Interesting story developing in Sherwood, Arkansas, where a concealed carrier this week reportedly discharged a firearm inside a Walmart to break up a fight.
Local media reports that a group of 4 to 5 young adults were fighting with one another when a bystander, who has a valid concealed carry permit, pulled out her handgun and fired it up into the air.
Again, this was inside the store.
Police came to the scene and arrested the alleged combatants. Sherwood Police Officer Richard McNeil spoke to THV11.com about the charges they’ll likely face.
“Disorderly conduct for one. I’m not sure what other charges we are looking at right now.”
However, the woman who fired the shot has not been charged at this time.
The Walmart location has reopened since the incident. It’s not clear if the round penetrated the ceiling or if it damaged the store in any significant way.
Stay tuned for updates.
I mind my own business. It sounds like the kids fighting entered it mutually. A lot of kids fight one day and are friends the next. It’s a store security problem. If a fight breaks out I leave the area and the store. It could be a precursor to a flash mob.
I am going to withhold judgement on this lady. I was not there and did not see the situation that was unfolding. The article did not specify if it was 3 or more on one person or youths fighting each other. The fact that she was not arrested tells me there was more to the story than was reported. Personally if it is a group of youths fighting each other that is one thing. If you have multiple people ganged up on one individual then there is life at risk.
In NC, you’d be in deep if you did this. Using a firearm to defend someone elses life, while you would think is a noble and legal action, will end you up arrested, waiting for arraignment on whether it will be justified, murder, or attempted murder. It is a rough call if you are witnessing an attack along the lines of rape, or a gun point robbery, where calling 911 and walking away is what the law will tell you to do, but using any weapon to stop it can have your income going to a lawyer, or yourself to prison. The days of defending yourself or anyone else and leaving the body of the attacker for the buzzards is long gone.
Obliviously no members of BLM were involved in the original altercation otherwise that goofy lady would be facing a cascade of new charges,
Very similar to the stupidity of those carrying AKs and ARs to State Capitals around the country to exercise their second amendments rights or intimidate others. Second Amendment Rights, CC or OC should not apply to those too stupid to know how to exercise them.
That is the stupidest thing I’ve heard. This is not similar at all to a 2nd amendment rally. If firearm privileges are reserved for those with a higher IQ, you better hand in all your guns.
Paul,
You are clearly my case in point…………..cheers
you got that right. Wally is a nitwit.
“SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED !!!
That said ,Discharging a firearm to stop a fight you aren’t involved in where there is no imminent danger to your life is insane,but given that according to the article she wasn’t charged I like other assume there’s more to the story. If not,idk about other states but in S.C they’d put you under the jail
If she is anything like my grandmother she made them go cut a switch after the fight settled. Personally I am glad to see a place still exist where’s you can break up a fight by shooting in the air. Used to do it all the time in east Texas
No offense truly, but clearly your not a conceal carrier(legal one I mean!). You do not shoot your gun unless you KNOW the target your shooting at which is like rule number two in gun safety! She had zero clue of some poor AC repair man, plumber, or roofer was in the roof and if so I can get with high certainty that her round as long as it’s a .380 or better would of went right though the zero ceiling Was Marts don’t have and then through the roof and up and out to maybe even God doesn’t know where. You never fire up in the air since again back to childhood or basic common knowledge(which clearly this woman never learned!)anything that goes up WILL come down and not sure about you, but personally would rather not catch a falling projectile in the head! Had that been me a man I’d of been arrested right there and then and fact is the judge and DA would easily win this case against her since she SIGNED UP for a conceal carry permit(which I also have and do actually know the proper times to ever even pull your gun let alone fire it.)which means she SHOULD of known better since you can’t go around shooting your guns in Wal Mart just to stop a fight that the cops would of stopped alone without miss gun slumber the second they arrived since not like anyone but the morons fighting was in jeopardy of anything so let them beat each other up and break some over priced Wal Mart junk which they’ll get back every penny an then some from their insurance so was a gun shot necessary? No! And nobody used to do it all the time no matter what place you live in the US since everyone for the past twenty years have been nothing but gun wussies and like this time I’m sure lots and lots of people called the cops the second they heard the shot. Do is all a favor PLEASE… DONT GET A GUN!
