{"id":8964,"date":"2024-10-22T10:27:13","date_gmt":"2024-10-22T17:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/?p=8964"},"modified":"2024-10-22T10:27:13","modified_gmt":"2024-10-22T17:27:13","slug":"this-video-is-why-i-dont-open-carry-in-the-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/2024\/10\/22\/this-video-is-why-i-dont-open-carry-in-the-city\/","title":{"rendered":"This Video Is Why I Don&#8217;t Open Carry In The City"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I used to open carry back in California, but I worked for Brinks and was allowed to have my hand on my weapon (except in the state capital) as I kept my head on a swivel. We had great quick draw holsters that were easy to unsnap and clear, but the real weapon retention was to grab the bottom of the holster and pull it away from your body locking the butt into your side. We were actually trained that if someone was trying to take our weapon, draw it and rake the front site across their face if you can. I&#8217;d throw in some bludgeoning as well if that didn&#8217;t persuade them. And this is a fight for your life, so throwing elbows, gouging eyes, crushing throats or other things&#8230; it&#8217;s all on the table. It&#8217;s not the UFC and there is no ref to save you. Consequently, open and concealed carry is kind of marred anyway, as many megacorps don&#8217;t allow it on their premises unless you&#8217;re law enforcement or contracted armed security. And I&#8217;m reminded of the military veteran gunned down outside the Costco in Las Vegas (bottom), because an employee saw his weapon and called the police, and he made the mistake of not keeping his hands up and getting on the ground reassuring officers he was compliant and not a threat. You might be legal, but that won&#8217;t keep you from being shot by a fearful cop who could be at the end of his shift and maybe not his sharpest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"This Video Is Why I Don&#039;t Open Carry In The City\" width=\"1290\" height=\"726\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pNrltSLpe0E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-ub-divider ub_divider ub-divider-orientation-horizontal\" id=\"ub_divider_51658226-6b52-4ef0-a2b9-3e026837a754\"><div class=\"ub_divider_wrapper\" style=\"position: relative; margin-bottom: 2px; width: 100%; height: 2px; \" data-divider-alignment=\"center\"><div class=\"ub_divider_line\" style=\"border-top: 2px solid #ccc; margin-top: 2px; \"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pjmedia.com\/bob-owens\/2010\/09\/16\/gunned-down-in-vegas-what-really-happened-to-erik-scott-n12777\">https:\/\/pjmedia.com\/bob-owens\/2010\/09\/16\/gunned-down-in-<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/pjmedia.com\/bob-owens\/2010\/09\/16\/gunned-down-in-vegas-what-really-happened-to-erik-scott-n12777\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">v<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/pjmedia.com\/bob-owens\/2010\/09\/16\/gunned-down-in-vegas-what-really-happened-to-erik-scott-n12777\">egas-what-really-happened-to-erik-scott-n12777<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Gunned Down in Vegas: What Really Happened to Erik Scott?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pjmedia.com\/author\/bob-owens\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By Bob Owens<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"599\" src=\"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-31-1024x599.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8965\" style=\"width:307px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-31-1024x599.png 1024w, https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-31-300x175.png 300w, https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-31-768x449.png 768w, https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-31.png 1052w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Erik Scott was a West Point graduate, Army veteran, MBA graduate of Duke University, and a medical sales rep for Boston Scientific. He was gunned down by three Las Vegas police officers after they responded to a 911 call by Costco store employees reporting a man with a gun, possibly on narcotics, behaving erratically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scott was 38 years old, shopping with his girlfriend for items they needed as they moved in together. Unfortunately, those are the only details of the story on which anyone agrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To hear the side of the story presented by Scott\u2019s family, friends, and some eyewitnesses, Erik Scott\u2019s death was the result of ignorance and embellishment on the part of the Costco staff, and a combative, deterministic mindset from responding officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other witnesses and the police claim that Eric Scott was armed and acting irrationally, and that his own actions led to his shooting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What we know for certain is that Scott was in the camping section of the store taking bottles out of their packaging, attempting to determine how many of the bottles would fit in a cooler he was thinking of purchasing. At some point he bent over and his shirt rode up, exposing the pistol he had concealed at the small of his back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Costco employee saw the holstered sidearm and told Scott he was not allowed to have the weapon in the store. Scott replied that he had a permit and the right to carry his weapon. He then went back to shopping. The employee called over a manager, who informed a 20-something security guard, who made a 911 call to police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We do not know precisely what was said in that important call, because the police have refused to release it. We do, however, know from police radio traffic picked up by a scanner that the guard had told police that Erik Scott was armed with a gun, was acting aggressively and erratically, and that he may have been under the influence of drugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It must have been a frightening tale: over a dozen police officers responded, along with a helicopter, ambulance, and competing incident command teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the police began to form a massive perimeter outside, Costco managers began evacuating the entire store without apparently explaining why to anyone. As Scott and his girlfriend exited the store he was identified to police officers, who were waiting with guns drawn outside the front door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A blog from Erik\u2019s family <a href=\"http:\/\/erikbscottmemorialblog.blogspot.com\/2010\/09\/erik-scotts-death.