The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Gunset Training Group or its affiliates.
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This is John “Johnny” Hurley. He’s a hero, no doubt about it. But tragically he was killed after being mistaken for the suspect who had just shot Arvada PD Officer Gordon Beesley. Any off duty cop or legally armed citizen who carries a gun needs to pay attention and learn from this tragedy.
Before we go any further, let’s talk about running to the sound of gunfire, which is exactly what Johnny did. I don’t consider this incident a true active shooter situation like it is being described in the news since the suspect was specifically targeting cops, but I can’t blame anyone for thinking that it was when it first started. I do believe that Johnny’s quick response in taking out the suspect kept the next Officer who arrived on scene from being ambushed like Officer Beesley. Johnny’s initial response was a classic example of what is being taught to LEOs and legally armed citizens who are responding to or are caught in an active shooter situation or what they believe is an active shooter situation – rapidly close with the bad guy and engage him as soon as possible to prevent more deaths/injuries. Mission accomplished.
The real lessons to be learned from this tragedy come from what happened after Johnny stopped the bad guy. Any of my readers who are law enforcement officers need to remember two things. First, you have to keep in mind that not everyone who is armed is a bad guy. There are millions of legally armed citizens out there. One of them may be a hero like Johnny – who stopped a bad guy and then made a fateful decision we’ll discuss shortly. Or they may be someone like Emantic Bradford, who was also mistaken for being a suspect and was killed by responding officers. Emantic made a fateful decision to run away with his legally carried pistol in his hand. A responding Officer thought he was the bad guy and shot and killed him. A reasonable and honest mistake, but an innocent man still died. The responding Officer was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing, but he has to live with the fact he killed an innocent person. When I teach active shooter response to officers and cadets I use Emantic as an example of the difficulty responding Officers may have in figuring out who is the bad guy and who isn’t. Unfortunately, I now have another tragic story to use. So what do you do? Unless the bad guy is actually shooting at people when you roll up, there’s probably time for you to start giving verbal commands.
Second, and this applies to my LE readers who carry off duty (and you’d be surprised how many LEOs don’t) and any of my legally armed citizen readers, you have to seriously think about what you are going to do after you stop the bad guy if you are acting solo. My wife is fond of telling me to “know my role”. I like to use that phrase when I teach. The initial “role” of anyone trying to stop an active shooter is to do whatever they need to to stop the bad guy. As soon as bad guy is stopped, your “role” changes to “how do I make sure I don’t get shot by responding officers?” – a survival role. One of the things I’ve noticed over the years is that people who have the mindset necessary to run towards a bad guy in an active shooter situation sometimes struggle with the fact that doing NOTHING may be the right thing to do. Here’s what I mean – most of the active shooter/killer/threat incidents are committed by one person. If I just shot that one person and he is no longer hurting people, do I really need to go right up to where that person and disarm/handcuff/whatever them? No. Doing so places you in jeopardy in a couple of ways. They may not be completely out of the fight and if you close with them to either disarm them or handcuff them, you may end up in what Craig Douglas calls a “FUT” (f-ed up tangle) with them. Or, as appears to be the case with Johnny, if you choose to go disarm the bad guy and have that weapon in your hand when the cops show up, you place yourself in serious jeopardy of being killed due to mistaken identity. So what should you do? My suggestion is to holster your weapon if you are successful in stopping bad guy. Having a gun in your hand when the cops get there is a recipe for disaster. In most urban environments, the cops will be there in a matter of minutes to something like this incident. So rushing right up to the bad guy to disarm/handcuff/whatever is a bad idea. Let the on duty cops handle that. You did your job, let them do theirs.
There’s one more thing I want to address with any LE readers. Unfortunately, blue on blue shootings involving plain clothes Officers or off duty Officers happen all too often. I have a pet theory as to why that is but it’s just that – a theory. Consider this – as cops we give verbal commands all the time, right? “STOP”, “SHOW ME YOUR HANDS”, “GET ON THE GROUND” or whatever command you may give comes pretty natural to us, right? How often are we on the receiving end of those same commands? Unless you role play for department training you may never be on the receiving end. So when you hear those commands are you desensitized to them? Meaning “they can’t possibly be talking to me, I’m a cop!” But guess what, in a plain clothes or off duty situation the responding Officers may not recognize you or what’s more likely – they won’t even know who you are. Always keep that in mind.
I don’t want to get into the whole badge placement thing, that’s already been covered by the Force Science Institute here. If you haven’t read the study you need to check it out.
Keep the families whose lives have been forever changed in your prayers.
Stay safe. Carry your gun. Know how to treat injuries from gunshots or stabbings. Think about more than just stopping the bad guy.
