Video circulating around the internet shows the suspect stand up and approach a male standing up at the back of the church and a short verbal exchange occured before the suspect made what appears to be furtive movements and removed a short shotgun (from reports) from under concealment. You see a second man stand up and attempt to draw his firearm but appears he was unsuccesful in deploying it before the suspect was able to shoot him, and then turn and shoot another male in the corner. At this point we see a uniformed person draw a pistol and fire 1 shot and the suspect falls.

Since this is an ongoing situation and very little information has been released, we don't know anything for certain. But it appears the suspect was dressed unusual compared to the rest of the worshipers. We don't know if he was a first time visitor or a regular attendee. But in our training we commonly talk about the person who just doesn't look right, dressed unusual or exhibiting unusual behavior. Unfortunately in a lot of cases the untrained or under experienced under react or rationalize away the unusual behavior and hesitate. It is very important to trust your "gift of fear" and insticts and be as proactive as humanly possible when it comes to safety concerns like these.

I commend the uniformed man who was able to deploy his firearm and make an accurate shot stopping the killer. This is what having trained security on site provides, an immediate response that quickly mitigates the commission of criminal behavior. No telling how many lives were saved today because a good man was present with a firearm.

Another thing to note here in this case is how the crowd responded. Absent training (both mentally and physically) the vast majority of people hesitate and freeze which allow them to become an easy target. I think some of the people present were in disbelief of what was happening. Below I will add a picture of the difference in response on the trained vs untrained.

We will add more to this later as more details arise.  

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