Lt. Brandon Teel, who has an Arkansas Concealed Carry Permit was heading home to get his W-2’s that he forgot when he passed what he thought was two children playing. When he got out of his car he realized the man on the ground, 47-year-old Farren Terry, had been stabbed by his brother, 30-year-old Chris Terry.
Once Teel realized Chris Terry had no intentions of stopping, he pulled his concealed carry gun, pointed it at Chris Terry and said:
Stop what you’re doing. Get down on the ground or I’ll shoot you.
He then called 911 with the other hand and held Chris Terry at gunpoint until the police arrived.
Mr. Teel, he saved a life. There’s no doubt about that. He has within him something that just beats in the chest of every American, take care of your fellow man, said Chief Bill Duerson.
But while holding him at gunpoint, not one other car stopped. He doesn’t urge anyone to be a vigilante but at least stopping and calling the police is the least you can do.
So what would you do in this situation? A lot of concealed carrier might not stop and help in this situation since you may not know the full details of the situation.
Even though you don’t know all the facts, when you see someone with a knife stabbing someone without a knife, the very least you can do (should do) is stop the stabbing. It’s hard to fathom that the person doing the stabbing is doing so in self-defense. Stop the attack, take the situation to a point of no harm, call rescue, and wait to reholster/surrender your weapon on arrival of the PD. If it turns out the person being stabbed was the aggressor, then the guy stabbing him has not been harmed. But if not, then you’ve saved a life. The real question is whether to shoot if the attack does not stop. That’s a harder call, but you’d have to trust your gut.
We don’t know it was self defense, but it turned out worse, that they were brothers, a much worse human relations condition. You’re looking at it after the facts. Yes, you do shoot if attacker does not stop, because most attackers that would not stop are Aggressors & you acted in the notion of saving a life. Most defenders will stop when superior force shows up.