HYPOTHETICAL: V. Hollywood shooter gone mad.

NYSpeed Automotive NYSpeed Off Topic
1

Ok so familiarize yourself with this story

There is tons of video surfacing from locals who watched in awe from their apartments.

CLIFFS:
Guy goes a bit crazy
Walks down busy Hollywood street
Pulls pistol and starts randomly picking off pedestrians and drivers
Hes a horrible shot, and really only seriously injures one person
Cops take way longer than they should to show up, and kill said shooter

Ok, so here’s where I want to raise a simple hypothetical. You’re one of the camera men/ viewers from 30-50 yards away in the safety of your apartment. (assuming you’re not a liberal pussy/or living in a shitty anti gun state like CA or NY) and you have the means and skills to fire your own personal weapon at the said shooter. Do you take the shot?

Lets say this guy had more firepower, ever second he has before somebody stops him could easily be one more life (possibly even your own family) that he takes.

Obviously the texas crowd will say yup, no questions asked, I would take the shot as soon as I saw him aiming at random people. But for the NY/CA crowd… do you think you’re looking at jail time for stopping him? and would you take the shot?

Do you fear repercussions? Do you not care? (if you’re ex/current military/LE please indicate)

I’m going to withhold my answer for a bit

Poll coming

---------- Post added at 05:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:31 PM ----------

EDIT. if anybody gets video of this guys execution, post it.

2

In a free state with full castle doc. and I was on the street. I would prob take action.

If I were in a building safe and out of the way already with my family. I would have a hard time getting past all of the issues that would be in my immediate and distant future, brought up by neutralizing the threat.

3

i selected your 2nd answer. the thing is in my head i say yes all day long that i could kill someone shooting at others. but when it comes down to it not sure if i could pull the trigger. and as far as being in trouble, how can i not be sure that a stray bullet will come through my window i feel there would be no jail time involved hopefully :slight_smile:

4

Taking repercussions out of the equation totally, I probably couldn’t kill someone unless the gun was pointed directly at me and I knew it was him or me, or a family member and him. Random people, eh I’m just going to hide. I’ll let the state kill him.

5

I’m somewhere between 2 and 3, if there were no legal repercussions, the dude’s gone. That’s not the society we live in though, so I can’t really say. Although, I’m pretty sure most self defense laws have something in there about protecting yourself or others in immediate danger, but I still don’t know.

6

Unless I felt threatened or there was someone I knew in harms way, I’d stay inside. Not worth going to jail over…

7

Completely agree, buttt the thing that goes through my mind is: A. I would have already had 911 on the phone, so in my mind I’d like to believe police would be there 10 secs AGO, so I’m sure I’d really be debating “should i just wait for them to show up and do their job.” and B. What if they take 5 more minutes to show up and this guy goes to his car grabs a bigger gun, or reloads, and kills 5 more people (even 1 would really bother me for the rest of my life if I could prevent it) In all honesty, I cant picture seeing a mother of a child who was killed by this guy saying “you could have stopped it,you could have easily just stopped it”

And thats were I’m conflicted. Also, I’m sure I’d be in denial thinking maybe this is a movie being filmed, or a million other scenarios… I’d almost need to be shot at to be convinced. (especially being in Hollywood)

This is my thought, the one guy in the video actually had a conversation with the shooter during the shooting where he apparently asked the witness for more ammo. At that point, I’d like to hope the prosecutor could make a case that anybody within 100 yards had probably cause to feel a life threatening shot. Butttt this is CA not TX.

SIDE NOTE… I also know that out of all the Answer 1 Yes’s, are probably “HELL YA Computer talk” but it makes me feel good to think that people are willing to step up to these monsters.

---------- Post added at 06:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:59 PM ----------

In response to Ieatpaint, how do you know that the next person turning on to XYZ Shooter street isnt going to be your sister/daughter/granddaughter(who happens to be in the navy /insidejoke)

I think I’d be more comfortable living knowing that I killed a monster than knowing an innocent life was taken. In this situation, I’d hope the local people would back the vigilante justice seeker.

---------- Post added at 06:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:01 PM ----------

ALSO, in watching the videos, kind of wish somebody would have just run him over.

8

I’d shoot only if he already shot someone and hope that the press/media/public would be backing me to limit my jail time. Then again, I have no idea how the law works.

…But if I was in a position to take him out and saw him gun down a few more people, I don’t think I could live with the guilt of NOT stopping him. It’s pretty much lose/lose

9

odds are no.
Family will be suing you without a doubt.

10

Ex military and I posses the inherit right to protect myself and the lives of people around me. Situational dictation taken into account, saying I had a clear back drop without potential loss of civilian life I would take the shot. At the very least I could draw his fire so he wouldn’t take aim at civilians around him.

11

Ugh… so little understanding of law in this thread.

When there is a crazy guy with a gun firing it at random people no state in this country would prosecute you for killing him. Even in NY, where no castle doctrine exists, there is still a justification for homicide. One of the requirements is a reasonable fear for your life or another’s life. Crazy dude firing a gun at cars and pedestrians definitely meets that requirement.

So yeah, if I had a shot that I was confident I could make without risk of hitting an innocent I’d take the shot no question.

12

^although very true. Imminent danger of lives is obvious, however, I think my natural thought process would be…

A. This isnt happening?
B. What the hell is this guy doing?
C. Is this real life or is this a movie?
D. Who is he shooting at? (then watch him shoot at a random 2 or 3 cars)
E. Oh shit, he’s a whack job, call the police and/or take the shot then call police.

I’d skip right to E if i watched him aim at me.

---------- Post added at 07:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:02 PM ----------

^although a completely different issue. Stories like this http://www.defensivecarry.com/forum/concealed-carry-issues-discussions/4538-accidental-shooting-incident.html are always in the back of my mind when hearing about stories like crazy hollywood gunman.

13

Pretty hard to imagine any legitimate reason someone would be firing a gun at passing cars though.

Carrying and actually using a weapon in a defensive situation is a huge responsibility and you better be 100% sure of the situation before jumping into something that hasn’t directly involved you.

In the Hollywood example I’d have a very hard time living with myself if some innocent person died and I could have done something and didn’t because I was worried about the hassle it might be for me later.

14

i’m here too.

i’d want to, but being unclear of the legality of doing so would likely cause me to delay and not take action.

if i were in the mix the game-time call is shot the dude asap.

15

I really don’t think you would face any consequences from shooting someone who is clearly intending on harming/killing other people. If I had the gun, knew I could hit him, I’d probably take the shot.

16

You know you can shoot someone without killing them.

17

If you can’t aim.

18

holy fuck, thank you. no questions asked, my ass is going outside to deal with this guy.

you don’t shoot to injure or disable. if you are pulling the trigger, your intent is to kill, to stop the threat. shooting a gun at someone is a use of deadly physical force, so that should be your intention.

19

With my luck it would end up being an undercover/plain clothes cop and I would be screwed. lol
The point is you really have no idea what is going on so let the police do their job and get video of the situation and profit. :slight_smile:

20

Yeah, because so many police fire guns at randomly passing motorists. :picard: