Runner with Gun and Flashlight Stops Sex Assault in Austin

Who says the “Good Guy with a Gun” is just a myth? I bet the woman in this article would highly disagree with you.

Last Friday around 5:46 am, a women was being sexually assaulted while jogging down a popular running trail along the Colorado River near Rainey Street. Luckily there was a good guy with a gun and a flashlight was within shouting distance and heard her scream.

The Statesman reported:

The affidavit said the jogger told police he shined his light in the direction of the screams and saw the victim on her back and the attacker on his left side on top of the victim.

The jogger pointed his gun at the suspect and demanded he get off the victim. The attacker stood up and was naked from the waist down, the affidavit said.

The woman got up and started walking to the jogger to get away from the attacker.

The accused attacker, 22 year old Richard Jordon McEachern was found the following Monday and charged with felony sexual assault.

The affidavit also noted that the woman didn’t realize the good guy had a gun because she had been blinded by his flashlight. So when I started reading through the comments, there were people saying that a gun wasn’t needed and the attacker stopped simply because another person showed up and shined a flashlight on them. I have two thoughts about this.

1. It said that SHE didn’t realize he had a gun. That doesn’t mean the attacker didn’t see the gun. Yes, he could have been blinded by the flashlight and may not have seen the gun but that leads me to my next point.
2. Assume the attacker didn’t see the gun because he was also blinded by the flashlight. Then assume the attacker didn’t simply run off and decided to confront the guy with the flashlight. What is the attacker also had a gun or knife? What are you supposed to do at that point? Throw the flashlight at him?

I think it is safe to say that the woman being attacked is glad there was a good samaritan with a gun (and a flashlight) around or this could have turned out a lot worse.

Do you carry concealed while out jogging?

Jason Hanson wrote an article talking about his preferred method of carrying while jogging which is using a Belly Band Holster. I know a lot of other people including myself have used the compressions shirts with holsters stitched into them. We will be reviewing a few different methods of carrying while jogging in the future and let you know what we think works best.

Whatever your method you use to carry while jogging, it is important to remember that you should ALWAYS CARRY. If we could pick and choose the places we will need a gun then we just wouldn’t put ourselves in those situations to begin with.

In the meantime, tell us how you prefer to carry when jogging in the comments below.