From cityofmadison.com [via a Tweet by gunsinwisconsin.blogspot.com]:
A 41-year old Madison man was able to stop an attack on a woman Thursday night by pointing his handgun at a suspect who was battering the victim. The gun owner said he feared the woman would be killed if he did not intervene. The incident started inside his Park Street apartment building. He heard screams for help coming from a common hallway and went to find out what was happening. He observed the suspect standing over a 39-year old woman. She was in a fetal position, and the suspect was stomping on her head. He yelled for the man to stop, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. The beating continued. The concerned citizen went back to his apartment.
He wanted to call for help, but could not locate his cell phone, so he grabbed his handgun. He went back into the hallway, and pointed it at the suspect, and once again ordered the beating to stop. This time the suspect paid heed. The woman seized the opportunity to rise, and the citizen yelled for her to get out of the building. He kept his weapon trained on the suspect.
The suspect initially swore at the citizen, but later calmed down, and said he was only defending himself after the woman pulled a knife on him. Feeling the situation had defused, the citizen secured the weapon in his pants, just as police arrived. Officers were responding to reports of a weapons offense. Dispatch had advised there was a man holding a gun, and pointing it at another man. Not knowing the circumstances, both were ordered to the ground and handcuffed.
The citizen was very cooperative, the suspect not so much. He yelled obscenities, and threatened to harm officers as he resisted arrest. Once officers understood the situation, the citizen was released. He explained how he initially tried to find his phone, and how he made the decision to confront the suspect at gunpoint. It was clear he was shaken by the incident. He knew getting the gun out could have resulted in a very bad situation, but was also very afraid that if he did nothing the woman might end up dead.
The woman, who was not seriously injured, claimed she had come to the building to use the suspect’s cell phone. The suspect claims he and the woman were going to have a romantic interlude after meeting in a park, but that did not happen, because she pulled a knife on him. He was arrested on tentative charges listed above.
Mindset, skillset, toolset. This 41 year old Madison man had it all dialed in. On top of that, he was lucky. But as a famous golfer once said “It’s all luck, but the more I practice the luckier I get.”
I am not sure this citizen had his tactics squared away.
No gun on his person? No knife? No pepper-spray? No phone?
Call those major mistakes #1-4.
Mistake #5: pink grips.
Never happened to me but I can see how that might ruin the mood.
It never happened to you? Hell, I bet you never even made it out of the park! 🙂
Well, I never went prowling in the park for a date. I stuck to supermarkets and laundromats. 😀
Cue Magoo and Mikey ranting about how this doesn’t prove that guns can be used for defense.
To be honest with you, I can’t make hide nor hair of this story. I’ve never read such a bizarrely worded police report — it that’s what this is. I guess somebody at the police desk took a creative writing course at the community college and decided to spread his wings. Have you EVER read an official government report that read like this?
Now for the “facts” of the story. Check this out:
Guy goes into his apartment to get his cell phone (because nobody ever carries his cell phone WITH him). But he can’t find his phone, so instead he grabs his handgun, which he takes out into the hallway to brandish at the attacker guy. Attacker guy stops pummeling the woman and the two of them strike up a conversation. Naturally. Sure, you can see how that would happen. He decides they are getting along well enough that he puts his gun away. Somewhere in this story the attacker guy relates he was actually going on a date with the gal but the romance cooled when she pulled on a knife on him…
Now, Totenglocke, if you don’t mind my asking, at what point in this gripping narrative did YOU first start to suspect that it might not be totally on the up and up? That maybe this isn’t entirely a tale of innocent civilians engaged in self defense? Or have you been buying this whole yarn all along? Hold tight, man. I think I know where I can get you a really sweet deal on a bridge.
So your whole reason for why this is “bogus” is because the guy with the gun wasn’t a violent lunatic and once he decided that the other person wasn’t going to attack him, he holstered his gun?
You really should see a shrink about your delusions that everyoneone is a violent lunatic and that if someone isn’t, then there’s something fishy going on.
I have no way to know if the guy is a “violent lunatic” and the thought never crossed my mind either way. I don’t even know where you got that. I said this story stinks. Even if it’s nominally true, it’s still baloney.
So you can’t even follow your own train-wreck you call “logic”? Your entire reason for why this “stinks” is because the guy with the gun decided that since the other person wasn’t going to attack him that he would holster his gun. Ergo, you think that because the man with the gun wasn’t violent that there’s something “bogus” with the story.
Really, do you even think before you start foaming at the mouth over any news story that doesn’t demonize guns?
I don’t know. Something about the story is weird. If the guy was beating the crap out of a girl and another guy took his weapon out to get him to stop I’m ok with it but my problem is the whole guy beating the girl side of the story. That’s what seems fishy to me. Hooker John situation? Something about that half is off
I guess you live in a town free of muggings or assholes who just like to assault anyone who disagrees with them.
Did ol’ Magoo ever actually comment on your initial supposition? I think the habit of commenting without answering can become the total routine.
Like I said: I wouldn’t give you a nickel for the whole story. This is more reality show than reality. Book this crew on Povitch.
Something about the story is weird.
Everything about the story is weird. I dunno what happened, but I doubt all of the participants told the cop what was actually going on.
Magoo – Are you still a racist?
Are you still a sock puppet?
I was looking up the case # of my incident and found this place. As the “41 year old man” in the report it was basically my version of what happened in that report. The attacker was too drunk and fought the police to the squad car to give any kind of statement. Just got home from work and set my phone down and couldn’t find it while she was screaming in the hallway. I did remember where I kept my gun. I thought I need to stop the attack immediately or she might die from him stopping on her head. As for the “conversation” we had, I think his drunkenness was responsible for the strange switch in mood. I wish I could have seen this sooner to answer any questions. BTW thats not my pink gun 🙂
I’ll bet the good guy gets sued for scaring the poor old woman beater.
Don’t know the whole story? Don’t draw!
Folks who bought this story at face value don’t need a gun. They need a life coach. These people should use the buddy system whenever they leave the house.
I guess there are few facts you could possible believe in this story. A woman is on the ground being attacked, possibly getting her head kicked in. Neighbor tries to stop the assault with out the gun (yelling) then does stop the assault with the gun. Woman lives. Asshole attacker is arrested (but lives) Neighbor gets cuffed, but has a decent experience with the police in the end.
Nothing else about this story even matters as far as saving a life or at the least stopping a severe ass kicking goes. The knife, the park, the phone, the sex that didn’t happen…. doesn’t even factor in to the situation.
Man hears screams out side, Finds a woman being beaten outside and stops it. Everybody got to live.
How does not knowing the whole story factor in when the Cliffs Notes version pretty well says it all??
What’s wrong with always leaving the house with a battle buddy? Especially if he/she is armed? I don’t even know what a life coach is…all I know is that the worst time not to have a gun, is when you need one.
PS – I loved the sock puppet come-back Mr. Magoo. Too bad you can’t stop violent crime with accurate and precise language.
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