You have been drinking the propaganda cool aid too long and “obviously” have never liverd outside a city. The guy is not talking aboutfiring randomly for the fun of it. He is talkingt about what used to be a approved part of police procedure, firing a warning shot.
Unlike the city where there are two police in every car and 8-10 show up at a scene, small town piolice and county deouties are most often responding to calls by themselves and with little hope of imediate help. They are the only law nad they were authorized to use any means to de-escalate a situation. This has not been approved in over 20 years but was a common practice until the mid 90’s.
I myself stopped a fighting involving 8 people with one shot of a .22, not in a store but outside at night. My father saved a woman’s life and saved her from rape when he shot a hole in the car the man trying to drag her out of the parking lot wa using then held him at gunpoint for 45 minutes.
THe training you speak of is great and I do commend you for knowing what you are SUPPOSED to do by the book. But the book was not written by average, day to day people living normal lives. No, you do not discharge a weapon except in frear of your own life. But what this lady did, stopped violence before it had a chance toget out of hand. Sad thing is she will be crucified by the public media whether she was right or wrong.
Arkansas: probably not the first bullet hole in the roof deck.
I live here, you’re not wrong! 🙂
I sure hope she was using tangible ammo. Otherwise, REALLY STUPID to fire into the air. The only time you need to fire UP is when you are hunting waterfowl!
I’ll correctly spell one word: frangible.
Not tangible. My spell check didn’t pass first grade.
Personally, I prefer tangible ammo to intangible ammo. Ghost bullets just don’t seem to get the job done.
Or squirrels or treed raccoons or crows or…
1St rule of caring a gun. Don’t shoot at God he’s on our side.
Amen. Haha
Bad movement on her part. In NY she would have been charged with reckless endangerment and her license to carry would be revoked. Obviously she was never educated in the use of force laws
Good thing she was there instead of cops, who would probably shoot to kill the kids involved in the scuffle (all somebody’s children).
For some of y’all, if you weren’t there and you’re not familiar with AR law, maybe withhold judgment until you know more, because there isn’t much information in this article to form an opinion from.
Don’t try it in Essex Iowa with a blank round. You will end up with a $5000 bond and 1 year probation .
What seems most likely to me is that she was in a different isle, saw them in a security mirror, and had no choice but to try to ricochet some lead off a $50 Chinese microwave into the leader of the gang. But with the cheap tin and all, it just flew through and lodged in the $19 “Instant Rust”-brand kitchen knife set.
Why wait for details when the first info you hear is so likely to be TRUE!
I’m with you, good one!
Yes! I wasn’t there but I just know this is true…
I am VERY pro-2nd Amendment and believe everyone who is properly trained and displays the knowledge to use a firearm properly and accurately and has no criminal past or mental problems should be allowed to and encouraged to carry a concealed firearm. THIS woman however should have been arrested and fined for discharging her firearm in a dangerous manner. You simply cannot discharge your firearm unless you are trying to save someones life or your own life. This was obviously not the case here.
Agreed. This is not the old, wild west. This lady watched to many TV shows and needs to connect to reality. Stupid decisions are those that the anti-gun people people love to advertise.
Could be she was trying to save a life. How is it “obviously not the case here.”? You weren’t there and don’t know the circumstances. Based on the limited information in the article however, it does look like poor judgement on her part.
This citizen needs training. Your weapon should not be used to fire warning shots. If that’s what you intend to use it for might I suggest carrying a pocket full of M-80’s. If it needs a bang it needs a bullet. In other words if I felt my life or someone else’s life was in danger I would place a bullet or bullets on that assailant until they ceased being a threat to me or the person I was protecting. If the situation did not warrant deadly force I would not be firing warning shots in the air. Not a plug for but she should really check out Lethal Force Institute https://massadayoobgroup.com/
Geez this ‘article’ doesn’t give nearly enough info for the reader to form any opinion. If I fired off my gun every time I saw a fight I’d have to go buy more ammo. Warning shots are, to say the least, problematic.
Everyone seems to think this was a fair fight. This could have been many against 1 and she thought they would kill the 1 if she didn’t act quickly.
” I fail to see how a jury would hold that discharging a weapon to stop a fight would be necessary & reasonable use of force to defend yourself, or someone from a forcible penalty, or prevent great bodily harm, etc.”
