Clackamas man, armed, confronts mall shooter

[Yavapai]

PORTLAND -- Nick Meli is emotionally drained. The 22-year-old was at Clackamas Town Center with a friend and her baby when a masked man opened fire.

"I heard three shots and turned and looked at Casey and said, 'are you serious?,'" he said.

The friend and baby hit the floor. Meli, who has a concealed carry permit, positioned himself behind a pillar.

"He was working on his rifle," said Meli. "He kept pulling the charging handle and hitting the side."

The break in gunfire allowed Meli to pull out his own gun, but he never took his eyes off the shooter.

"As I was going down to pull, I saw someone in the back of the Charlotte move, and I knew if I fired and missed, I could hit them," he said.

Meli took cover inside a nearby store. He never pulled the trigger. He stands by that decision.

"I'm not beating myself up cause I didn't shoot him," said Meli. "I know after he saw me, I think the last shot he fired was the one he used on himself."

The gunman was dead, but not before taking two innocent lives with him and taking the innocence of everyone else.

From KGW TV (NBC-affiliate) http://www.kgw.com/news/Clackamas-man-armed-confronts-mall-shooter-183593571.html

Cross posted in general discussion, hope this is not prohibited???

[gejohnston]

1. Kind of late, but

I hate to imagine how it went in GD.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/117292915

[Yavapai]

2. Afraid to go back and look!

If this post gets through though, it probably means that I have yet to be tomb stoned. LOL

[Sedona]

3. no independent corroboration for this story

I call bullshit

[Yavapai]

4. Here is the link (it was included in the post)

From KGW TV (NBC-affiliate) http://www.kgw.com/news/Clackamas-man-armed-confronts-mall-shooter-183593571.html

Or do you not trust NBC?

[Sedona]

13. I don't trust the guy making the claim

he has no corroborating evidence, no other witnesses to his claim.

Sounds like BS to me

[DanTex]

5. So the concealed carrier didn't actually stop the shooter.

Looks like the "if only there was a CCWer there" talking point has failed yet again.

[Yavapai]

6. IF you read the story or follow the link,

he didn't shoot because he was concerned about collateral damage. something you are taught
in a concealed carry class.

In other words, he was a responsible gun owner/carrier.

[Lizzie Poppet]

7. Hard to say.

It may well be the case that having the shooter spot someone with a gun motivated him to immediately carry out the suicide he had almost certainly planned in advance.* There is simply no way ever to know. One heartening thing about this, however, is how responsibly Meli acted. He did not have a clean shot...so he held his fire. That's exactly the right thing to do.


*It is apparently very common in spree killers to be absolutely determined to have it end by their own hand. "On their terms," as it were...one final think in their lives over which they actually have control

[Yavapai]

8. Maybe these shooting sprees are just suicides with an exclamation points.

Their way of saying it is the world's fault that they are committing suicide and they want to hurt back as much as possible.

If there wasn't guns available, then they would be using bombs, fire, cars, ect.

[Lizzie Poppet]

9. Perhaps so.

The ultimate "look at me" acting out...

[Sedona]

14. lawn furniture perhaps?

[Clames]

10. Looks like the talking point of "untrained CCW holders being unable to assess a situation and...

...shoot innocent bystanders" failed miserably.

[Berserker]

15. What would you have done?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

11. already been posted here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/117291809

[MichaelHarris]

12. I confronted a bear today

he was 30 miles away, never saw me and was already dead but, well you know, we all need a hero.

[Straw Man]

16. Did he have an AK-47?

Sometimes they do, y'know.