Posted on 01/06/2017 5:22:50 PM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo
A Twin Cities man who was heading on a cruise with his wife told WCCO he witnessed the shootings at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
Mark Lea, a financial adviser from Elk River, talked while passengers were still on lockdown at the airport after police had taken the gunman into custody. He was in the baggage claim area when shots broke out. The latest reports from authorities in Florida say five people were killed and eight others were hurt in the baggage claim area at the Fort Lauderdale Airport. Lea said that the attack was an awful and surreal experience.
“It sounded at first like firecrackers, and then we figured out what actually was going on. There was actually a shooter,” Lea told WCCO. “People started yelling and screaming running for any exit they could.” Lea said the shooter was very quiet as he walked through the baggage claim, emptying what Lea said appeared to be a 9mm weapon.
“He was shooting as though he was walking through the woods and doing target practice, only using people as his target,” he said.
Lea said that he estimated the shooter got within 10 to 15 feet of him.
He said that he offered comfort to a woman who had been shot, and whose husband had been shot as well and wasn’t moving, Lea said.
“She had a pool of blood around her a foot in diameter already, so I didn’t want to move her until EMS could get in there,” he said.
The gunman was identified as Estaban Santiago, and investigators said he went through three magazines.
It’s easier said than done.
I was robbed once, working at Circle K in North Idaho.
A guy came in at Halloween, wearing a mask, and carrying a 12 gauge shotgun.
My first thought was “that’s a weird Halloween consume,” then he walked behind the counter pushed the muzzle of the shotgun six inches from my stomach and said “Money.”
I was paralyzed with fear, I’d faced bad situations before, I was a security guard at Ski Schweitzer and I had to stop a lot of drunks from getting into their cars and driving home to Spokane, and one guy even lifted a monkey wrench above his head and tried to hit me with it.
None of those things scared me, but seeing that shotgun muzzle so close to my stomach completely floored me, I could barely get the cash drawer open I was shaking so badly.
All my friends told me how they would have knocked the muzzle aside, or charged the guy, or grabbed the gun out of his hands...but I told them until it actually happens, you have no idea what terror can do to shut a person down.
Now, obviously military guys are going to charge at a guy shooting people, but I suspect it’d be hard for your average Joe, (of which I’m one) to run directly at a guy who’s shooting and killing people.
I like to think that God would empower me to stop seomeon at a moment like that, but I will never forget how completely and absolutely fear shut me down when he walked up to me and stuck that shotgun in my stomach...
Ed
Is that a Shield?
Ever heard of the little grandma lift a car to save a kid ?
How about Moses Speaking to the Rocks?
Same deal,
As Spiritual beings we have Power in
Our body’s And Voices.
We are Given Power to Tread on Serpents!
Christian Pacifists ,,,oxymoron.
A coward dies a thousand deaths.
Amen to that, I’ve seen it many times in my life, demonstrable interventions of God that directly saved my life...
Ed
*** “When you’re watching something like that, your brain doesn’t work the way it does when you post comments on the internet” ***
I am the oldest of 6 siblings, I have 28 years in Uniform, 7 major deployments and I am 61 years old... I will tell you that I have without fail my entire Life done exactly what I said I would do, no matter the consequences. There is no “Thinking” involved, nor should there be, it is Reaction and no different than if someone sucker punched you. What is “Your” first reaction? Lay Down? Run? Think? Or immediately Rip the POS’s Windpipe out? (My reaction is immediate and includes a Windpipe, no thought involved)
“You” can be a Keyboard Commando and all I have to say is that “You” have to live with that choice and the consequences. (I would never be able to sleep again if all I did is to cower and cover to allow a madman 10’ away from me kill other people)
“Choices”, we all make them.
For your listening enjoyment Alan Jackson displaying why I respect him so much ... (if you don’t know the backstory you won’t be impressed)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJVp6FM0aH0
and the original Jones
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi3GgoLtlWk
Maybe you know me better now, maybe not. IDGAF
I’m a trained infantry Marine (92-96). I’m getting old, fat, and rusty, and I’ve never been tested by fire. I know in my head what I should do, but I can’t call out another man’s courage when I’ve never had my own challenged. I hope I would fight through the ambush, but something like this goes so fast, you don’t know how you’ll respond until the day comes.
We need to get BACK to the 'ENEMY COMBATANT' under military jurisdiction approach!
