Man who opened fire on Texas church shooter hailed as 'good Samaritan'

[moriah]

73. And when it's necessary to shoot, it's still a BFD legally for the person.

I have only known two people who have, to my knowledge at least, fired a gun at a human being outside of wartime or otherwise in the line of duty.

Both were women. One got lucky. Her story, from her lips, said rather shamefacedly, was that she shot her husband in the hand during an argument over something he said. He lied to emergency personnel about how the "accident" happened because he didn't want her to go to jail, so apparently whatever he said must have been pretty bloody awful even to him in hindsight and with a gunshot wound. Still... overreaction, anyone?

The second... she got a call from a coworker who was in a DV situation that the coast was clear and needed help to get a few things out. She had to cross a county line, so the fact the gun was in her vehicle despite her not possessing a CHL wasn't an issue at trial. It was a .22 that her father-in-law had given her to shoot snakes on their rural property. They had everything out of the house and were loading when he showed up. The coworker got into the car, and so did my friend, leaving what wasn't already in the trunk/back seat, but he tried to pull "his woman" out of the car through the window they hadn't gotten all the way up.

My friend grabbed the gun, got out of the car, and told him to let her go. He let her go, but then came to her side of the vehicle. He admitted seeing the gun in her hands and believing it was fake. Her story is that he rushed her, his was that she shot as soon as he came to the side of the car, but then how could he have seen it and thought it was fake?

Anyway, she was acquitted of attempted murder and all other possible charges after getting five shots off before the poorly maintained .22 jammed. She got one center of mass, and the other two hits were in his arms.. he'll never beat another woman again. The piles of prior no contact orders helped the jury decide that had she simply fled, she would have left her coworker in risk of death or felonious assault.

Still, she certainly wishes she hadn't had to go through all of the legal hassles that came from it, and while she was committed to him potentially dying when she made the decision to fire, she is glad he lived.