The attack reportedly happened Wednesday evening, but appears to be only making the news now. This is described by the BBC as a breaking news story, so expect details to change as more information comes in.
Via the BBC:
A US woman has fatally shot a man who opened fire on a crowd of people with a semi-automatic rifle in Charleston, West Virginia.
Dennis Butler, a 37-year-old with an extensive criminal history, was killed after he targeted a group of around 40 people attending a birthday party.
Police spokesman Tony Hazelett said the woman's quick reaction saved lives and may have prevented a mass shooting.
Butler was apparently angered to have been told earlier to slow down while driving past the party; he returned with the rifle.
Butler had driven by the area earlier on Wednesday evening when he was warned to slow down because children were playing.
He returned armed with an AR-15-type rifle and opened fire from his vehicle on the birthday-graduation party outside the apartment complex in the city.
Mr Hazelett told a news conference that the woman who fired back did not have any law enforcement background. She has not been identified.
"She's just a member of the community who was carrying her weapon lawfully," he said. "And instead of running from the threat she engaged with the threat and saved several lives."
The woman remained at the scene after the shooting, and is co-operating with investigators.
As a convicted felon, Butler should not have been able to buy or own the weapon he used. The BBC does not report what the unidentified woman was armed with, but Butler was described as found dead at the scene and had suffered multiple gunshot wounds. Both an AP News report and an ABC news report say the unidentified woman was armed with a pistol and will not face any charges.
I’m going to make some predictions here. The NRA and every Republican will say this is exactly what the 2nd Amendment was meant to enable. Fox News will go crazy over this. They will proclaim that this shows we do not need to restrict gun ownership — that more “good people” armed with guns are the real solution. If the GOP Supreme Court throws out New York State’s gun laws, what are the odds they will cite this event as a reason to do so?
This may be more effective than their blatant deflection by claiming the real mass murder problem in America is abortion. Also expect some reflex bashing of Democrats and Biden for being soft on crime, wanting to defund the police, etc. And let’s not even think about how Senator Joe Manchin, WV will jump on this.
As for the unidentified woman, her life is about to be turned upside down, and not just from the trauma of having to face a heavily armed attacker and killing him. She’s going to be turned into a political football and the object of a media frenzy. I expect if she has obtained an attorney (and she’d be a fool if she hadn’t) she is being told to say nothing to the press. She may be a strong gun advocate, or she might just be someone who had a gun. We don’t know yet.
We don’t know why she had a pistol, if she was a guest at the party or just happened to be there by chance. We don’t know how much training she had, or how she feels about having had to use that gun to defend herself and others. We don’t know if that apartment complex had a crime problem and no confidence in the police. How many other people living there have firearms, and why?
She IS a hero, but she and everyone else are also damned lucky. Even people with weapons training who practice can find it difficult to hit an attacker in the stress of the moment. That the gunman suffered multiple wounds suggests the exchange of fire happened at close range. What would the story have been if the man had also had body armor, as increasingly seems to be the fashion?
One thing is certain. The gun lobby is going to be all over this as proof more guns everywhere is the solution to gun violence. Digby details how the NRA has helped flood America with guns despite the horrors of mass shootings. Digby also has numbers on how the U.S. stacks up against the rest of the world, and just how exceptional we are.
This is the weekend we memorialize the men and women who have died fighting in the service of this country. Perhaps we need to start remembering all the people who have died while simply trying to live in this country.
UPDATE: There does seem to be something odd going on. You’d think a story like this would have a lot of follow up, given the recent mass shootings. A quick check searching on “Charleston, West Virginia turns up little that isn’t in the initial reports.
One story reports the would-be shooter was the only person injured, and suggests that he died after being transported to the hospital.
This report identifies the person who stopped Butler as one of the people at the party. Another report adds this about Butler, and efforts to do something about gun violence in the city.
...Butler is no stranger to law enforcement. Court documents reveal he has been convicted of two felonies: child abuse and child neglect. Charges such as those make it illegal for him to possess guns or ammunition.
"It's very hurtful because I know that person and I've been dealing with him for years," Charleston councilmember Deanna McKinney, D-Ward 6, said. "I was working with him, helping him get back into society and to change from old patterns and behaviors."
McKinney has crusaded efforts to help curb gun violence in the city.
"These kids are growing up without understanding what guns are supposed to be for and how to use them," McKinney said. "They're recklessly picking up all these different types of guns and recklessly using them against each other. It's really sad."
McKinney's efforts to curb gun crimes started after she lost her son, who was shot and killed in April 2014...
Again, there’s a surprising lack of follow up on this, given the sensational story of someone stopping what could have been another mass shooting.
UPDATE: A Politico report talks to a pair of researchers who have been analyzing mass shootings of 4 or more people that have taken place since 1999. They don’t really discuss gun control measures — although they don’t dismiss them. Their focus is more on the mental health side of the problem. It’s a short article but worth a read. Here are a few takeaways:
- For all the talk of this kind of event being a mental health issue, very little is being done to provide the resources needed to address mental health.
- Red flag laws are a good idea — but only if people understand how they are to be used and do the followup needed to make them work.
- Hardening schools is not proving to be effective; in many cases the shooter is someone already inside the school.
- Putting armed police, etc. inside the school is not a deterrent — as often the shooters are seeking the end of their own lives as part of the attack. *
- There’s no one answer; we need to do multiple things.
* From a study in which these two researchers were involved:
..However, the data suggest no association between having an armed officer and deterrence of violence in these cases. An armed officer on the scene was the number one factor associated with increased casualties after the perpetrators’ use of assault rifles or submachine guns.
The well-documented weapons effect explains that the presence of a weapon increases aggression.6 Whenever firearms are present, there is room for error, and even highly trained officers get split-second decisions wrong. Prior research suggests that many school shooters are actively suicidal, intending to die in the act, so an armed officer may be an incentive rather than a deterrent.4 The majority of shooters who target schools are students of the school, calling into question the effectiveness of hardened security and active shooter drills. Instead, schools must invest in resources to prevent shootings before they occur.
emphasis added