Joseph Zimudie - Tucson Concealed Carry Hero

I searched the site and didn't see a single thread with this man's name in it. I think that's a shame, so I'm adding one.

Here's the information that I've gathered on his actions on the day of the shooting.

Joseph was at a nearby Walgreens when he heard the shooting start. Instead of running away, Joseph headed *toward* the sound of gunfire. Joseph had his CCW on him and had flipped off the safety, prepared to use it in the defense of others. He did not draw his weapon, but had his hand on it, ready.

When he arrived at the scene, Loughner had been preparing to reload. Another man stepped in and wrestled away Loughner's gun. Zimudie saw the man with the gun and commanded he "drop it." Zimudie still did not draw because he saw the slide locked back, Loughner's glock clearly empty. The other man dropped the gun and Zimudie was informed that the shooter was the guy being wrestled to the ground. Zimudie placed his weapon back on safe and proceeded to help restrain Loughner until law enforcement arrived.

Zimudie demonstrated responsible restraint in a chaotic situation. He demonstrated fearlessness by rushing toward the action instead of away. He demonstrated that the first armed responder to a mass murder could very well be a simple citizen.

By all accounts, Loughner was already being grappled by those in the thick of it, but this man - Joseph Zimudie - placed himself in harms way in the interest of protecting others.

(Disclaimer: The "facts" presented here are what I've been able to cull from reading multiple sources on the internet. I cannot speak to the veracity of the account presented. Unsurprisingly, there has not been enough reporting around the fact that Zimudie is a lawful concealed carry permit holder.)

I did not hear about this story in Sarasota. The one thing CCW holders need to be careful of is asess the situation cause if a cop shows up and you draw - you might get shot.

So what do you do? I am not sure. A grandmother in Tampa (?) a few years ago was in a Wal Mart. I shoplifter pulled a knife and cut a security guard.

She came up and yelled - “I am a Concealed Weapons PErmit Holder - drop the knife and get on the floor NOW!”....and pulled her weapon. The perp complied.

I am not sure how you handle AZ. I know the cops at Columbine just waited for the shooting to stop before enetering the school.

Here's a link to the story. Most of the media didn't tell the full story, and this is about the most complete version I've been able to find. Notice the Good Samaritan had already drawn his weapon by the time deputies showed up, but he evidently had the sense to lower his pistol and let them take over.

fullmetalpatriot.blogspt.com/2010/12/marine-wife-attacked-by-teens-at-little.html

"I know the cops at Columbine just waited for the shooting to stop before enetering the school."

I remember that. The cops at Virginia Tech did the same thing. Whichever official responsible for the "wait 'til the shooting stops, then go in" tactic needs to be fired and horse whipped. I mean, they're police officers, aren't they supposed to risk their lives to protect the innocent? Rhetorical question, of course...most cops will tell you off the record that what they do most at crime scenes is investigate what has already happened. It's up to us to protect ourselves and those around us, and that means we need to have the means to do so. As the bumper sticker says "When seconds count, the police are only minutes away."

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

So what do you do? I am not sure.

You do whatever the police tell you to do and remain as calm as you can, and talk to them.

In Seattle a few years ago a bum attacked a man on the street from behind, beating him on the head with a pipe.

The man had a CPL and was carrying his pistol. He shot the bum dead, pulled the magazine out of his pistol, set it down on the street, sat down on the sidewalk with his hands in plain sight, and waited for the police to get there.

Of course there wasn't any wrestling going on.

With regards to your view on cops charging in. You cant have it both ways. If the cops are trained to run in guns blazing, you will see a lot more innocent people being killed. Remember the CCW guy who was at Costco? Who was gunned down by the Police when he was obeying their orders?

I will remind you that the officers on the scene were told that there were students with guns and bombs in the school. Columbine HS campus is larger thant some colleges. 3,000 students are on location at any given day. Which students have the guns? Where are the bombs? How do you save the most lives?

Cops are trained to first CONTAIN the situation by limiting access to the location and prevent it from spreading or getting worse. Dont let the perps slip past and cause more havoc at other locations. Dont create an opportunity for outsiders to come in and help the perps. Call for back up. Get the swat team on location. If the responding officers are killed or wounded, the perps now have access to body armor, weapons, police radios, cop cars. If the perps kill the cops ... who do we go to next to handle the situation. Mobilize the national guard? Do you know how long that will take?

After Contain, police are trained to CONTROL and by that, remove civilians, and assert their authority over the situation. The last step is to CORRECT the situation. This may required armed and hostile action such as the SWAT team or shooting the perp. But this procedure is used to reduce collateral damage.

Because I have trained SRT teams and know how dangerous these situations can be, support the officers decisions at Columbine. By the way, I live in Colorado and at the time of the shooting, not far from the school. The officers did what they were trained to do. If we alter this training so that officers already running on adreniline, charge in and start shooting people with guns, you are going to see 1) a lot more dead civilians that should not have been shot and 2) a lot more dead cops.

Remember that the police are not superheros. They are regular people because they are hired from population just like everyone else. Yes they receive SOME training, but you average beat cop who is most likely to be the first responder to a scene gets less range time than many CCW holders. Also, not every cop is a swat officer. There side arm, radio, body armor (if they have it) and training are all that they have until backup arrives.

As for not having it both ways, recently here in Denver at the zoo, an individual was acting erraticly and assaulted a security guard at the zoo. When the police arrived to handle the situation, they jumped in and restrained the perp. Yes, they used tazer and yes there was more than one cop and yes, they took him to the ground hard. The perp died as a result of the incident. Now people are complaining of police brutality, racism, etc. They are calling for closure of the zoo, and all the normal BS that comes with this type of incident.

Again, you cant have it both ways. Either the cops rush in and we live with that outcome what ever that may be including dead civilians. Or we have the cops Contain, Control and Correct and we live with those results.

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