Posted on 02/27/2018 9:09:08 AM PST by LibWhacker
When a man with a handgun walked into a church service at the Faith City Mission in Amarillo, Texas, most of the crowd of about 100 started to run.
But Tony Garces, an ex-con, took his shirt off and confronted the gunman, according to a news release from Amarillo police.
After Garces wrestled the gun away from 35-year-old Joshua Len Jones, and helped prevent what could have been another mass shooting on the same day as the school shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., at least one Amarillo police officer shot Garces. He was hit twice, in the chest and neck, but he told KVII he’d do it again “in a heartbeat.”
“I got the gun,” Garces told the station. “I thought it was over. But the cops, they shot me. The good guys shot me.”
(Excerpt) Read more at star-telegram.com ...
No good deed goes unpunished.
They told him to put down the gun and he disobeyed them
Whatever his reasoning- he chose... poorly
Cant fault the cops on this one
Then the popo says “drop the weapon” it’s time to drop the weapon. Right now.
Lately the cops are just looking worse and worse.
Graces deserves a reward. Would like to see a tape of the incident as it sounds like the cop may have reacted too quickly.
Not sure what to think about this. Cops hear of a mass shooting, and see a shirtless man holding a gun, who according to reports, doesn’t drop the gun immediately.
Thank God Tony Garces acted, but beyond his brave act, from info in this article, hard to untangle right from wrong after that point.
“Everyone was running, man,” he said. “I turned back. Took my shirt off, getting ready for whatever.”
Whatever included grabbing a pistol out of the hands of the gun man after several other men forced him to the floor.
“I said ‘hey, hey I got the gun,’” said Garces. “’I took the gun away from him.’ … They (the police) said throw it down. I wasn’t going to throw it down because it could have fired. It had bullets in it, you know. I didn’t want anyone else getting hurt. … Then pop, pop they shot me. … I went down, then a puddle of blood. … I thought I was a goner.”
3 takeaways:
1. As noted, he should have listened, though I’d like to hear it from a witness rather than take the reporter’s word.
2. He should be dead.
3. Marksmanship training should be the order of the day.
Special note: Rehabilitation class in Faith City Mission in Amarillo, TX had security personnel. Seems like an interesting back story there.
Why would he take off his shirt?
Two possible outcomes —
1) Hold the gun and debate with the police about the safety of throwing a loaded gun. Probability of bullets flying — 100%. They shot the guy twice.
2) Throw the gun when instructed to throw the gun. Probability of bullets flying — certainly less than 100%. The gun might land like a hunk of metal, and the police sometimes refrain from shooting people if those people are doing as they are told.
This unfortunate fellow chose poorly.
Not all heroes are cut from a brilliant mold.
Why did he take his shirt off?
To grab a hot pistol with moving parts.
its an improvised potholder.
That would make sense.
This guy has been in this position before.
He should have dodged the slow handgun bullets the police were lobbing at him.
If you didn't learn this stuff in CCL class, you need to take it again with a new teacher.
All I can say is G-d bless this guy, as imperfect as he might be...
He could have saved the city the cost of two bullets if he’d complied with the police but put the gun down slowly and carefully.
Good thing he didn’t have his dog with him.
Bwahahaha ... from Larry’s school of ballistics
He took his shirt off?
Isn’t that universal sign language for “I’m the perp”?
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