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Gun Owner Saves Cop's Life by Shooting Deranged Gunman! (VIDEO)

ccwinstructor

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It’s not every day that you hear the police give a civilian a warm “thank you” for entering a lethal shootout, but that’s exactly what happened in Early, Texas on Sunday. But before we get into the heroic civilian shooter, let’s back up a bit.


See a Man About a Dog


It all began, innocently enough, “as a squabble over dogs.” David Michael House, 58, and Iris Valentina Calaci, 53, were both residents at the Peach House RV Park in central Texas. They were also dog owners, and their pooches allegedly had a nasty habit of relieving themselves on the lawn of neighbor Charles Ronald Conner, 58.


According to eyewitnesses, Conner approached House about his dog, and an argument broke out. Rather than dealing with the confrontation like a normal human being, Conner allegedly went back to his RV, got his gun, returned to House, and lethally shot him.


The gun shots prompted Calaci to run screaming from her trailer home, but she didn’t get far. Conner chased her down, shot her once and then fired another shot into her, execution style.


Amazingly, Conner’s shooting spree didn’t end there. He also shot and killed the two dogs that, in his confused mind, started the mess.


Fatally shooting your neighbors over an issue of dog doo might seem absurdly over-the-top to normal people like you and us, but it might have appeared perfectly sensible to Conner. Conner’s family explained that he had “mental problems.” Police later found a notebook in Conner’s trailer with nearly incomprehensible “ramblings.”


Conner might’ve been able to get a lenient sentence in court due to his troubled mental state, but that day will never come – there was to be one more shooting on that tragic day, this time in the name of defense.


Shots Fired


Sgt. Steven Means of the Early Police Department came rolling onto the scene, but he had barely gotten out of his car before Conner began opening fire on the officer. Means took cover behind his police car and returned fire with an AR-15, but Conner maintained cover behind a tree. Eyewitnesses report that this positioning gave Conner the upper hand over the out-gunned police officer.


A Helping Hand


Means and Conner weren’t the only two people with their attention riveted on the gun fight. Vic Stacy, another resident of the RV park, saw the gun fight break out as he was watching TV in his mobile home and thought to himself, “I’m going to see what’s going to happen here and if I need to I’ll, you know, get in on it.”


Stacy, who had a seen Conner around his trailer park and described him as "off the wall", watched the gun fight for a few moments and concluded, “I think (Conner) is gonna take (the officer) out if I don’t help him out.”


So, that’s when Stacy decided to act. Conner may have had excellent cover against the Officer Means, but Stacy was in a flanking position that gave him the perfect vantage point. Stacy recalled, “I had a side view of that man the whole time standing there, and I thought, I’m fixin’ to put one in him, if I can.”


Stacy raised his gun, fired, and landed one hell of a shot – by his estimate “a good 165 yards” – with a pistol (we do not know the make or caliber at this time). Stacy wasn’t even sure if he could make the shot at that distance: “I hope this magnum bullet’ll hold up, you know, this distance. And sure enough it did and I hit him in the thigh.”


At that point, Conner returned fire against Stacy with his AR-15. He missed his shot, luckily, but that gave dead-eye Stacy another opportunity to pull the trigger. Stacy “hit him again and put three more in him … The patrolman got two shots in him with that AR-15. And it seems like he’s all over with, then.”


Conner died on the scene, but if it wasn’t for the aid of Vic Stacy, the body count might have been a lot higher.


Thanks for the Help!


More police arrived on scene an promptly threw Stacy in cuffs, but after Officer Means cleared up what had happened they released Stacy. Brown County Sheriff Bobby Grubbs later said, "The citizen that fired these shots did a tremendous job out there. Had he not had a gun and the presence of mind to do this, we don't know what the outcome would've been.”


It is currently unclear as to whether it was Stacy's shots or Officer Mean's shots that delivered the killing blow. Either way, the police are not planning to press charges against Stacy. If anything, they should give him a medal.


Police and RV park residents alike have been calling Stacy a hero, but he’s rejected the label. He said that he’s just an “average workin’ person” who was just “trying to help an officer out.”


Stacy told Brownwood Bulletin that he wasn’t able to sleep at all the night following the shooting, but the following day was a different story. Stacy was able to get a good night's sleep after police convinced him that he had acted appropriately and saved lives.


Stacy added, “I hate that it happened. But I’m glad that we got him down. I felt sorry for those people.”


