1. The first person the shooter shot was the closest guy who was in process of trying to draw his gun. Just to make the point. He couldn’t clear leather fast enough to even tie the shooter.
   The – as the saying goes – dangerous old man who calmly took the shooter out wasn’t even detected by the shooter before that headshot took him out DRT.

   And you can also see how some people will go off into hysterics (the little black gal screaming her lungs out while running around like a chicken with its head cut off)
   If the situation had not been already ‘solved’, that could have easily caused more problems.
   Just things to be cognizant of.

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   1. While you’re at it, you might want to be cognizant of the fact that “the little black gal screaming her lungs out” was screaming, “Daddy! Daddy! No! Daddy! No!”

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      1. Of course she’s the daughter of one of the victims. That’s why she went off like that. That’s half the point.

         The other half of that point is that any security plan needs to take into account that there will more than likely be one or more people going into a discombobulated panic that can wind up with them right in the middle of things, causing people to divert their attention from the matter at hand. It needs to be anticipated. Coldly and dispassionately.
         If you’ll keep your eye on her all the time, you’ll see that she was starting to stand up when the shooter was moving towards her and she nearly put herself in the line of fire from the guard.
         That guard didn’t let that divert him from the task at hand.

         The video is a harsh learning experience
         My first squad leader in the Army once told us that experience is the best teacher and the best experience is someone else’s. It’s usually cheaper and less painful.
         While that video is painful to watch, its value will not be lost with my congregation’s security team

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   2. That first man shot was her father.

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   3. That was a family member of the victim that was killed that was hysterical. Of course they would be.

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2. In Texas, one doesn’t assume they have the church outgunned.

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   1. Since Sutherland Springs, you can extrapolate that to most of the churches in the South.

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      1. I live in upstate NY, on Christmas Eve service there were probably at least 3 people armed that I knew of (myself included). Churches outside of liberal cities aren’t going to be viable targets anymore.

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3. You know what I didn’t see?

   All the good guys with guns not shooting each other in panic induced idiocy.

   I counted at least four guns drawn and the only people shot were the shooter and his two original victims.

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   1. I counted at least 7. That includes the women with her pistol pointed up using her off hand to direct people or of the pews and towards the back.

      I don’t know that those responding were part of the security team. I assume that dinner were and some were not.

      I also noticed that the first man shoot was starting has draw from small of his back before I saw the long arm. He did not clear. But he was aware of a situation, was standing and prepared to respond.

      I was also noticing that the others responding had no problems identifying the good guys with guns and that I didn’t see them muzzling people at random.

      My guess is that there were others armed that did not advance to the sounds of gun fire but instead took defensive, non aggressive stances as they moved their families out of harms way.

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      1. Found a better video with the start zoomed in. First victim did not stand or start his draw until the long arm was presented.

         My error. Sorry

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4. The security team made several mistake which regrettably cost the lives of two of the church’s parishioners.

   First, they let a visitor in a long coat come in without being closely monitored. Our church security team would have made him remove his coat at the front door.

   Second, as the video indicates, most of the men who were “carrying” were at the rear of the church. If possible, armed responders should be strategically placed in the congregation.

   Third, the assailant brandished his shotgun for several seconds before firing a shot. You can see two security personnel, including the one at the far left who fired the lethal shot at the assailant, going for their weapons, but they failed to draw them rapidly enough to take down the shooter. It appears that they waited until the shooter fired before drawing their weapons. BIG MISTAKE. Once the hardware is brandished in that setting, you take him out NOW.

   Fourth, it appears that the congregation was not adequately trained for a situation like this. Our congregation is trained (yes, we’ve run many drills) to drop to the floor immediately upon hearing gunshots.

   It’s extremely regrettable that we have to talk about this stuff in houses of worship, but that’s the reality we face, so we should be prepared.

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   1. Would you mind allowing the bodies to cool off and be buried before you engage in Tacticool Quarterbacking? Not for nothing but the parishioner who died gave enough time to the other parishioner to bring down the asshole and save lives.

      1. I commend the church for having the foresight to implement a security team. And I commend the lead member for saving so many other lives by quickly bringing down the assailant with an amazingly accurate (it looks like a 50-foot shot) headshot.

         Our church has been trained by local police and retired military personnel. I am simply conveying what they taught us. I do so here and elsewhere so that other churches may strengthen their security protocols in the hope that these mistakes will not be repeated.

         As stated, many, many more lives could have been lost were it not for an effective security apparatus. So, the Church of Christ in White Settlement, TX deserves plaudits for having the personnel in place that stopped a potential mass-shooting. In my opinion, it is best to both be thankful more lives were not lost and to also correct the errors that were made in this situation.

         Per your request, I’ll cease my “quarterbacking” activities here, unless you want to explore the matter further.

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5. I watched the video from here than went to show it to my wife in the but screen. No Chromecast so I found the clip on YouTube.

   That clip was live for around ten minutes before it was yanked.

   It makes it difficult to teach lessons when the source material is stomped on like this.

6. The video cuts off before all the armed parishioners start accidentally shooting each other. Then the cops arrived and confused the armed civilians and shot them.

   That’s what all the anti-gun people say, right?

7. God was busy so He sent Jack Wilson, a retired LEO and firearms instructor. Darn awesome!

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