Crime happens everywhere and at any time. Some criminals want to take our money or property. Some commit murder out of their simple disregard for other peoples’ lives. Whatever the reason, they can kill until they get bored and stop themselves or until someone else stops them. The news story only gets a few paragraphs if someone is there to stop the violence. Fortunately for us, there was a good guy nearby to stop this attempted murderer in Fort Myers, Florida back in 2021.
A repeat criminal with felony convictions was sitting on a bench. Another group of men were standing across the street. The news reports don’t comment on any communication or threats between the man on the bench and the men standing across the street. The felon took a pistol out of his pocket and began hitting the bench with his gun. An empty gun may make a poor hammer, but this firearm was loaded. The felon then pointed his gun at the men across the street and shot at them.
It was simply a matter of luck that none of the victims were killed by the felon’s first shots. What happened next, however, had nothing to do with luck.
People were running everywhere after being shot at. One of the men across the street was armed. He presented his firearm and shot back. Being shot at changed the attacker’s plans immediately. The attacker threw away his gun and ran. The defender also stopped shooting. News reports don’t mention if anyone followed the attacker, but witnesses knew where he was. Police were on their way in less than a minute.
The ShotSpotter system is a series of acoustic detectors that listen for gunshots. Combining the signals from several detectors locates the source of the gunfire. The detection system used by the city of Fort Myers recorded both the attacker’s gunfire and the return shots from the armed defender. Victims also called 911 to report the attack. No matter how fast the police respond, they are not there in time to defend us.
Witnesses talked to the police. They indicated where the attacker went. Police followed him. He was arrested after resisting arrest. Police also recovered the attacker’s gun.
The armed felon, David Williams, age 50, was charged with firing a weapon in public, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possessing a firearm by a felon, and resisting arrest. He was held on a 23-thousand dollar bond, but I could not find a record of his conviction for this attack.
Normal people don’t use a gun as a hammer and then shoot at a crowd to see if the gun still works. We have addicts and mentally ill people near us all the time. Gun-prohibition laws don’t stop crazy people from getting guns, just as our laws don’t stop addicts from taking drugs or criminals from attacking innocent people. You might be sane, sober, and non-violent, but that doesn’t mean that everyone else follows your good example.
We are our own first responders. Thank goodness there was an armed citizen ready and willing to stop this attack. We seldom see it covered in the news, but armed defense is common. We defend ourselves with a firearm about 2.8 million times a year. Where ordinary citizens are allowed to go armed, good guys with guns stop attempted mass murder about half the time.
This story is one of many that go under-reported by the mainstream media because it shows a positive image of a law-abiding gun owner defending their life and their family. It is our responsibility at AmmoLand to report these stories to you. While we will continue to report these stories, groups like the Crime Prevention Research Center, led by Dr. John Lott, are fastidious in studying the use of firearms for self-defense. Stay up to date with all news on self-defense by following CPRC and Ammoland.
About Rob Morse
Rob Morse writes about gun rights at Ammoland, at Clash Daily, at OpsLens, and on his SlowFacts blog. He hosts the Self Defense Gun Stories Podcast and co-hosts the Polite Society Podcast. Rob was an NRA pistol instructor and combat handgun competitor.