We might have a new role model. Vic Stacy was not overeager to pull the trigger, he felt the appropriate weight on his conscience after taking the life of another person, and he hasn’t let the media attention get to his head. If you ask us, the world could use a few more Vic Stacys.



Video and pictures at source

http://www.guns.com/texas-gun-owner-shoot-out-10236.html


Note: Some people suggest the distance was 65 yards, not 165 yards. It has been reported that Conner was armed with a lever action rifle, not an AR 15.


Did Vic Stacy violate the Texas open carry law in order to save the police officer's life?

Quite a different conclusion from what happened in Colorado.
 

davidmcbeth

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More police arrived on scene an promptly threw Stacy in cuffs

and a shot @ 165 YARDS with a handgun? What? And multiple hits at 165 yds? I don't believe that ... not even I can shoot my handgun accurately that far.

And my level action packs quite a wallop, much more than my AR.

Stacy won't be helping them anymore.

Stacy should have called OHSA .. seemed like an unsafe work environment.

This story, even with inaccuracies, highlights the purpose of a person owning a handgun: to protect yourself ... Stacy shot at a guy with a rifle and he re-focused his efforts on killing him ... Stacy is lucky...rifle v handgun at short/medium range? Not a good position for for the hand gunner. I wonder how many have not fared so well in similar circumstances.
 
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rushcreek2

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I doubt that the shooter could have kept the officer pinned down long with a 30/30 against an Ar-15.

Still Stacy didn't have the Monday morning quarterback option available. LEO was alone and pinned down at the time- and he reacted perfectly. That's what Article 2, Section 23 is referring to when it states that every citizen shall have the right to keep & bear arms in lawful defense of one's self OR THE STATE. That Early LEO IS THE STATE OF TEXAS.

One final point. It's about time for law enforcement agencies to seriously consider re-emplementing the LEO partner concept. It is simply expecting TOO MUCH from ONE LEO to handle ANY RESPONSE situation. There have been 70 some odd accidents in Texas in a relatively recent period involving LEO's distracted with dispatch communication, or computer keyboard operation while driving. In addition to enhancing officer safety, a 2 officer partner unit would not have this communication distraction problem. One officer drives - one operates computer, and dispatch-com. TWO OFFICERS on the scene should be an absolute minimum standard for ANY department.
 
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davidmcbeth

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I doubt that the shooter could have kept the officer pinned down long with a 30/30 against an Ar-15.

Policemen are not soldiers .. their main responsibility is to save their own butt first. So a guy with a 30-30 was able to pin him down.

The policeman is waiting for backup...why put himself at risk?
 

MainelyGlock

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Policemen are not soldiers .. their main responsibility is to save their own butt first. So a guy with a 30-30 was able to pin him down.

The policeman is waiting for backup...why put himself at risk?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that's not their main responsibility, but I'm still a year away from being sworn in so I could be very wrong. In the interest of self-preservation however, I can't say I disagree with his actions.
 

davidmcbeth

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I'm going to go out on a limb and say that's not their main responsibility, but I'm still a year away from being sworn in so I could be very wrong. In the interest of self-preservation however, I can't say I disagree with his actions.

Well if you get shot taking unnecessary risks, you can expect to get chewed out by your superior. I know many police chiefs and fire chiefs too ... on 9/11 I was with a fire chief and when they sent in the firemen into the bldg. the chief (a chgo fire chief) said "he shouldn't do that, its not safe for his men" .. lo and behold, he was right (he considered the firemen as idiots and not heroes).

The other guy, Stacy, was not at risk ~ why Stacy started shooting is a mystery, it violates one of my rules: if I am not in danger, do not put myself in danger.

If Stacy did nothing, I'm sure 50,000 cops would have shown up and handled the situation. If children were running about and the shooter was shooting them, it would not change the proper action for the policeman to remain safe. Let the justice system work it out later.
 
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MainelyGlock

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Well if you get shot taking unnecessary risks, you can expect to get chewed out by your superior. I know many police chiefs and fire chiefs too ... on 9/11 I was with a fire chief and when they sent in the firemen into the bldg. the chief (a chgo fire chief) said "he shouldn't do that, its not safe for his men" .. lo and behold, he was right (he considered the firemen as idiots and not heroes).

The other guy, Stacy, was not at risk ~ why Stacy started shooting is a mystery, it violates one of my rules: if I am not in danger, do not put myself in danger.

If Stacy did nothing, I'm sure 50,000 cops would have shown up and handled the situation. If children were running about and the shooter was shooting them, it would not change the proper action for the policeman to remain safe. Let the justice system work it out later.

I see. That does make sense when you put it that way.

I don't think it's a mystery as to why he started shooting. He saw an officer in trouble (as he perceived it) and acted heroically, in my opinion. It's different for everyone though. I carry everyday, and I personally feel that it's my responsibility to protect those around me with my firearm should the situation ever arise (God forbid). To me, protecting even a strangers life far outweighs the legal consequences. Of course, I've never been in a situation where this has happened and I hope I never am, so I can't say for sure how things would actually go down or how I would react.

Either way, I hope no charges are filed against Stacy.
 

Jack House

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He was praised by the department, defended by the officer he protected and Texas law explicitly states that he had a legal right to act. So I highly he'd be charged with a crime.
 

OC for ME

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Well if you get shot taking unnecessary risks, you can expect to get chewed out by your superior. I know many police chiefs and fire chiefs too ... on 9/11 I was with a fire chief and when they sent in the firemen into the bldg. the chief (a chgo fire chief) said "he shouldn't do that, its not safe for his men" .. lo and behold, he was right (he considered the firemen as idiots and not heroes).

The other guy, Stacy, was not at risk ~ why Stacy started shooting is a mystery, it violates one of my rules: if I am not in danger, do not put myself in danger.

If Stacy did nothing, I'm sure 50,000 cops would have shown up and handled the situation. If children were running about and the shooter was shooting them, it would not change the proper action for the policeman to remain safe. Let the justice system work it out later.
Interesting. I wonder if the perp would have stopped if he had shot the cop or keep on shooting folks.

I believe it is better to have two good guys shooting at one bad guy than one good guy and one bad guy shooting at each other. Especially if the shooting is going on next door to my house.....but that is just me.
 

davidmcbeth

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It's a town of less than 3,000 in a county of 38,000 population in west-central Texas. There aren't a lot of cops available to respond.

I don't know about that, they have a nice new big building ! Must have more than 1 deputy... there would have been plenty of cops there ..
 

Superlite27

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One minor thing I noticed:

Means took cover behind his police car and returned fire with an AR-15, but Conner maintained cover behind a tree. Eyewitnesses report that this positioning gave Conner the upper hand over the out-gunned police officer.

How was Officer Means "out-gunned" when returning fire with an AR-15? He might have had a disadvantage in firing positions, but the description clearly states, "out-gunned".

Was Conner using an RPG, or something? A howitzer, maybe? A .50 BMG?

How else could one be "out-gunned" while returning fire with an AR-15?
 

davidmcbeth

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One minor thing I noticed:



How was Officer Means "out-gunned" when returning fire with an AR-15? He might have had a disadvantage in firing positions, but the description clearly states, "out-gunned".

Was Conner using an RPG, or something? A howitzer, maybe? A .50 BMG?

How else could one be "out-gunned" while returning fire with an AR-15?

They guy had a level action I believe ... I have a few and would rather be shot by an AR than my level action .. its just the government trying to limit our right to keep and bear arms .. they'll be going after our level actions now. The want us to only own BB guns ... if that
 

nonameisgood

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Many small towns only have one or two officers in uniform at any one time. Early has a chief, a detective, and 5 officers, backup is DPS, and usually a county sheriff's office. It is truly cowardly to simply say "he's a cop, I'll let him worry about himself." You don't have to take a great risk, but doing nothing is hardly the right thing, or the Texan thing, to do. We don't have to go looking for a fight, and when one finds us, we can back down since we don't validate ourselves with our ego or what others think (we know who we are, thank you very much), but when the time comes to help others or protect those who need protecting, we don't turn into citified cowards. Doing nothing is not an option.* (* in more heavily populated areas, the options might be different.)

This guy didn't need to be a smartest or the bravest man in town (or maybe he is), but when the time came to act, he did what he could as well as he could. That makes him a true Texan and a first-class American.
 

twoskinsonemanns

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I believe it is better to have two good guys shooting at one bad guy than one good guy and one bad guy shooting at each other. Especially if the shooting is going on next door to my house.....but that is just me.

Generally I would agree. But you can see in this case one of the "good guys" promptly arrested the other good guy once the danger was over. Dickmove.
 

nonameisgood

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Well, in the follow-up good guy's defense, the neighbor did just shoot someone, and the arresting officer was not present at the time of the shooting. Seems like a sane course of action until it is sorted out. (Such as "did this guy have a shoot out with the other guy before we arrived, or did he shoot one or more of the dead folks?")
 
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