Safe Mode: On
Tucson Hero Says He's "Very Lucky" He Didn't Shoot The Wrong Man

But before we embrace Zamudio's brave intervention as proof of the value of being armed, let's hear the whole story. "I came out of that store, I clicked the safety off, and I was ready," he explained on Fox and Friends. "I had my hand on my gun. I had it in my jacket pocket here. And I came around the corner like this." Zamudio demonstrated how his shooting hand was wrapped around the weapon, poised to draw and fire. As he rounded the corner, he saw a man holding a gun. "And that's who I at first thought was the shooter," Zamudio recalled. "I told him to 'Drop it, drop it!'"

But the man with the gun wasn't the shooter. He had wrested the gun away from the shooter. "Had you shot that guy, it would have been a big, fat mess," the interviewer pointed out.

Zamudio agreed:

"I was very lucky. Honestly, it was a matter of seconds. Two, maybe three seconds between when I came through the doorway and when I was laying on top of [the real shooter], holding him down. So, I mean, in that short amount of time I made a lot of really big decisions really fast. … I was really lucky."

When Zamudio was asked what kind of weapons training he'd had, he answered: "My father raised me around guns … so I'm really comfortable with them. But I've never been in the military or had any professional training. I just reacted."

The Arizona Daily Star, based on its interview with Zamudio, adds two details to the story. First, upon seeing the man with the gun, Zamudio "grabbed his arm and shoved him into a wall" before realizing he wasn't the shooter. And second, one reason why Zamudio didn't pull out his own weapon was that "he didn't want to be confused as a second gunman."

Full story in source


Click to view image: '9f7fc843e313-teapartier.jpg'

Added: Jan-13-2011 
By: Nurb
In:
News
Tags: tuscon, shooting, giffords, arizona, zamundio
Marked as: approved
Views: 7074 | Comments: 40 | Votes: 1 | Favorites: 0 | Shared: 0 | Updates: 0 | Times used in channels: 1
You need to be registered in order to add comments! Register HERE
Sort by: Newest first | Oldest first | Highest score first
Liveleak opposes racial slurs - if you do spot comments that fall into this category, please report them for us to review.
  • We need more American heros like him in fact...

    Posted Jan-13-2011 By 

    (12)

  • He is kind of a dumbass for saying anything at all, but without people willing to act, we have no chance. No doubt lives were saved.

    Posted Jan-13-2011 By 

    (11)

    • I think he realizes the danger of a situation like that. People don't consider the possibility of while they're responding to someone else by using their weapon, another might think that person is a gunman in the heat of the moment and end up killing an innocent citizen. The reason this guy's gun wasn't drawn was because he didn't want to be thought of as a second gunman, but he knows that if he didn't consider that, he could very well have killed the guy.

      No one's being hard on him because he More..

      Posted Jan-13-2011 By 

      (3)

    • Yes, by the guy he pointed his gun at. LOL

      Posted Jan-14-2011 By 

      (-5)

    • Which would make my point just as handily, thanks.

      Posted Jan-14-2011 By 

      (-1)

    • Different story, but same stupidity, I was riding my motorbike a year or so back, saw a little girl get run down by some police on another motorbike, police were at fault because they were both (rider and passenger) texting, also no helmets. Anyway, I stop to help the little girl, people crowd around and accuse me of being the one to run her down. WTF? No matter how much I tried to explain, when people turn feral, they become complete fucktards.

      (Police were arrested and charged with quite a f More..

      Posted Jan-14-2011 By 

      (2)

    • CBS, ABC and NBC ran a story where he spoke to him softly and beat him with his soft banana... then he kissed him and gave him a reach around.

      Posted Jan-14-2011 By 

      (0)

  • Zamudio saw somebody who might have been the murderer, yelled at him, found out he wasn't the murderer, and didn't shoot him.

    What's the problem?

    Posted Jan-13-2011 By 

    (9)

    • well he also twisted the dude's arm and pushed him into a wall before he realized the mistake, which is the issue I think; Regular untrained citizens who are good intentioned but ultimately very capable of potentially fatal mistakes when not used to high-stress, dangerous situations.

      Posted Jan-13-2011 By 

      (-5)

    • I have suffered worse at the hands of "trained professionals" and felt no better about it.

      Posted Jan-13-2011 By 

      (0)

    • The only thing getting "twisted" around here is the truth.

      Posted Jan-14-2011 By 

      (1)

    • Leftist Liberal Magic Trick

      - Chant what if, what if, what if!

      - Second-guess the facts!

      - Turn the hero into a villain!

