Most shoppers crouched behind checkout counters or bolted toward the back exit. But as a gunman fired inside a Wal-Mart store in a Denver suburb, some patrons took a more defensive approach: They grabbed their own guns. None of the armed civilians fired their weapons, and the suspect managed to flee the store.
Five hours after the shooting, police identified 47-year-old Scott Ostrem as the gunman. He was arrested Thursday morning.
Maria Haberfeld, a professor of police science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said using a gun for self-defense should be a last resort.
Bystanders shouldn't pull their weapons unless they're members of law enforcement, or used to be, she said, because without training they can't properly assess the situation.
However, they were ready for the terrorist.
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