Posted on 07/21/2012 2:00:36 PM PDT by golux
There are lots of experts in this forum of one kind or another. Here we have James Holmes. Why wasn't he taken down? Would you have done it?
Prayers for the victims and their families.
Because that is the fiction the cops use when they are trying to get raises. The most misunderstood fact of life is that cops don't prevent crimes, armed private citizens do. Cops get called after the fact and then attempt to find out who was responsible, and maybe they prevent the next crime from happening IF they nab the perp before he has the opportunity to do it again. Cops spend 99+% of their time investigating crimes and collecting evidence about a crime which was over and done with hours, days, weeks, months or years after the fact OR writing tickets to raise enough revenue to cover their overtime. I guess I would really like to know if there were any off duty cops in the theater and what their individual responses were.
Getz was the guy in the subway...I had forgot his name.
Around 1:30 p.m., witnesses say a man later identified as Hasan jumped up on a desk and shouted the words “Allahu Akbar!” — Arabic for “God is great!” He was armed with two pistols, one a semiautomatic capable of firing up to 20 rounds without reloading.
Packed into cubicles with 5-foot-high dividers, the 300 unarmed soldiers were sitting ducks. Those who weren’t hit by direct fire were struck by rounds ricocheting off the desks and tile floor.
When he decided that Hasan wasn’t close to being out of ammo, Smith made a dash for the door. He’d made it outside when he heard cries from within.
“I don’t want to die.”
“This really hurts.”
“Help me get out of here.”
Smith rushed back inside and found two wounded. He grabbed them by their collars and dragged them outside.
His second time through the door, he ran into the shooter, whose back was to him. Smith turned and fled, bullets whizzing by his head and hitting the walls as he rushed outside.
Suprise and confusion
Dark and ear shattering noise.
Obstacles-rows of seats between them and the killer.
People shot, scattering, piling up
How many people could possibly have had the opportunity to charge him? Those who could were likely already dead or wounded.
I saw a woman take her four year old daughter to Hostel. I was horrified to see the girl watching very intently when the villain brought a blow torch to a poor guy’s eye.
Being at a movie puts you into a spectator mode, and I would guess many of the people there were just waiting to see what was going to happen next.
If I were there as the father of a family, I’d not have taken that kind of chance because it could easily get my family killed. Call me a wuss if you wish, but my first responsibility is to them, not the other family a couple of rows up.
In addition, this appears to be the kind of scenario where it would be difficult to get a good shot at him without hitting a bystander, so I’m not sure being armed would have helped much.
I don’t believe that our flags were at “Half-Mast” for that episode. Just sayin’.
Most front rows where freer movement is allowed by not being boxed in, are usually filled with the youngest in the crowd. With everybody seated and no guns allowed, movement was restricted greatly by the rows of seats and rows and rows of panicked people...one eyewitness account said he shot those closest to him first(whether true or not???).... for someone to get to him before being shot would have been a miracle in that sardine can.
By the time he actually shot people, the tear gas was overwhelming the patrons. I think I would have made a run at him if I was close and could see anything. (but, I'm old and don't give a damn)
That was exactly what I was thinking.
I misspelled his name, Goetz. :)
any one basing their life on comic book movies at midnight is either too stoned or too stupid or both to do much but eat large bags of Doritos and say “dude” repeatedly.
I’ll bet that a few of the movie goers tried but were shot dead. There are probably a couple of REAL heroes among the dead. One military serviceman, perhaps. It’s just like 911.. The next dude who tries this will get rushed, big time.
Navy sailor from Illinois killed in Colorado shooting
The audience was not able to tell the difference between what was part of the show and what was not until the place was smoke-filled and bullets were flying.
I refuse to blame the victims.
“your basic instinct is to hit the deck and escape”
Absolutely! Shock and awe is designed to catch the victims ( enemy ) off guard and it takes some time for most to process unexpected information. The passengers on Flight 93 took some time to steel their resolve. The entire episode in the theater only took seconds and was over in a minute or two. The shooter positioned himself so as to limit the approaches available to attackers and wore armor in case someone shot back.
I wouldn’t have any criticism for the victims in this sad case.
I take this one further, even if I am alone without my family, as the father of two young boys, I am far less likely to risk my life than I used to be. I dont know what I would have done myself, its easy to sit here and imagine what goes on, but unless you have been there, you have no idea what its really like.
True. And even if the theater had been full of would-be heroes there simply wasn't much of anything that could be done against a guy in full body armor wielding a deadly weapon and who also has the element of surprise on his side.
To everyone: I suggest leaving the second-guessing to instances where people run away from a woman being raped or something of that sort. What happened the other night was off the charts in terms of what any average person should ever have to deal with or be judged by.
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