Gunman in Washington wounds two before being shot and killed by an armed civilian.

The scene of the incident. AP/KOMO news.

A gunman in Washington state wounded two people before being shot by an armed civilian. Washington Post . The attacker has been identified as Tim Day. Police heard reports of a man driving erratically then a report of an attempted carjacking. A 16 year old girl was wounded in that incident, which involved gunfire. The suspect then went into a Wal-Mart, shot a display case and attempted another carjacking. In that incident he shot a man twice. The man was then confronted by two armed civilians, one of which shot and killed the attacker. Witnesses say a third person drew a gun as well. 

My Comment:

This is yet another incident of good people with guns taking down a bad guy with a gun. It is very unclear what this attacker was attempting to accomplish but it seems very obvious that if it wasn't for armed civilians this incident could have continued and someone else could have been shot or killed. Since the incident ended before more people were shot this will never go into the books as a mass shooting stopped by civilians even though that's likely what it is. 

This man's actions make very little sense. It seemed like he already had a car but then tried to carjack someone else. That doesn't seem like a good idea unless he wrecked his car, but even then going into a Wal-Mart and shooting a display case makes zero sense. A second carjacking is also odd, and shooting the victims in both cases seems fairly stupid. 

My guess is that this guy was on some kind of drug or was really drunk. This was not the action of someone who was in the his right mind so him being drunk or high makes sense. It's also possible that he was severely mentally ill. Either way, this was not the action of someone who was thinking clearly and it is very good that he was stopped. 

I don't really think of Washington State as a state that has a strong gun rights/CCW culture. I know that the Eastern part of the state is pretty rural and conservative but this incident occurred in Tumwater which is in the western part of the state, south of Seattle. All 50 states have CCW now and Washington is a "shall issue" state so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. When I think of Washington state I think of Seattle and Seattle is extremely far to the left on almost every political issue. Thankfully, the people of Washington still have the right to defend themselves. 

I do have to say it is encouraging that at least two and perhaps three people drew down on this attacker. I am guessing it was only two since eyewitness reports are often wrong. Still, the fact that more than one person responded to this threat is something that is very good to see. 

I also want to mention that this attack occurred in a place where guns were allowed. Unlike many places Wal-Mart is not a gun-free zone as far as I know. And even if it was, the parking lot and other areas where this attack happened would not be. That means that there were people there that could fight back. If this had been in a gun free zone, who knows what would have happened.