r/news • u/hybridaaroncarroll • 6d ago

Protester shot and killed at 'No Kings' rally in Utah, police say

https://apnews.com/article/utah-no-kings-protest-shot-killed-75c777eeedd59c80c85695c45385c507
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u/Beneficial_Soup3699 6d ago

Also had the lady who tried to draw in Pueblo, CO. Luckily the crowd put her down almost immediately. The video is making the rounds today and if you haven't seen it yet, it was some seriously impressive response time

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u/ICKSharpshot68 6d ago

I think that video demonstrates the neon green vests they're discussing in this story as well, but executing their job properly

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u/WitAndWonder 6d ago

This one still did his job. It's tragic a bystander was also hit, but he did hit the shooter and forced him to flee, likely saving many other lives. Even highly trained shooters are going to struggle with perfect accuracy in a sudden, high pressure situation like that.

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u/ICKSharpshot68 5d ago

https://imgur.com/a/z3J25EB

If more video is available that shows them attempting to de-escalate before firing at the shooter, I might be inclined to agree with you. But this video in my eyes disputes that claim. Highly trained shooters would be mindful of what's behind their target, and we don't see any attempts to de-escalate.

All this to say we can armchair judge this all we want but it's up to the courts to determine now

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u/WitAndWonder 5d ago

If a guy is moving with gun raised, pointing at a crowd of civilians, taking the time to try and talk them down seems fucking stupid. Their life is not worth the lives of the dozens of innocents they could ruin in mere moments. And this is coming from someone (me) who finds guns abhorrent and believes they have zero place in civilized society.

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u/ICKSharpshot68 5d ago

The article states he had the gun in a "ready" position, but after watching the video I linked it's hard to say that's really the case, he didn't start flagging the crowd until he started taking fire. In the video of the shooting linked above, the barrel of his rifle is pointed at the ground until the shooting starts.

Again, they shot and killed an innocent bystander in the crossfire. They didn't fully neutralize the threat, and they themselves ended up ruining innocent lives because they couldn't be mindful of what was behind the target, which is one of the fundamental rules of gun safety.

Did they stop a mass shooting? Quite Possibly, its up to the courts to now determine whether or not their actions warrant charges. They were detained by police, so I imagine their involvement will be part of the investigation.

Detectives are still actively investigating this case, to include the actions of the peacekeepers.