Armed civilian and off duty cop confront mass shooter in Idaho.

 

Screenshot of video showing the civilian opening fire on the attacker with a suppressed FN Five-SeveN pistol. USA Today.

An armed civilian and off duty cop confronted a mass shooter in Idaho and drove him off. USA Today. The attack occurred at a busy In-N-Out burger restaurant in Twin Falls and resulted in two deaths and seven injuries. The suspect was armed with a long gun in an AR-15 variant. Video showed him shooting into parked Tesla cars at a charging station. However, the actions of the civilian an the off duty police officer forced him to flee and he ended up taking his own life. The civilian and officer also helped treat and evacuate the wounded and are being hailed as heroes. The suspects motivations are still unknown.

My Comment:

Another example of a good guy with a gun stopping a mass shooting. Again, you don't have to kill the attacker to stop him, often, resistance is enough. The civilian and the off duty cop were able to drive this attacker away and the attacker ended up killing himself. 

That's usually what happens when a mass shooter is confronted. Very few of them are competent and almost none of them have ever been in combat before. They weren't banking on someone fighting back and when someone does, they usually fold. 

It's pretty clear that the guy shooting the pistol had more experience with his weapon than the shooter. Indeed, this is a guy that his whole life is guns. The FN Five-SeveN pistol is not cheap, the MSRP is around $1500, and he had to buy a version with a threaded barrel and the suppressor. The can itself was probably around $500 and, depending on when he bought it, he might have still had to pay the now-revoked $200 tax stamp. Plus, he was using subsonic rounds. 5.7 is already an expensive round. It seems likely that the civilian (who has been identified on social media but not by new organizations) was pretty rich and was very experienced with his firearms.

For folks not in the gun community, it's probably important to explain that this is probably unprecedented. Very few people bother to carry a FN Five-seveN, given the price of the firearm and the cost per round. It's not a carry gun, it's a full sized pistol and probably gave the shooter a much more even playing field against the attacker. And very few people bother to carry subsonic rounds or a suppressor as an every day carry option. Indeed, it's pretty uncommon for home defense or any other usage. 

Idaho is a red state with good gun laws and it's not at all surprising that there were two people willing to fight back at a busy In-N-Out restaurant. Like I said before, fighting back is about the only way to end mass shootings before fatalities reach the double digit range, and Idaho was uniquely qualified to facilitate that. They are a pro-suppressor state and have very loose open carry laws and I think that's a major reason why this attack failed. 

As for the shooter, it's clear that he didn't really seem competent with his firearm. The suspect has been named as Chad Williams and we don't know too much about his background and motivations. But from the video I have seen of him, he did not seem to have much in the way of confidence and it's clear that he wasn't expecting to come under fire so quickly. It's absolutely tragic he was able to shoot a few people, killing two of them, but it does go to show that training and confidence trump simply owning a rifle. 

Indeed, if the identification of the civilian is correct, he is a GunTuber on YouTube. He has several videos showing him training with his pistol (and an FN-FS2000 rifle, I told you he had money) and it's abundantly clear that he knew what he is doing. We don't know much about the off-duty cop, but it's clear that both men are heroes and did exactly what you should do if confronted by a mass killer.