When an individual confronted with this sort of thing doesn’t have training, they freeze or run. It’s physiological. If you have training, you know this because the result of training is you learn to act against your body.
Ed, again the situation you mention is different, if someone has the drop on you and it is one on one the choices you have are limited.
In the situation that you described I would probably hope I was wearing brown pants and that no one asked me afterwards to sit.
I myself have only had a gun pulled on me, one time, in the Philippines 30 something years ago, in a Jeepny... I was in the front seat the attacker was behind me, he kept hitting me with his revolver and I was just drunk enough to believe that I heard the cylinder flopping around and was so sloppy worn out and every time he hit me it just made me more sure that it probably wouldn’t even fire. Got to a point that I got tired of being pistol whipped ... I just grabbed the driver and jumped out the passenger side (used the driver as a skid plate) rolled a few times and ran down a hill through a Cemetery (which is now under about 8’ of Ash from Pinatubo) and I discovered that I was wrong, that junky ass pistol had at least enough left in it to fire off 1 round fired at me as I ran down the hill.
I never feared or was I worried about my safety before or after that, Self Policing is how Filipinos keep Government out of their lives.
You’d be Mad,
Damn Mad!
A Righteous Indignation!
A Man Stands.
*** “When an individual confronted with this sort of thing doesn’t have training, they freeze or run. It’s physiological. If you have training, you know this because the result of training is you learn to act against your body” ***
NOPE! NO and WRONG!
I am the oldest of 6 Siblings, I react just like a Mother would... my Military experience may give me more assets or methods to react with...
Perhaps standing in front of 480 of the finest Humans on the Planet every morning for 5 years enhances my Big Brother reaction to protect MY People, now that I’m Civilian, Everyone is My People and you don’t mess with My People, EVER. (No different than messing with My Mom or My Siblings, any threat is dealt with a quick fast and in a hurry response and Death as a penalty is always on the table)
Mess with a “Mother” anything when the Offspring is in jeopardy or danger, that is a True Selfless Bravery that can be easily duplicated and witnessed inter-species, “Big Brother” or “Sheepdog” is a very similar Human response.
(The Sheep response can also be witnessed, demonstrated and reproduced as Terrorists continue to do... Sheep are very STUPID they tend to congregate in GUN FREE ZONES)
*** “I’m a trained infantry Marine (92-96). I’m getting old, fat, and rusty” ***
My bet is that you would run instinctively towards the sound of fire, not away, most Marines are Sheepdogs, not Sheep. If you didn’t, I would not judge and I’d still want you to guard my 6 before I’d trust a civilian.
I wasn’t talking about you. My point is simply that the average citizen with no military training will not respond in the way trained individuals do.
And the trained individuals I know are not outspoken about it. They are guarded, even humble when it comes to speaking about their skills.
*** “My point is simply that the average citizen with no military training will not respond in the way trained individuals do” ***
Mess with any offspring of a Mother and you might want to reconsider that statement. Granted the threat not made to their child proper would not illicit the same response, I’m just saying you don’t have to be trained.
“At least tossing You’re
“HELLO KITTY” Handbag would Be a Start.”
There was a shooting at my son’s college a few years ago. The building monitor (a male student) - charged after the guy and used pepper spray (wasn’t supposed to have it on campus, but...) to stun the shooter, then tackled him and others came to help him keep the shooter down.
The hero’s facebook page was intermixed with martial arts, shooting equipment, and “My Little Pony” threads!
*** “They are guarded, even humble when it comes to speaking about their skills” ***
Go to any VFW have a beer, stick around, it will take you years to find out who the really bad ass folks are ... usually find out when you go to their Funeral, sometimes their friends will spill the beans but mostly, you never know.
The closest I have ever been to a conversation with someone speaking about their “skills” was a young man that applied for a job and as a reference doc he showed me his DD214, he pointed to the part that read “Sniper” as a job description and then I knew I didn’t want him because it was a FAKE DD214.
(Ask Obama... Govt Docs are the easiest Docs to Fake)
Thanks for the vote of confidence. Pray that any of us would have the courage to do what is right.
I think this may be the same guy that Shep Smith had on the phone from the scene. If so, I’m pretty sure I know why he wimped out. Lets just say, Smith may marry him someday.
No, it isn’t a different guy. The guy talking to Shep last name was Slichter(?), from Ohio, was with his wife and mother in law.
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