HERO OF THE DAY–OSCAR STEWART: From a paywalled Wall Street Journal article about yesterday’s synagogue shooting: “Mr. Stewart, 51 years old, said he shouted and charged at the shooter. ‘As he saw me, he dropped his weapon, turned and ran,” Mr. Stewart said. “He may have been trying to change a magazine, or he just panicked….’ Mr. Stewart and a Border Patrol agent who is a member of the congregation were pursuing the shooter… As the gunman got into his car, Mr. Stewart heard the agent shout for everyone to clear away…. and the agent fired five shots at the car, hitting it four times.” Every mass shooter eventually pauses to switch weapons or reload. Few have the presence of mind and guts to take advantage.
UPDATE: Some reports of the incident suggest that a female congregant, Lori Kaye, was killed when she stepped between the rabbi and the gunman to protect the rabbi, but other accounts, including the rabbis, differ. Either way, my heartfelt condolences to Ms. Kaye’s family. May her memory be for a blessing.
ANOTHER UPDATE: “Get down!” Stewart yelled, according to his wife and others who were at the scene. “You motherfucker! I’m going to kill you!” The heroic border patrol agent’s name is Jonathan Morales.
Stewart said he chased him all the way out to his car, and began pounding on it — the shooter had managed to lock himself in. When Stewart saw him reach for a rifle, he punched the side of the car as hard as he could, intending to figure out a way to drag him out of the car — that’s when a Border Patrol agent who attends the synagogue came running out to the parking lot, yelling for Stewart to get down because he had a gun.
Stewart says this man may have saved his life, and pointed to his use of a civilian gun — he was off-duty and was apparently handed the weapon by someone else on the scene — as evidence that gun control isn’t the answer to these kinds of tragedies.