Embedded Files
45-year-old army veteran Richard Fierro was watching a drag show with his family at Club Q on November 19th when gunshots began to fire.
Fierro and his wife, by the Washington Post
Fierro was quick to spring into action. He reacted to his military training and managed to tackle the shooter without being injured.
Another veteran, navy officer James Thomas, kept the weapon out of the shooter’s reach while suffering from gunshot wounds.
Meanwhile, an unidentified transgender woman repeatedly stomped on the attacker’s face with her high heel. The shooter’s mugshot shows purple scratches and bruises on his face and neck. While the mugshot is a bit graphic, it is easy to find online.
Unfortunately, five people died as a result of the shooting. Fierro and Thomas’s actions prevented that number from being higher.
What would have happened if there had been no courageous veterans at the scene? What if the shooter had been more wily? In 2016, a former prison guard opened fire at a gay nightclub in Florida. A security guard’s attempt to disarm the shooter was fruitless, and due to the shooter starting a hostage situation, it took the police more than three hours to successfully disarm and kill the shooter.
This horrific incident is known as the Pulse shooting. Forty-nine people lost their lives. It is the second-deadliest mass shooting in United States history.
Without the presence of people willing to risk their lives to save others, Club Q could have turned out more like Pulse.
Thomas recovering, by the US Navy
And if the police had been cowardly? Last May in Uvalde, Texas, a shooter entered Robb Elementary School and began firing in a fourth grade classroom. Nearly four hundred law enforcement officers arrived at the scene, but they waited more than an hour for the police to enter and engage with the shooter. Law enforcement even went as far as to physically prevent parents from entering themselves to save their children.
Victims of the Uvalde shooting, by the CBC
Grieving girl at Robb Elementary School, by Getty Images
Nineteen kids between the ages of nine and eleven were killed, as well as two teachers. If the police had done their job, many of those children could still be alive today.
The prevention of shootings has been a controversial topic for years. Many liberals believe gun control would help the issue, while conservatives tend to think arming bars and schools with firearms to be able to fight back would be a better fix.
I think the solution is quite obvious. Schools should consider arming their schools with veterans to subdue any shooters, and trans women to stomp their faces for good measure.
Rest in Power
Daniel Aston, 28
Kelly Loving, 40
Ashley Paugh, 35
Derrick Rump, 38
Raymond Green Vance, 22
Club Q victims, by CNN
By Camille Muñoz
Roosevelt High School
Published December 14, 2022
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