Stupidest comment I’ve ever heard.
The lady who Fired the shot to stop a fight was a Legal Gun Carrier, she has been checked by State and Federate Gov. Authorities in order to carry her gun. The Citizens of America should have been more Concerned about Antifa and the Black Lives Movement who have been Burning down Business’s, Looting and Killing people all over America–only a hand full of individuals have been arrested. Do not Key on this One Lady who was a Legal Gun Owner…
Bad choice. Too many cowboy movies. Hole in ceiling or ricochet. No authority to do dat. (note) I’ve actually heard a LEO tell a neighborhood watch group that a shot fired up into the air comes back down just as fast as it goes up. (bad science)
A kid in my high school was on a bike, got a sudden pain in his upper back. At home his mom takes a look – he has a 22 projectile partially impaled in his skin she was able to remove easily with tweezers. It was a semi-rural town back then, no way to know where it came from.
There’s a lot of metal in a Walmart roof, this could have ended badly with an innocent wounded or killed, from my perspective unless she was personally in danger it was time to mind your business and let the police do their job, she should be charged with reckless endangerment at the least, probably illegally discharging a weapon, license gone, and banned from reacquiring license nationwide,,, just my opinion…
Well, it’s a good thing your opinion doesn’t amount to shit. You, me, and anyone else connecting doesn’t have a clue what was going on inside that Walmart. It could’ve been 4 or 5 trying to beat 1 to death (which seems to be the case with recent groups). Here’s an idea: next time you have one of those worthless opinions… Let it go.
Warning shots are ALWAYS a bad idea. If you see a violent felony ongoing and you just have to upend your life to stop it, THEN YOU ARE AUTHORIZED IN MOST JURISDICTIONS TO SHOOT SOMEONES. Her action endangered everyone in the store and was quite negligent. At minimum she should temporarily lose he permit and be required to attend a serious gun handling 101 course. If she does it again she should permanently lose her permit
If any innocent person was hit by that bullet, she would be sued for everything she ever had. If anyone was hit, she would face charges at minimum reckless endangerment, if they died, at minimum manslaughter
I wasn’t there so it’s hard to know what all this was about from a news report. I know what I would have done. Hauled ass! This ain’t my fight and thems ain’t my monkeys. Why should I get involved? Having a CHL does not make me law enforcement.I have no obligation morally or financially to insert myself into the acts of these stupid people. If this woman had to retrieve her firearm she also had the option to leave. This may not end well for her.
This is why I’m personally in favor of having to train and get a license to carry. So called constitutional carry is bull crap. I know libertarians debate whether or not needing a drivers license to take a two ton vehicle out on the road is okay or not. Heller did not say there should be no regulation around gun ownership. This idiot makes life harder for the rest of us. I guess I should not be shocked she was not busted given where it happened, it why was it her damn business to break up a fight. Jeez, they would have tossed away the key where I live!
The little backhanded slap at the State of Arkansas for not pressing charges against this woman tells me you probably live in a heavily gun controlled state, the very thing most gun owners abhor. She went to her training classes to obtain her CHP. She might not have used the best judgement in your eyes, but you weren’t there nor I and really don’t know what happened or how serious the fight was. But the fact that she wasn’t charged tells me the cops had no problem with her response. People have had it up to their neck with all the rioting and looting and intimidation from BLM over the last several months and I’m glad she said enough is enough.
Fortunately the founding fathers of the United States strongly disagree with you. So strongly, in fact, that they made sure folk like you couldn’t regulate away a person’s natural, civil, and constitutionally protected right.
I’m amazed at the number of Fudds that seem to populate Guns America’s comments sections. SMH…
Your opinion is why I moved from Mass to Alaska back in the early 1980’s. The news story does not contain all the facts – yet you immediately jump to make disparaging remarks about someone trying to make a bad situation better. It could have been a group trying to kill someone, for Gods sake. I am pretty sure if you were on the floor, rolled into a pain ball, with three big guys kicking you in the face, stomach and nuts – you would have kissed this ladies flip flops for firing the shot. I sure would have.
The CHL should be charged as well. And she needs to lose her CHL permanently.
