Semi Witnessed a Fatal Shooting this Afternoon

[Kevin J.]

I just semi witness a maybe fatal shooting at the Chic-Fil-a parking lot. Parked with the windows down enjoying the warm sunny day waiting for the wife in Savers. I hear a distinct gun shot and a lot of screaming. Get out to see what's up and there is a hispanic man about 30 on the ground with a gunshot to the head. Someone already doing CPR. Per others who were closer it started with a parking lot road rage, to an argrument, fight and then a shot. The shooter was also hispanic about the same age. Cops swarmed the parking lot and took the shooter into custody.

Stay safe out there my friends.

 

[Doug M.]

There are darned few places I would sit with the windows down. When I was a cop, I kept the windows cracked about an inch so I could hear, but if I was parked to do paper, I would usually be some place isolated with the car backed up against a wall.

 

[Beemerguy53]

The United States these days has become a very violent and troubled country. Crimes happen here that simply don't occur in many or most other societies.

The reasons for that are the subject of another discussion (which we probably can't have on here) but the bottom line is that when I go out in public, I keep my head on a swivel, and always look for a way out of any given situation. And I absolutely, never, EVER, engage negatively with strangers in traffic or other public places...

 

[biku324]

Never, ever give up cover, concealment, and mobility to go see what is going on.

 

[LVSteve]

There are darned few places I would sit with the windows down. When I was a cop, I kept the windows cracked about an inch so I could hear, but if I was parked to do paper, I would usually be some place isolated with the car backed up against a wall.

I've never been in LE, but you just described one of my preferred routines.

 

[shamuscull]

Is CPR beneficial for a headshot. I would think if the head wound stopped his heart he ain't coming back.

 

[Beemerguy53]

Is CPR beneficial for a headshot. I would think if the head wound stopped his heart he ain't coming back.

CPR is rarely effective in cases where the cardiac arrest is caused by trauma.

Back around 1985, my engine responded on a medic standby call for a shooting a block from our firehouse. We found a male in his twenties, in cardiac arrest, with a gunshot wound to the upper right chest, and another through his head...entry wound at the right temple, exit wound on the top left side. We started CPR (because state EMS protocols required it in such cases) and when the medics got there they continued. They actually did restore his pulse briefly, but he died at Shock-Trauma a few hours later.

 

[Kevin J.]

This happened in Rochester MN home of the Mayo Clinic so we have a very high percentage of the population that is either an MD, RN or other highly trained medical professional. IMO he may be one of these folks and was reacting out of instinct and training rendering help as best he could rather than not doing anything.

 

[Beemerguy53]

This happened in Rochester MN home of the Mayo Clinic so we have a very high percentage of the population that is either an MD, RN or other highly trained medical professional. IMO he may be one of these folks and was reacting out of instinct and training rendering help as best he could rather than not doing anything.

Any medical professional in that situation would have commenced CPR. There are too many variables to just "pronounce" someone dead and not even try to render care...that happens only in movies and on television.

I don't know what the EMS standards are for Minnesota, but here in Maryland, when I was on the job, we were required to render care unless the patient was dead beyond any possible doubt. (I don't want to get graphic here, but you can imagine what I mean.)

I started CPR many, many times on people I knew were beyond help, because it was required. When the medics arrived, they would continue with Advanced Life Support, and we would help either by assisting them in the back of the medic unit or driving it to the hospital.

 

[lihpster]

Also, a headshot doesn't necessarily mean death is a foregone conclusion. So, you do what you can to try and save them.

 

[StrawHat]

There are darned few places I would sit with the windows down. When I was a cop, I kept the windows cracked about an inch so I could hear, but if I was parked to do paper, I would usually be some place isolated with the car backed up against a wall.

I would park with my drivers door against a wall.

Kevin

 

[Beemerguy53]

I would park with my drivers door against a wall.

Kevin

Respectfully, I would never do that...it closes off your fastest means of egress.

 

[Beemerguy53]

Also, a headshot doesn't necessarily mean death is a foregone conclusion. So, you do what you can to try and save them.

We responded to a police-involved shooting one summer afternoon, and found a 300-pound guy unconscious and face-down in the dirt, with blood all over his head and his right hand, and a huge lump on his neck.

He'd attacked a police officer with a hammer, and the cop fired about a dozen rounds from his Glock 17 while running backward. One shot hit the perp in his right palm, but we couldn't find the source of the blood on his head. After we cleaned the blood and dirt from his face, we found an entry wound just above his mouth, to the right of his nose. There was no exit wound that we could see.

He was barely breathing, very labored, so we got him on oxygen and monitored him. When the medic unit arrived, they took him to Johns Hopkins Hospital's ER. It turned out that the bullet that hit him in the face was deflected downward through his mouth into his neck, where it nicked his right jugular vein (hence the hematoma) and then went into his right lung. When we left the hospital, he was still alive.

I wonder, if that guy lived, if he ever realized how lucky he was to survive that incident?

 

[StrawHat]

Respectfully, I would never do that...it closes off your fastest means of egress.

My vehicles were always faster than I could ever hope to be.

But, I respect your feelings.

Kevin

 

[kozmic]

My first concern would have been to safely and quickly get my wife back to my car and move to a safer location if warranted. I would at least have called her to tell her what happened and to shelter in place until given an "all clear".

 

[Beemerguy53]

My vehicles were always faster than I could ever hope to be.

But, I respect your feelings.

Kevin

I was thinking about a scenario where someone forces his way into your car from the passenger's side.

For years, I've kept a TOPS knife in my driver's door map compartment...I call it my "carjacker repellent"...

 

[Rudi]

When ever you see LEO units moving in, go the other way. Read about it tomorrow.

 

[WR Moore]

I recall an incident where an FBI agent was going into a bank. He'd opened the outer door and a guy was coming out the inner door. Looking left to right the agent saw: gun, mask, bag. Responded by whipping out his revolver and putting one in the middle of the forehead, guy dropped.

Responding officers were doing the patting on the back thing when EMTs arrived and discovered the guy was still alive. The hospital found bullet (RNL in those days) hadn't penetrated the cranial vault and had skidded under the scalp to the back of the head.

 

[Greyman50]

Sometimes the best.

 

[venomballistics]

I would park with my drivers door against a wall.

Kevin

Now you're sealed in the coffin if ambushed.