One Shot Almost Enough to Save Woman whose Gun Jammed

Gun Watch ^ | 29 July, 2015 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

Tracy Williams does not appear to have had much experience with firearms.  It was a desperate situation that drove her to buy guns and take a CCW class.  She had broken up with her boyfriend, who had a long criminal record.  He had kidnapped her, she had escaped and filed charges.  He was out on $75,000 bail when he attacked her three weeks later.

During that period she had obtained the firearms and a concealed carry permit.  North Carolina requires an 8 hour course, including live fire, and an $80 non-refundable fee to obtain a permit. 

From abc7chicago.com:

Green said Williams shot her ex as he attacked her around 5 p.m. in the parking lot of a Food Lion on U.S. 1 near a Cash Points ATM. Police said Williams' gun then jammed and Yarborough fatally shot her.

When officers arrived at the scene, they found Williams in front of the ATM with two guns, while the suspect's gun was missing. They believe she was trying to defend herself.

An eye witness states that Williams was not the only one who had problems with their gun.  From wral.com:   

"I heard her start blowing the horn, then I heard a gunshot go off," said a witness at the scene who did not want to be identified. "She started running around trying to get away, yelling for help...And as he was chasing her, he was trying to load the gun and she was fighting for her life, yelling for help."

The one shot that she was able to fire was almost enough.  It hit Yarborough in the leg, but appears to have missed arteries or bone.  As a 9mm, it had enough power to break the leg if bone were hit.  Tracy Williams would likely have been able to outrun Yarborough if his leg had been broken.    From twcnews.com:

“She had just recently went through the concealed carry class. She had a 9 mm handgun. She fired one round and it appears the reason she dropped the weapon, the weapon jammed and she tried to run away from him and that's when he initiated the fatal blow,” said Chief John Green, of the Franklinton Police Department.

A gun is not a guarantee of safety.  Possession of a gun provides another option for self defense.   In Tracy Williams' case, it was almost, but not quite enough, to save her.

©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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[sockmonkey]

I wish it (or any article I’ve seen about this) would identify the manufacturer and model of her handgun.

[mrmeyer]

I'll bet she 'limp wristed' the auto and got a fail to eject or fail to feed.

That's highly probable.

The semi autos I shoot are primarily CZs, Glocks, and Rugers, all duty size or compact. At one of my last range visits I shot a Glock 26 Gen 3 subcompact that was NIB/unfired, which I cleaned before firing it for the first time.

On the second magazine, I had one stovepipe. (the only one that day.) I was perplexed as this never occurred with my other Glocks in the thousands of rounds I put downrange with them. I quickly realized it was me and corrected my grip, and had no more issues.

Follow up range visit fired another 200-300 rounds, no issues. After nearly 30 years of pistol experience, I realized there are still things to learn.

When I also learned how well I could shoot with the G26, I didn't even bother putting rounds through the other pistols I brought with me that day.

[libstripper]

Not your whole arsenal. My sincerest condolences. At least it was a TDA, not a TBA.

[Tijeras_Slim]

As a Sporting Clay shooter, I can tell you that you’d be amazed what people miss with a shotgun and at short ranges.

[shotgun]

I had a Walther PPK 9mm short (.380). I bought it brand new and I couldn’t fire more than 3 rounds without stove piping. Didn’t matter the quality of ammo either. Took into the gun store where I bought it and they were baffled too, and they tried several times to fix it. Finally they allowed me to trade it for a Beretta 84F (380.). I loved that pistol. Had twice the capacity of the Walther, no problems with cycling and was dead on accurate out of the box.

[Tijeras_Slim]

The PPKs from Interarms in the 80’s were bad news. The one’s produced in the 2000’s by collaboration between S&W and Walther were much better.

The Beretta is a superior gun, but big for a .380.

[jpsb]

I shot my 380 into a big thick Houston phone book, it penetrated about 2 inches into the book. Then I shot my 357 security six into the same thick phone book and it went thru the phone book and left a 6 inch whole in the ground. No 380 for me.

[shotgun]

This was back in the late 80’s and they have since discontinued the 84F model which was miniature version of the 92F. It fit in the palm of my hand and had a 14 round clip. I would carry it around in my quick release fanny pack designed for concealed carry. I don’t know how many times I went to Disneyland or Disneyworld with that or big time sporting events. No one ever thought anything about it.

[Tijeras_Slim]

It was also marketed by Browning.

[Tijeras_Slim]

No doubt, but a .380 is better than harsh words.

[MaxMax]

You may very well be correct on both issues. When I bought my Kimber it had
a break in at about 300 rnds before I would even trust it, meanwhile I
carried a .357. Since then I've had the barrel cryonized for a bit
more down range accuracy, and it helped.

[gundog]

I’ve heard that spiral fractures of the radius occur after the wrist collapses.