Victor Gomez was the first victim. He was carrying a pistol, but was killed before he had time to react.
That’s why we need lots of armed civilians.
Was he carrying concealed or “open”? I wouldn’t want to have a miscreant spot me before his (her) unlawful action.
If by chance Dicken had been targeted first then Gomez might have taken out the shooter. I think that needs to be understood. The more people avail themselves of lawful CCL, the safer we will be from the nutjobs.
I’ve been knocked out twice, in high school, by what is now called the knockout game. I already had such a high state of situational awareness that I developed significant sleep problems that followed me into adult life, and I am still dealing with in my late sixties. But here’s how it happens and why there’s little you can do about it.
You’re walking along in a crowd. You’re alert because at any moment you might have to deal with some asshole who sneaks up behind you, catches the non-weight bearing foot and hooks it behind your other calf so you fall. Or something equally stupid. Kids are only afraid of other kids because they know how evil and uncivilized those other kids can be, especially when surrounded by their in-group.
Here’s what you do. The crowd has a rhythm. People are moving at about the same pace. You adjust your personal envelope to fit the circumstances. You can react easily to whatever happens inside of your situational envelope. You spot a troublemaker with his buddies and redirect to put more space between you and “them.”
The person who has targeted you is outside of your envelope and effectively invisible because your entire attention is divided between your thoughts, plans, and attention dedicated to protecting you inside of your envelope. The attacker times his approach like a pilot would time a run into a target so that the radar is facing the other way. He swings his cudgel as he passes you and is already leaving as you impact the ground unconscious.
Something similar probably happens to the first victim of a shooting.
Armed police and soldiers are killed every day too. So if someone’s tries to make the point “see, concealed carry won’t protect you!” based on this story, then they’re idiots.
Carrying is no guarantee. It just gives you a fighting chance....most of the time. Unfortunately, this poor guy never had the time to draw his weapon.
The anti-gunners will say, “See! Having a gun didn’t protect him!”
Will the young hero who saved lives with his weapon, be charged by the mall owners with violating their gun free zone status?