Well here’s a weird side-effect of everyone in our country owning a gun…
http://www.denverpost.com/2017/11/02/shoppers-pulled-weapons-walmart-shooting/
When a gunman opened fire inside a Walmart in Thornton Wednesday night, shoppers screamed and ran for cover — and others pulled out their own handguns.
But those who drew weapons during the shootings ultimately delayed the investigation as authorities pored over surveillance videotape trying to identify the assailant who killed three people, police said Thursday.
Although authorities said “a few” individuals drew handguns, they posed no physical hazard to officers. But their presence “absolutely” slowed the process of determining who, and how many, suspects were involved in the shootings, said Thornton police spokesman Victor Avila.
It took more than five hours to identify the suspect, 47-year-old Scott Ostrem, who is accused in the seemingly random shootings. The problem for investigators came when they reviewed the surveillance footage and had to follow each individual with a firearm until they could eliminate them as a suspect.
And
The presence of armed civilians at a crime scene can potentially be either a help or a hindrance to police, said Joseph Pollini, professor and deputy chair of the Law and Police Science Department at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
“It can work both ways,” said Pollini, who also worked 30 years as a New York City cop. “In one, you have law abiding citizens present at the scene of a shooting that could terminate it, assist in apprehending the individual. But generally as a rule, you turn to the police for that aspect. It’s not common for civilians to do the job of police, and the fact that they carry firearms can very much complicate things.”
