by Joseph P. Tartaro | Executive Editor
Zona Caliente in south Arlington (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)
Call the unidentified concealed carry licensee a “Samaritan” or call him a “hero.”
Whatever you call him, a Texan having dinner with his wife in an Arlington, TX, sports bar on May 3, reacted in textbook fashion when an active shooter shot and killed the manager of the Zona Caliente Sports Bar. He pushed his wide to safety under their table and drew his own pistol to engage the shooter.
The incident immediately drew wide newspaper and television media coverage unlike most defensive shooting stories. This was news that confirmed NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre’s comment after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting: “The only thing that can stop a b ad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
In this real life drama, police reported that the bad guy had not just the one murder weapon, but two handguns and two knives.
The Dallas Morning News reported “A concealed carry holder is being heralded as a hero by Arlington police for preventing mass murder by killing an “incoherent” gunman at a sports bar Wednesday evening.
“Before he was shot about 6:15 p.m., the gunman killed the manager of Zona Caliente in the 6500 block of South Cooper Street, police spokesman Christopher Cook said.
“Police later identified the gunman as 48-year-old James Jones of Grand Prairie and the victim as 37-year-old Cesar Perez of Duncanville. The man who killed Jones has not been identified.
“Authorities later found two loaded guns and two knives on Jones, Cook said the next day, the news continued.
“We do believe he had the capacity to do much greater harm,” Cook told various news teams.
When Jones entered the business, some witnesses told police, he started yelling incoherently while standing at the bar.
“People didn’t know who he was yelling at,” Cook said.
Perez reportedly was trying to talk to Jones when he was fatally shot. Police do not believe they knew each other.
That’s when the armed customer fired his gun at Jones.
“After he was struck once, the suspect started shooting at the front door,” Cook told the Arlington Voice. “We know people were trying to escape, but we’re not sure if he was just trying to harm others.”
More than a dozen customers and a handful of employees were in the sports bar at the time of the shooting.
Cook said the customer, who was dining with his wife, “prevented further loss of life.”
The customer was carrying a handgun under the Texas concealed handgun license program, Cook later confirmed.
“We’re treating the good guy as sort of a hero,” he said.
NBC headlined their report:
“Good Samaritan’ Kills Active Shooter in Texas Sports Bar: Police
Phil McCausland reported “A ‘good Samaritan’ with a gun killed an active shooter who may have been gearing up for a deadly rampage at a Texas sports bar Wednesday night, police said.
McCausland reported that Arlington police said witnesses were afraid they would be next. At least one other female customer was injured by flying glass in the restaurant.
The serial number on the second gun had been scratched off, and Jones did not have a gun license, police said.
“He definitely had the capacity, if he wanted, to commit further violence and potentially kill other patrons in the business,” Cook told NBC News, adding that it did not appear that the shooter knew his victim.
NBC said the police used the term “good Samaritan” for the customer who intervened.
“I don’t think the shooter even knew where the rounds were coming from because he started shooting at the front door,” Cook said, who described the scene as “chaotic.”
NBC also reported that police reviewed video surveillance and pieced together the incident via witness interviews, but it remains unclear how many shots were fired by either individual. Police were looking into Jones’ background to see whether he suffered from any mental illnesses and were awaiting test results to find out if he was under the influence.
“We’re thankful that the good ‘Samaritan’ acted quickly and decisively to end the threat,” Cook said, according to NBC News. “We never recommend people get involved. That’s a personal decision that a citizen has to make.”
Use of force and firearms expert Emanuel Kapelsohn told NBC News that, from his understanding, the man who took down the shooter reacted appropriately.
“I think it’s to be applauded,” he said. “Not everybody in the world ought to own a gun. Not everybody in the world ought to carry a gun. Not everyone in the world ought to engage an armed criminal where innocent people could be potentially injured.”
“But this Good Samaritan obviously had the ability to do what he did,” Kapelsohn added. “Who knows how many people would be dead if he had not acted?”
Whether this story will have any legs in educating the media about active shooter incidents remains to be seen. Certainly it got their attention.
