"Good Samaritan" who shot and killed a gunman that had just murdered a cop was himself shot and killed by responding officers.

 

A man with a Blue Lives Matter flag stands to honor Officer Gordan Beesly. NBC News.

A man who shot and killed a gunman that had just murdered a police officer was himself shot and killed by responding officers. NBC News. The gunman, Ronald Troyke snuck up on Officer Gordan Beesly with a shotgun and murdered him. He returned to his car and picked up an AR-15 but was then shot and killed by John Hurley, who used a handgun to stop the man. Hurley himself was then shot and killed by the police as he had picked up Troyke's AR. Troyke left a suicide note saying he would kill as many Arvada officers as he could and was motivated by hatred of the police. An investigation is ongoing to see if the police shooting was justified legally. 

My Comment:

This story hit the news a couple of days ago but I did not see it until now. Given the tragic nature of the case and the obvious lessons here for both police and CCW holders I think it is important to cover the case. It's the kind of nightmare scenario that can keep you up at night. 

First of all it seems very clear that Mr. Hurley was a hero for his actions that day. This event could have lead to a lot more deaths if it wasn't for him. I don't think the shooter was expecting that an armed citizen was going to put him down and if it had been police that had responded to the shooter I am guessing there would have been a shootout. 

The shooters motives are pretty clear, though details are scarce. He hated police and wanted to kill as many of them as possible. I don't know if that was because of some incident he had with them in the past or because of the extreme anti-cop rhetoric we are seeing in the media today but either way he wanted to kill cops. 

Ironically enough, his actions might have indirectly led to more people distrusting police as there will be people who will argue their actions were completely out of line. Nobody has a problem shooting an active shooter but to mistake the guy that just saved your life for the killer? That's not a good look and some people won't be able to forgive that. 

On the other hand, I do think it's possible to argue that the shooting was justified. After all police were responding to an officer down call and when they got there they saw a guy with an AR-15 standing near a guy that he shot. It makes sense that they would shoot first and ask questions later. 

But was the shooting legally justified? I don't know at this point. Without more evidence like a video of the shooting or eyewitness testimony I am not sure. My gut says that it probably wasn't legally justified because I can't imagine John Hurley was actively pointing the gun at someone. But without a clearer picture of what happened I can't really decide either way. And it's possible that the entire incident happened so fast that no actual thoughts happened at all. These shootings happen in seconds and it's possible the officer just didn't have enough time to think things through. 

Still, I can't imagine why John Hurley picked up that AR-15. Was he trying to empty the gun and make it safe? Was he just checking out the weapon? Was he trying to get it away from the shooter? I don't know, but it seems like a very big mistake on his part. I don't think this would have happened if he hadn't picked up the rifle. 

What would I have done? I sure as hell wouldn't have picked up the rifle. If the shooter was still a threat I would still be shooting until he isn't. At most I would have kicked the rifle away or dragged it, but I would not have picked it up or tried to unload it. And as soon as the threat was neutralized I would be either holstering or dropping my weapon just to avoid this kind of situation. And when the cops got there I would have my hands up in the air as soon as they arrived baring it still being an active situation. 

Regardless, this is a nightmare scenario for everyone involved, except for the shooter who got exactly what he wanted. I can see both sides of the argument and no matter what happened here it was a major tragedy. I can't imagine what everyone involved is going through, including Mr. Hurley's family and the officer that shot him. 

Finally, I do have to say that despite the tragic nature of this shooting, it does go to show the importance of CCW. This will probably not go down as a mass shooting as it was three deaths from three different shooters, but it will go down as a mass shooting stopped by a gunman. And I would also like to point out that the guy with the AR-15 lost out to the guy with a handgun. It's a good example of how the anti-gun crowd is wrong about the narratives they push.