According to police, five children were inside the home when the incident happened. The report says 25-year-old Leonard Demon Henry broke in through the glass door and began attacking his ex-girlfriend and stabbing her. Police say the children’s mother was stabbed multiple times.

That’s when police say the victim’s young daughter shot him twice. Police say when they arrived, the found him running from the home with a gun shot wound.

via Police: 11-year-old shoots man stabbing her mom in SE Oklahoma C.

And the kicker:

The victim had filed a protective order against Henry in Cleveland County, alleging that he abused her kids.

Mom at least was smart enough to have Steel backing up Paper.

Well done young lady!

Kristen Moore, the Ann Arbor ambassador for the Michigan chapter of Moms Demand Action, said about 20 volunteers showed up to the Kroger at 400 S. Maple Road on Ann Arbor’s west side to pass out signs and gather signatures for the organization’s petition.

About 12 shoppers returned their Kroger loyalty cards in protest of the policy, she said.

In short, the group wants guns kept out of Kroger.

“I think we’re putting a lot of pressure on Kroger,” Moore said.

via Group seeking to get guns out of Kroger protests outside Ann Arbor store | MLive.com.

20 volunteers? I see 5 (Maybe the other 15 were inside shopping or eating free samples). And 12 shoppers returned cards! I am sure Kroger just went into an economic tailspin on that one.

They have the checkbook but don’t have the numbers.

First: I lay no blame at all on either Mr. Crawford or the Officers responding the call. Both were caught by circumstances not of their making. I do lay blame on Ronald Ritchie, the 911 caller who gave exaggerated descriptions of what Mr. Crawford was doing to the 911 operator and that snowballed into the shooting. Again, that is my particular opinion.

Second: Comments are closed for this post to avoid unnecessary flames & trolling.

Setting the stage:

What information is available to the officers responding? Man with a rifle, possible active shooter at the local WalMart. The suspect was seen waving the rifle, loading it and pointing it to the customers. Victims unknown. Reports from the 911 caller still coming in, story does not change. On arrival, they see a man fitting the description given and he is indeed armed with a rifle.

So, for all intents and purposes, the officers are about to face somebody with a rifle and this person apparently has no regard for the safety of the people or is directly threatening them. Failure to act in a decisive matter may result in casualties. That is not acceptable.

Here is the sequence via captures from the synced video.

From officers arriving to the end of the aisle to officer securing the rifle, time elapsed is 12 seconds. Not a whole lot of time, but this was not a situation to be screwing around. Again, with the information available to the officers at that time, the shooting is legally justified in my opinion. It is a bad shooting in the sense that there was no real threat, but that not to be known until after the dust settled.

You politely share this one with them where shows we have a murder rate equal to a bucolic USA in the 1900s – 1910s.

Be kind enough to point out that the two great peaks match Prohibition and the aftermath of Gun Control Act of 1968.  Also, very politely, show them that the drop in murder rate in the 1990s happen (coincidentally I am sure) with the expansion of Concealed Carry Laws and liberalization of gun laws across the states.

If the trend continues, we should have a murder rate under 2 per 100K sometime in the next decade…with more guns including Evil Black Rifles!

Not mine, but the author hit the most important aspects.

I think it is important to know what demographic the store is targeting. A small niche store will be different that a big community store. In my biz, getting to know my community and what they wanted had a dramatic effect on what we offered. I am not an avid shooter or collector, but I carry daily and practice 2-4 times per month. Here is what I look for:

1.) Prices not more than 15% over what I can find on the net. I will pay more to buy brick and mortar, but not much more. The better the staff is and the more the store stands behind their products the more I will be willing to pay over that price. Better yet, I would love to see a store with a solid web presence, with online inventory (with prices!), and easy custom ordering services.

2.) Have ammo for the F’n $800 pistol I just bought. I good store will anticipate shortages and runs on ammo, have a solid buffer supply in storage, and limit sales when the gun nutters want to buy out the damn store and reasonable folk are left with empty guns.

3.) Staff that values my patronage and my time. I’ll take a number at the DMV…no where else. Managers need to learn to staff for the ebb and flow of the workday and holidays…and elections. If you have 20 people waiting to buy guns, you can afford to pay some more help. Everyone at the gun counter doesn’t need to be an expert (though you need a few), just like everyone at my clinic doesn’t need to be a doctor. Triage, delegate, get ‘er done.

4.) Selection: have one or two premium items, and a TON of the popular stuff, in every option, with all available accessories. I would have been an easy upsell for a holster, laser, light, etc on my last gun purchase, the problem was they didn’t HAVE ANY OF IT! Selling accessories and such is a huge profit margin booster and a convenience for the buyer.

5.) Range! I’ll buy it if I can shoot it. My gun place has a range and they rent most the pistols they carry for cheap ($10) to try out at the range. I buy where I practice, makes it easy.

6.) Education: I don’t need to learn urban combat, LE tactics, or other Dynamic Pie concepts. I want to see a ton of safety classes FREE for the community. Some premium marksmanship classes, and maybe a few selections for the pros out there. Everything super low key and NO tacticool garbage like that Krav Maga stuff you were mocking earlier…those look like accidents waiting to happen. I see a group of guys in matching t-shirts enter the range and I freakin leave ASAP. Classes for kids need to be for kids…no Uzi’s…how about a single shot .22 bolt savage.

Now make it happen.
S.G,

I can’t disagree with the author.

I was half expecting this. The cops had a tough call with the limited and crappy information they had. What knocked me on my butt was this statement by the prosecuting attorney.

A 911 caller who was familiar with guns called dispatch.

“He’s trying to be a good citizen reporting the best he can what he is seeing,” Piepmeier said.

via Officers not indicted in Wal-Mart shooting.

Ronald Ritchie, the guy who called 911 and said  John Crawford was reloading the impossible to reload rifle and waving it like crazy is not going to face even a parking ticket.

Ladies and Gents, it is open season on OCers.

UPDATE: The video has been released.

My opinion, the shooting can be considered justifiable. Still a sad thing that it happened.

UPDATE 2:
Better video of the event. Go to 8:26:50