Soldier May Have Stopped Mass Shooting

[AGBF]

A soldier saw a gunman firing from a bridge and hit him with his car to stop him. This may have averted mass casualties. For once it seems good to be able to report a story where heroism stopped a tragedy. Of course, I do not have all the facts yet. Here is an excerpt from and a link to the article.

"Master Sgt. David Royer was leaving Fort Leavenworth in Kansas on Wednesday, driving home in his Chevrolet Silverado and talking to his fiancée on his Bluetooth, when he hit some traffic on the Centennial Bridge, which connects Kansas and Missouri.
Suddenly, he said, a man got out of the vehicle in front of his, pulled out a rifle and began to shoot. Sergeant Royer told his fiancée to call 911 and said he had to go. Then he hit the gas and rammed into the gunman, pinning the shooter underneath his Chevy.
'I wasn’t necessarily frightened,' Sergeant Royer, 34, told reporters on Thursday. 'I was shocked that it was happening and the adrenaline took over and, with the military training that I’ve received, I took appropriate action and took out the threat.'
Chief Pat Kitchens of the Leavenworth police said the sergeant, who has served in the Army for 15 years, 'saved countless people' after the gunman started to fire at cars 'with no particular association' at about 11 a.m."

Soldier Stopped Shooting by Driving Into Gunman, Kansas Police Say (Published 2020)

Master Sgt. David Royer, who is assigned to Fort Leavenworth, drove his car into a man who was “randomly firing” at drivers on a bridge between Kansas and Missouri, the police said.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Karl_K]

Bravo Master Sgt. David Royer

 

[VRBeauty]

Thank goodness for his training and quick thinking. Who knows how many families he saved from needless grief!

 

[PreRaphaelite]

Thank goodness for his training!
I hope he gets rewarded and also he gets some counselling to help him process what happened.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

thank you for posting this story
the news is so chocked up with only about 2 stories right now i would have completly missed this
well done for such calm quick thinking Master Sgt

 

[AGBF]

I have followed up on this story and the accounts of who was wounded by gunfire contradict each other. I believe, from reading multiple reports, that contrary to early reports gunfire from the shooter's gun did hit one motorist and that that motorist was also a soldier. He is now in serious condition, as is the shooter, back at the army base. I wonder if this was random after all? It could have been random and still hit a soldier, but hitting a soldier also means it could have been personal.

"The motorist wounded by gunfire is also a soldier at Fort Leavenworth, the police chief said. The gunman was also injured. Both men were in serious but stable condition at a hospital, according to Kitchens".

A soldier who stopped an active shooter 'knew lives were in danger'

Master Sgt. David Royer stood upright with his interlocking hands in front of him Thursday as he matter-of-factly recounted how he rammed his truck into an active shooter before heading

www.azfamily.com

 

[OoohShiny]

I have no idea what I'd do in such a situation.

The problem for me is that I wouldn't know if someone pulling out a weapon was a nut job going on a rampage or a highly-trained member of the security services responding instantly to a suddenly-identified threat.

If the former, immediate personal action could save myself and others.

If the latter, immediate personal action could take out the one person able to avert an unfolding crisis.


I'm not on either side of the fence WRT gun controls generally, but being in the UK feels a lot easier in terms of the above (strawman?) situation - over here, only trained Police and the (fortunately few) hardened gang members and criminals carry them, and they are usually pretty easy to tell them apart!

 

[Tekate]

Here's a soldier who kept his cool. I read this the other day Kudos to this soldier.