Carry Your Gear!

I just got home yesterday afternoon from several days teaching on the road. I arrived in my home town, Plant City, FL, right after a big shoot-out between the Plant City police and a deranged suspect who had shot at multiple cars, killing one driver. He then fired at responding police, who returned fire and killed him. I arrived at that intersection about two hours after the event, by chance, as it was on my way home.

Today I was out running errands and drove through another intersection in Plant City where there were numerous police cars and news crews. A police detective had been run over by a kidnap suspect while a crew of officers tried to serve a warrant on the offender and his partner. After running over the officer, the offenders led police on a chase which culminated in a shooting, with one suspect dead and one hospitalized.

That is the third officer involved shooting this year in my sleepy little town of just under 40,000 people. Both occurred in mid-day, not late at night. In both cases, I drove by the scene quite by coincidence within a couple of hours of the event. This is why we stress that you must carry your gear on a routine basis. Violence can occur anywhere, without warning. Small towns, nice neighborhoods, etc—it doesn’t matter. If there are people, there is the potential for violence. Be prepared.

https://www.fox13news.com/news/pcso-...city-detective

Too true. I was off duty in Odessa, TX a few months ago the day the big running gunfight/mobile active shooter incident occurred there. That too was during the day.

This happened on Sunday night /Monday morning last week in Colorado Springs. One person with a gun (or a baseball bat) could have stopped this guy. Actually the last two guys he stabbed over powered him and held him for the cops

https://www.kktv.com/content/news/Ma...566935531.html

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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - Arrest papers show 39-year-old Rene Miller went on a 40-minute stabbing ramage around trails near America the Beautiful Park and downtown Colorado Springs. Victims say he was licking his finger and rubbing the spit on their foreheads in the shape of a cross.

SNIP

Police say the stabber left eight victims across a mile and a half, spanning from the Midland Trail near 8th and Cimarron, where the spree began to Tejon and Boulder, where he was caught. The suspect was reportedly stopped by his last two victims, who were able to turn the tables and hold him down until officers arrived.

The first report of a stabbing came in around 1:30 a.m.

"Officers and medical personnel respond there [at 8th and Cimarron]. ... The two victims stated that they were attacked and then [the suspect] ran off down the trail," CSPD Sgt. Shawn Peterson told 11 News.

Officers split up, with some remaining at the scene to assist the victims and others continuing down the Midland Trail to the Pikes Peak Greenway to find the assailant.

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Pretty soon you won't feel safe just walking down the street.

I have been to Las Vegas once in my life, March of 2017. I had people ask my why I bother to take a gun in checked bags. While I was on that trip they had the guy shooting from the tourist bus upper deck. The Bellagio had an armed robbery at their jewelry store as well, guys wearing pig masks did a take-over robbery and smashed the cases.

Shit happens to someone somewhere constantly. You could be next up any given day.

The real moral to the story here is: stay the hell out of Plant City! :D

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Originally Posted by Tensaw

The real moral to the story here is: stay the hell out of Plant City! :D

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And avoid places that you know Tom might be headed to later.

I passed by a gas station I planned on stopping at because there were a dozen MDPD cars around it since two people were shot outside of it. I drove by it about 15 minutes after the shooting.