      - Make the villain a victim!

      - Scream Its BUSHES FAULT three times!

      - PRESTO, you have just created your own reality!

      Welcome to the Democrat Party!

      Posted Jan-14-2011 By 

      (5)

    • Comment of user 'bouymarker' has been deleted by author!
  • yeah mabe he should have just stood there like a brainless lemming pointing at the potential gunman or better yet on the floor in the fetal position sucking his thumb. Thank goodness all of those people reacted the way they did. If the shooter would have got in that reload he was working on who knows how many more names we would be mourning. Good citizens stepped up to the plate. Nobody is saying these ideas need to be taken lightly but the cops didnt save the day here. It was fellow citizens lo More..

    Posted Jan-13-2011 By 

    (8)

    • So long as another citizen coming out of a store or around the corner wanting to help doesn't think you're the dangerous one as you already attempt respond to the actual gunman and get yourself killed in a split second decision by someone who's never been in such a situation.

      Not everything plays out like it does in our heads. Had this guy's gun been drawn, he might have killed the one who already took the shooter's gun away.

      You seem to think it's a black or white situation.

      Posted Jan-14-2011 By 

      (-1)

    • This is LL, full of armed tough guys who think real life is an episode of "24" and they're Jack Bauer.

      Posted Jan-14-2011 By 

      (-2)

    • So do you apparently.

      Posted Jan-14-2011 By 

      (-1)

    • Many years ago here in the UK there was a famous case where some police shot an innocent man, who luckily survived. Anyway, it was subsequently found that any policeman could arm him or herself if they thought they needed it, but were not adequetly trained in the use of firearms, hence the many mistakes that were highlighted in the enquiry. As a result, only specialist, highly trained police officers are now allowed to carry & use guns, and they're very effective.

      Posted Jan-14-2011 By 

      (2)

  • i can see it now-- a mass murderer on a killing spree,

    25 well-intending gun-toters all pull weapons,

    and everyone except the murderer goes down in a hail of bullets,

    all set to Benny Hill music

    Posted Jan-14-2011 By 

    (3)

  • Comment of user '' has been deleted by moderator!
  • note to self: when disarming a gunman, do not hold his gun like you're the gunman. this guy may have also saved the life of the guy he almost shot as the police might have also thought that he was the gunman.

    Posted Jan-14-2011 By 

    (2)

    • exactly. The guy who picked up the gun would have been shot by the police had he not been made to drop it. Once again this event shows that you should never depend on the police to protect you. You will be waiting for the rest of your life to get helped.

      Posted Jan-14-2011 By 

      (2)

  • The fact that he made the split decision is amazing. Yeah he could have shot the wrong guy BUT HE DIDNT. End of story.

    Posted Jan-14-2011 By 

    (1)

    • Most that carry would do the same, gun clubs do situation training for their members so many are better trained than some police forces

      Posted Jan-14-2011 By 

      (0)

  • He's got a gun! Shoot him! *BLAM* He just shot that guy who was shootin'! Shoot him! *BLAM* Those guys are shooting each other! Shoot them! *BLAM* You've got a gun! So I do! Shoot yourself! *BLAM*

    Sorry. A little Mel Brooks moment there.

    Posted Jan-14-2011 By 

    (1)

  • Had that been a cop he would have unloaded his entire mag into anybody around the gunman because "he was in fear of his life." The only difference between this guy and a cop was a cop knows he can get away with blowing everyone away and nobody will raise a stink about it. Just like that guy in seattle, he was using his knife to attack a piece of wood and a cop gave him 2 seconds of warning at 10 feet away and made the decision to put three slugs into him because he was in fear of his More..

    Posted Jan-14-2011 By 

    (0)

  • was he drunk ?

    Posted Jan-14-2011 By 

    (0)

  • Comment of user 'bouymarker' has been deleted by author!
  • Wait wasn't the big fat gay Mexican the hero? Who is Zamudio?

    Posted Jan-14-2011 By 

    (-1)

  • Oh he didn't actually point his gun. OK. Still sorta messed up though.

    Posted Jan-14-2011 By 

    (-3)

  • what is your point you dumb mutha fk'n prick!!! we have cops who shoot people holding a garden hose!!! so what is your friggen point???? I'll gladly try and kick some sense into your thick skull! this poster is a piece of shit who needs to check-up. This tragedy is over and scumbag piles of refuse keep bringing this shit up! the guy/women/thing posting this "info" i'm commenting on is the definition of TWAT!

    Posted Jan-14-2011 By 

    (-4)