Snip from church video shows armed citizen Jack Wilson firing a shot that stopped a gunman just seconds after he had shot two church members. (YouTube, ABC)
By Dave Workman/Senior Editor
Texas authorities and social media admirers are hailing the quick action of an armed private citizen who intervened in the tragic Dec. 29 church shooting, putting down the gunman within four seconds of the beginning of his deadly attack.
The man identified as the gunman in the West Freeway Church of Christ attack that left two members of the congregation dead was 43-year-old Keith Thomas Kinnunen. He reportedly had a criminal history in Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma and New Jersey.
He fatally shot two members of the church, tentatively identified as Deacon Anton Wallace and Richard White. The first shot fired by Kinnunen fatally wounded White, who could be seen in the widely-circulated 51-second video as wrestling to draw a gun from behind his jacket.
Kinnunen then turns the gun on Wallace and fires at point-blank range. Both church goers died.
But it was the swift intervention by a legally-armed parishioner Jack Wilson, head of the church security detail, that brought the carnage to an abrupt end. Wilson fired a single shot from his semi-auto pistol that struck Kinnunen in the head, putting him down. As Wilson closes in on the gunman, at least seven other parishioners moved in from various angles, guns drawn. One of the nation’s leading gun rights advocates says the incident exposed a myth perpetuated by the gun prohibition lobby about armed citizens.
“The fact that so many other church members were also armed, and did not open fire, demonstrates how responsibly armed citizens can perform in an emergency,” said Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation. “The video belies the oft-repeated myth that armed citizens are irresponsible and even dangerous to one another.”
Some anti-gunners were criticizing the incident as proof that lax gun laws allowed the shooting to happen, but Texas officials, including Gov. Greg Abbott have hailed the actions of Wilson at the other armed citizens.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton reportedly hailed the state’s gun laws that allowed armed citizens to protect themselves.
“We can’t prevent mental illness from occurring,” Paxton said, according to the Associated Press, “and we can’t prevent every crazy person from pulling a gun. But we can be prepared like this church was.”
Former presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke sent a message on Twitter, “Clearly what we are doing in Texas, what we are doing in this country, when it comes to guns is not working.”
Fox News also quoted Democrat Julian Castro, who tweeted, “We can take steps to reduce these horrific attacks right now—we just need our elected leaders to have the courage to act.”
And Shannon Watts, founder of the Michael Bloomberg-backed Moms Demand Action has also taken to Twitter to complain about the shooting.
Meanwhile, Wilson, president of On Target LTC, LLC, who is also a candidate for public office met with reporters Monday to say he is not a hero but only did what had to be done. He said the gunman represented evil and had to be stopped.
Video of the incident quickly spread across the Internet. The 51-second video shows the church sanctuary during a service. At about 10 seconds into the video clip, a figure in what appears to be a hooded coat stands up in a rear pew, approaches a member of the congregation, who then points toward the far end of the sanctuary. The hooded figure immediately pulls what appears to be a pump-action shotgun from under his coat, swings it toward another parishioner who has stood up and is visibly trying to draw a concealed handgun and fires. That armed man immediately falls, and then the gunman swings his gun back to the man he spoke to initially, and shoots him at point blank range.
At the same time, a third man at the rear of the church—identified as Wilson—draws his sidearm and fires one shot at the gunman, who by now has moved along the wall, heading toward the altar.
He is visibly struck and immediately drops to the floor.
Writing on Facebook several hours after the shooting, Wilson told his many friends and followers, “I just want to thank all who have sent their prayers and comments on the events of today. The events at West Freeway Church of Christ put me in a position that I would hope no one would have to be in, but evil exists and I had to take out an active shooter in church.
“I’m thankful to GOD that I have been blessed with the ability and desire to serve him in the role of head of security at the church,” he continued. “I am very sad in the loss of two dear friends and brothers in CHRIST, but evil does exist in this world and I and other members are not going to allow evil to succeed. Please pray for all the members and their families in this time. Thank you for your prayers and understanding.”
More than 200 people were in the sanctuary at the time, according to published reports.
Wilson owned and operated a gun store and was at one time a reserve sheriff’s deputy, according to various published reports. He is currently a candidate for county commissioner.