Totally agree, that was a stupid play.
Wow, you are quick to judge something that you didn’t witness. If the police didn’t charge her maybe there was a reason for that. While firing a “warning shot” is never a good idea I can’t fault the CCW holder as I was not there!
Regardless of whether or not she was in the right to fire her gun into the ceiling (which I personally disagree with, yet I/we weren’t there to see things first hand and how they unfolded), the risk of injuring an innocent bystander was, in reality, very very low. I guarantee SOMEONE will argue that. But either way, I’ll bet that fight ended immediately lol.
Sounds staged to me. But then with all the Simps in society today I wouldn’t be surprised. She should be arrested for being Stupid.
Could have been an accidental discharge that coincidentally occurred while a fight was going on and the Police just wrote it up as one event.
No such thing as a warning shot. In my state, that is called brandishing and can make for a bad day including prosecution. Doesn’t Walmart have a no gun policy concealed or otherwise? Being private property, Walmart can enforce it even legally. The worst was when she “retrieved her handgun.” Must of had it in her car. She should have just left as it wasn’t her responsibility to end the matter. Her actions are dangerous and damaging to the licensed concealed carrier community.
They do have a no open carry in the stores. Been in place for a couple of years. If someone sees it, you’re supposed to be trespasses off the property and banned from going into any other Walmart stores. Double checked with my wife who’s worked for them for 14 years. She said none of the stores enforce it though.
Hi, Arnold
Walmart used to have a strict “NO GUNS HERE” policy…until a woman who had a CWP left her handgun in her vehicle and when she left the store she was kidnapped and nearly died IIRC. She sued WM and they lost big time, as the court said that since WM stopped people from protecting themselves, then WM was responsible to protect them till they could get back to their handgun. Suddenly all those ‘red circle’ signs disappeared from WM, never to be seen again. I think the same thing happened with Costco.
All that said, she was still in the wrong for firing a shot without just cause. Said as a 12-year veteran LEO.
Stay safe out there folks…but use your heads!! ;-D
They post these stories to generate a blog. Reading this and how it is written, we really know nothing about what was going on. When I read “retrieved” I assumed she pulled it out of her purse. Was she in a precarious position with this fight and felt threatened? She is a licensed carrier but was afraid of the consequences of shooting someone and chose to fire the warning shot in hopes of not needing to shoot someone. There will be those that pipe up and claim she should have shot someone if she felt threatened. In my case, I have never shot anyone and hope I never have to for two reasons… (1) I am not sure how I would process the fact I shot/killed someone. (2) I don’t want to deal with the aftermath of legal actions and the cost associated with them.
Of course there is always the third option of shooting the offender in the legs and surely if Joe Biden becomes President trick shooting will become the norm.
Last I heard their policy is no open carry and from what I’ve seen in the Walmart near me it’s not enforced.
We must have read different articles because the article above does NOT say ‘retrieved’. Quote: “Local media reports that a group of 4 to 5 young adults were fighting with one another when a bystander, who has a valid concealed carry permit, pulled out her handgun and fired it up into the air.” See “PULLED OUT” not ‘retrieved.
Caveat: I am not familiar with Arkansas. I don’t know whether laws were broken.
In most states, the use of justified deadly force varies. Citing from Florida Standard jury instruction on such a trial determining justifiable force we have:
“In deciding whether the defendant was justified in the use of force likely to cause death or great bodily harm, you must judge him by the circumstances by which he was surrounded at the time the force was used. The danger facing the defendant need not have been actual; however, to justify the use of force likely to cause death or great bodily harm, the appearance of danger must have been so real that a reasonably cautious and prudent person under the same circumstances would have believed that the danger could be avoided only through the use of that force. Based upon appearances, the defendant must have actually believe that the danger was real.”SJI 3.04 (d) (citing Florida Firearms: Law, Use & Ownership pg.247, eighth edition (The FLORIDA GUN BIBLE).
Morever, even under the subsequent explanations that Gutmacher so genereously writes (he is a Florida Gun Law expert), in regards to “Stand your ground” law, I fail to see how a jury would hold that discharging a weapon to stop a fight would be necessary & reasonable use of force to defend yourself, or someone from a forcible penalty, or prevent great bodily harm, etc.