'Hero' stopped mass murder by crazed patron who was armed to the teeth when he entered Zona Caliente, a sports bar known for its scantily-dressed waitresses, police say
By Marc Ramirez and Liz Farmer
The Dallas Morning News
May 4, 2017
A concealed carry holder is being heralded as a hero by Arlington police for preventing mass murder by killing an "incoherent" gunman at a sports bar Wednesday evening.
Before he was shot about 6:15 p.m., the gunman killed the manager of Zona Caliente in the 6500 block of South Cooper Street, police spokesman Christopher Cook said.
Police later identified the gunman as 48-year-old James Jones of Grand Prairie and the victim as 37-year-old Cesar Perez of Duncanville. The man who killed Jones has not been identified.
Authorities later found two loaded guns and two knives on Jones, Cook said Thursday.
"We do believe he had the capacity to do much greater harm," Cook said.
When Jones entered the business, some witnesses told police, he started yelling incoherently while standing at the bar.
"People didn't know who he was yelling at," Cook said.
Perez was trying to talk to Jones when he was fatally shot. Police do not believe they knew each other.
That's when a customer fired his gun at Jones.
"After he was struck once, the suspect started shooting at the front door," Cook told the Arlington Voice. "We know people were trying to escape, but we're not sure if he was just trying to harm others."
More than a dozen customers and a handful of employees were in the sports bar at the time of the shooting.
Cook said the customer, who was dining with his wife, "prevented further loss of life."
The customer was carrying a handgun under the Texas concealed handgun license program, Cook later confirmed.
"We're treating the good guy as sort of a hero," he said.
One other person was hurt, though it wasn't clear if it was a restaurant customer or employee. Police said that person was injured by glass while trying to get out.
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ARMED CUSTOMER TO THE RESCUE IN TEXAS
by Bob Walsh
An armed customer in the Caliente Sports Bar & Grill in Arlington, Texas killed the bad guy and may (or may not) have prevented further carnage.
A 48-year old man walked into the bar at about 6 p.m. on Wednesday , confronted a male employee of the bar and shot him. At that time the as-yet unnamed customer pulled his gat, moved away from his wife and engaged the shooter, killing him very and completely dead. The good-guy shooter did have a valid concealed carry permit.
It is, of course, always possible the original shooter had a personal beef with the man he killed and would simply have walked out of the bar after accomplishing his mission. It is, of course, also possible he would have decided to take a few more people with him on the road to hell.
Good guys with guns are not the problem. They are often the solution.
1 comment:
Job well done.
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