Local Plumber Fired Shot That Took Out Texas Church Shooter

A local plumber, with no military or police training, engaged and hit the Texas church shooter, then he and another man gave chase to the fleeing gunman.

Stephen Willeford Is being praised as a hero for his bravery and quick reaction. He grabbed his rifle and engaged the shooter, striking him in a gap of his body armor. That’s when Kelly fled in his vehicle.

Willeford jumped into a truck driven by another local, Johnnie Langendorff, who witnessed the confrontation, and the pair gave chase. Langendorff later told reporters about the dramatic pursuit. “I pulled up to the intersection where the shooting happened and I saw two men exchanging gunfire, the other being a citizen of the community,” he said. “The shooter of the church had taken off, fled in his vehicle, and the other gentleman came and he said, ‘We need to pursue him,’ that he just shot up the church. So that’s what I did. I just acted.”

Nypost

So a local armed citizen managed to stop the shooter from escaping and possibly causeing harm to others. These two men were willing to put themselves in harms way, to chase a man who had just killed over 25 people in cold blood, they did not “shelter in place” or wait for police to show up to count bodies.

Willeford was prepared, was willing to act, and to risk his own life to possibly save many more.

a reply to: Quantumgamer1776

I'm glad they were there and put a stop the madness. Probably didn't require a gap in the armor though...most hunting rifles are armor piercing.

a reply to: Quantumgamer1776

Good on him. When seconds count, the police are minutes away. That's why it is important to have properly trained armed citizens.

originally posted by: BlueJacket
a reply to: Quantumgamer1776

I'm glad they were there and put a stop the madness. Probably didn't require a gap in the armor though...most hunting rifles are armor piercing.

Just for clarification, the round can be armor piercing, but the weapon cannot.

a reply to: Quantumgamer1776

It's being reported on UK news he died from a self inflicted gunshot wound

originally posted by: BlueJacket
a reply to: Quantumgamer1776


I'm glad they were there and put a stop the madness. Probably didn't require a gap in the armor though...most hunting rifles are armor piercing.

Word is that he had/used an AR as well.

originally posted by: network dude

originally posted by: BlueJacket
a reply to: Quantumgamer1776

I'm glad they were there and put a stop the madness. Probably didn't require a gap in the armor though...most hunting rifles are armor piercing.

Just for clarification, the round can be armor piercing, but the weapon cannot.

But, but...bayonet?

a reply to: Quantumgamer1776

And this is precisely why guns need to be available to the people who wish to responsibly use them.

Anyone who attempts to argue this point is quite naive!

a reply to: Quantumgamer1776

I feel like that is an example that will be followed in future tragedies like this one.

a reply to: network dude

True...typing on the fly

I want to point this out for the pro-gun crowd who are going to turn this into a story about how Guns save lives.

Current statistics show that so far this year there have been about 1700 confirmed cases were a gun has been used in self defence. However these same statistics also show that there have been almost as many cases of accidental shootings. This means that for every time someone uses a gun in self defence another persons is accidentally shooting either themselves or someone else. That means that when you look at the numbers the self defence aspect of owning a gun is almost muted because of accidental discharges.

This plumber is a hero, he faced off against a armed murderer who had already killed multiple people in the bravest way possible.

lets not forget however that this guy was still able to mow down 26 people before this guy was able to act.

Well if you ask some folks, this man is partly responsible for his obvious support of the second amendment and "the blood is on his hands".

He should probably turn in that rifle before it does any more harm.

Apologies for the sarcasm and cheap-shots. That usually isn't me, but it's different this time. After what people have been saying about gun owners the last 24 hours.... I feel the need to hit back.

There are two facts here:

1- A bad man did a bad thing with a gun and killed dozens and scarred countless others.

2- A good man did a good thing with a gun, SAVING dozens or more from death or pain.

originally posted by: OtherSideOfTheCoin
I want to point this out for the pro-gun crowd who are going to turn this into a story about how Guns save lives.

Current statistics show that so far this year there have been about 1700 confirmed cases were a gun has been used in self defence. However these same statistics also show that there have been almost as many cases of accidental shootings. This means that for every time someone uses a gun in self defence another persons is accidentally shooting either themselves or someone else. That means that when you look at the numbers the self defence aspect of owning a gun is almost muted because of accidental discharges.

This plumber is a hero, he faced off against a armed murderer who had already killed multiple people in the bravest way possible.

lets not forget however that this guy was still able to mow down 26 people before this guy was able to act.

Unless you are going to parse out legal gun owners, that accidental shooting stat is also meaningless. Around these parts, for the most part, when you hear of any accidental shooting it is usually some little kid finding their gang banging big brother/cousins/uncles illegally owned firearm.

Accidents happen. There are tens of thousands of deaths from automobiles every year yet I don't see any of you gun grabbers giving up your cars. After all, if no one drove cars, we wouldn't have car deaths...

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

That means that when you look at the numbers the self defence aspect of owning a gun is almost muted because of accidental discharges.

False. Nowhere in those statistics does it say that ANY of those accidental discharges resulted in anyone getting injured.

Also the overwhelming majority of deaths by firearms in the United Sates are from suicide. And that's using the FBI's numbers. So you anti gunners love to throw out how many deaths there are in the USA from firearms without realizing those are mostly suicides.

If you're going to try and use statistics to make guns look bad, try to look at them all first.

Yes that’s being reported by some, and my title may need editing, but most likely the gunman was bleeding out from being shot, which is what caused him to loose control of the vehicle and crash. At this time he either passed out and died or took his own life. Either way, imo, those events were caused by him being shot by the citizen.

I apologize for any ambiguity in the term “took out”.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

You keep repeating that, 1700 is what "is reported". Do you realize most defensive gun use are not reported because shots were never fired?

Almost all national survey estimates indicate that defensive gun uses by victims are at least as common as offensive uses by criminals, with estimates of annual uses ranging from about 500,000 to more than 3 million per year…in the context of about 300,000 violent crimes involving firearms in 2008.

I half expected this to turn out to be a manufactured hero.

Glad they were the real deal.

a reply to: Quantumgamer1776

Awesome. That's what the second amendment is all about.

originally posted by: FauxMulder
a reply to: Quantumgamer1776

Good on him. When seconds count, the police are minutes away. That's why it is important to have properly trained armed citizens.

Without armed citizens nobody has to stop, with guns, lunatic armed citizens that go postal with firearms.
Or is that wrong?

If both wouldn´t be armed, nobody got hurt and nobody had to stop somebody with weapon power.

Btw, why is nobody talking about the perpetrator, that he was not allowed to buy guns, because of dishonorable discharge from the miltary?

originally posted by: OtherSideOfTheCoin
I want to point this out for the pro-gun crowd who are going to turn this into a story about how Guns save lives.

Current statistics show that so far this year there have been about 1700 confirmed cases were a gun has been used in self defence. However these same statistics also show that there have been almost as many cases of accidental shootings. This means that for every time someone uses a gun in self defence another persons is accidentally shooting either themselves or someone else. That means that when you look at the numbers the self defence aspect of owning a gun is almost muted because of accidental discharges.

This plumber is a hero, he faced off against a armed murderer who had already killed multiple people in the bravest way possible.

lets not forget however that this guy was still able to mow down 26 people before this guy was able to act.

What do you care? You're here in Britain and the odds of you getting shot are probably one in ten million. Life is different in the United States and if I lived in a country with a conservative estimate of 300 million guns then I would want to be armed too.

The US is not the UK. We never had a gun culture like the USA.