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">described what happened next<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Erik turned to find three officers facing him, guns drawn, and all three shouting different commands: \u201cGet on the ground!\u201d \u201cDrop your weapon!\u201d \u201cKeep your hands up!\u201d Erik held his hands up, spoke calmly, told them he DID have a concealed firearm and a legal CCW and was an ex-Army officer. His girlfriend was screaming about Erik being a West Point grad, former Army officer, etc. Erik leaned to his left, hands still up, to expose the pistol, and repeated, \u201cI am disarming; I am disarming.\u201d Witnesses say he started to lower his right hand, palm OUT, perhaps intending to remove holster and gun together \u2014 but never got the hand below his shoulder, when one of the cops (believed to be William Mosher, who had committed a fatal shooting in 2006) shot Erik in the chest with a .45-caliber semi-automatic weapon. Erik dropped to his knees, clearly in shock, his face a picture of disbelief. He was shot a second time and collapsed. The rest is ugly. The three officers unloaded again, firing a total of seven hollow-point rounds. At least four, possibly five, hit Erik in the back, after he was on the ground and dying.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Two experts hired by Scott\u2019s family examined his body. They <a href=\"http:\/\/erikbscottmemorialblog.blogspot.com\/2010\/09\/erik-was-shot-in-back.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">claim that<\/a> of the seven .45 ACP hollowpoint bullets fired into Scott\u2019s body, one was fired through his armpit, suggesting his arm was raised at the time. Four remaining shots were fired into his back. There were no exit wounds, making it all but impossible for police to claim that investigators misread through-and-through wounds.<br><br>Metro Police Captain Patrick Neville claimed a different series of events, based in part on the 911 call that police have not released:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>I could clearly hear the officers giving commands to the individual to get him on the ground, hear people yelling and screaming in the background. You could hear the shots being fired. When you listen to that, it definitely sends a chill down your spine.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>There are no commands or communications between Erik Scott and police captured on a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=h15QF0ne0k4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">nine-minute audiotape<\/a> during which the shooting occurred. Officers not directly in front of the store are heard over the radio establishing a perimeter and trying to block off access to the store\u2019s parking lot. The first indication Scott and the police have made contact is when a officer breaks in to call \u201cshots fired\u201d after Scott is on the ground, already dying or dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In another interview, Captain Neville <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OaL-nzP-KmE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">claimed<\/a> Scott did not listen to police commands:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>He does not comply with that order. He reaches for the weapon, pulls the weapon out \u2026 uh, at which time the weapon was out of the waistband, the officers \u2014 three officers \u2014 discharged their weapons.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Others on the scene did not see it that way. Robert Garcia <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=K3Nr7PB4K08\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">directly conflicts<\/a> the reports of police:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>I was close enough to see this guy\u2019s face, and to see his hands, and to see his body go down.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Walking just ten feet in front of Erik Scott, Garcia exited the Costco to see officers with guns drawn. He heard an officer yell: \u201cPut it down! Get down!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then he claims four shots were fired, and he instantly turned towards the victim:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>After hearing the shots I see the guy going down. I looked at \u2014 I saw his hands. His hands had no gun in it. I looked on the ground because \u2014 just, I just did that. I looked down and I didn\u2019t see a gun. I saw what I thought were maybe sunglasses. And a pen.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>This matches up with several other eyewitness claims that officers William Mosher, Joshua Stark, and Thomas Mendiola fired nearly immediately after shouting conflicting commands at Scott, giving him little or no time to respond. Four other witnesses within 20 feet of the store\u2019s entrance all agree that Scott never brandished a weapon or made a move that could be interpreted as brandishing a weapon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A coroner\u2019s inquest is to be held next week, but the outcome seems foreordained. In the past 34 years, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lasvegassun.com\/news\/2010\/jul\/12\/metro-ids-officers-fatal-shooting-summerlin-costco\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">only one<\/a> Metro officer has ever been found to have acted improperly out of at least 190 inquests, and that officer wasn\u2019t charged with a crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the record, the Costco did not have signs posted prohibiting the carrying of concealed weapons. Scott did not violate any laws in carrying his weapon in the store. It is quite possible that Erik Scott was gunned down without having committed so much as a misdemeanor crime, and that the officers who shot him will be merely the latest exonerated in a long line from an apparently unaccountable police force.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I used to open carry back in California, but I worked for Brinks and was allowed to have my hand on my weapon (except in the state capital) as I kept my head on a swivel. We had great quick draw holsters that were easy to unsnap and clear, but the real weapon retention was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-world"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8964"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8966,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8964\/revisions\/8966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}