry (people will shoot the wrong people in a firefight!) no one can point to an instance of it happening.

That's because it's usually obvious who the bad guy is - the person running around shooting unarmed people.

[AtheistCrusader]

22. Isn't this an example that it CAN work?

That it doesn't necessarily result in 'shootouts and crossfires'?

Not as long as people employ Reason.

[wial]

6. In civilized societies even the cops don't have guns.

To morbidly borrow his syllogism style: Laughner was deeply paranoid about cops. Cops have guns. Therefore Laughner had a gun.

When will they ever learn. When will they ever learn.

[booley]

9. had to replay it a few times to really hear it

It's said almost as an aside and Schultz doesn't seem to pick up on it.

The cons are claiming this means that guns save people. But maybe I missed it.. Zamudio never got a chance to use his gun. Loughner was already down before he could get his gun out.

Or am I misreading that?

[Ruby the Liberal]

15. You got it.

[Atypical Liberal]

14. But he didn't.

Like most CCW permit holders (the rate of revocation is less than 2%), he is a law-abiding, conscientious individual who properly assessed the situation before using his firearm.

[doc03]

16. Exactly if anything his actions favor CCW. The fact the anti-gun

folks fail to see is he didn't shoot anyone. He was a law abiding, conscientious person that kept a cool head.

[Hoyt]

21. Loughner was law-abiding too before he pulled his gun and started shooting 30 some times.

We clearly need more restrictions on guns, especially in public.

[Atypical Liberal]

25. But that is a very rare occurrence.

Loughner was law-abiding too before he pulled his gun and started shooting 30 some times.

Yes, but this is a very rare occurrence. Most firearm homicides, well over 90% in many cases, are committed by people with extensive prior criminal histories including, on average, 4 felonies. Incidentally, these people are already prohibited from firearm ownership.

The idea that most people who commit murder with a firearm were "law abiding right up until the weren't" is a myth:

http://www.cardozolawreview.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=138:kates201086&catid=20:firearmsinc&Itemid=20

[john donathon]

17. regardless of what happened

aren't you glad he had the gun at the end of the day?

[bossy22]

18. i dont think you would see a better reaction out of a seasoned law enforcement officer

What this young man did was "textbook" handling of this situation. He didnt just start shooting, he went up to the person with the gun and told that person to freeze and drop it. You can't get better than that (in this situation). Many law enforcement officer can learn a thing or two from this guy- since on many occasions police have been shown to be trigger happy- remember that kid in NYC that was gunned down in the streets by police because he was walking around with a pellet gun that looked real- IIRC the kid didnt actually point the gun at the officers but the officers came out of the cruiser firing.

[Ruby the Liberal]

20. Well stated. He was indeed more level headed in the midst of chaos

than I think most people would have been.

[AtheistCrusader]

23. Hell, the NYPD has shredded minorities holding their WALLET in their hand.

This kid did a magnificent job, didn't shoot anyone, and upheld the very ideal of a first responder, coming to help.

I am most impressed.

[Nexus7]

24. How's he a "hero"?

If, by the time he got there, the lone shooter had already been subdued, and further more, he almost compounded the tragedy, how does he get tagged a hero?

[Atypical Liberal]

26. He helped subdue the shooter.

He helped subdue the shooter, and he was prepared to use force if necessary.