William Lawler saving the world
From the Philadelphia Daily News (by way of Stars & Stripes) comes the story of William Lawler, a former Army lieutenant and a firearms instructor who was walking with his girlfriend in Philadelphia when they were confronted by Dondi DeCosta brandishing a 13-inch knife;
Right away, Lawler said, he moved his girlfriend away, unholstered his gun and held it at his side.
“Nine times out of 10, all the gun owner has to do is show the firearm, and the threat goes away,” he said.
Not this time: DeCosta instead moved toward the pair, Lawler said, threatening, “I’ll cut you up.” When he got within 5 or 6 feet, Lawler said, that was it. Lawler leveled the Glock and fired once, hitting DeCosta in the groin.
“My intent was to stop him, not kill him,” Lawler said yesterday. “I hope he’s OK, and hopefully he will be prosecuted.”
Mr DeCosta survived injuries and is safely removed from society.
Category: Feel Good Stories
And may not be able to breed. Sweet.
Yup removed from the gene pool.
No comment.
Cool story, but I would have gone for the double tap to the chest. Personal preference. Pull a 13 inch knife and say you’re going to cut me, we go straight to terminal.
Nice shootin’. No next generation of stupid criminal DeCostas.
DeCosta was shot working on his car. The shooter is not telling the truth. The shooter has allot to lose.
bad juju, its no bueno to say that you just wanted to wound. most places for self defense you cant say you only wanted to wound them because then it makes it seem like you might have had another option. using a gun is considered a kill or be killed scenario. bro needs to learn the rules and to keep his yap shut…
“William Lawler, a former Army lieutenant and a firearms instructor…”
“My intent was to stop him, not kill him,” Lawler said yesterday. “I hope he’s OK, and hopefully he will be prosecuted.”
That is a fail in so many ways. If he really said that no one should ever take a firearms class from him.
Well said. Why didn’t he just show his sympathy by letting him rape his wife while he was at it?
DeCosta was working on his car. The wife walked by him. Never said a word or exchanged greetings. The (shooter) husband orchestrated this whole scenario because of what he assumed! Bad Shoot, attempted murder by the shooter.
And now the perp will sue him for medical expenses and fertility treatments.
Nope. You shoot to kill. There should only be one version of events.
I’m betting he panicked, was aiming center mass and missed badly. The “was just shooting to stop him” is 1) what you tell police and 2) what you say when you are an “expert” who managed to miss center mass.
I would think Mr. Lawler now has to worry about this perp coming after him later.
Way to go Mr Lawler. Shot from an instructor to the groin. Money says it was “on the head”. 😀
“I hope he’s OK, and hopefully he will be prosecuted.” While Mr. Lawler seems a decent man who showed mercy, I think the last line should have read, “Hopefully he will be prosecuted and NOT procreating”.
You shoot to stop the threat. He’s fine, you’ll get in trouble saying you were shooting to kill.
Despite my humorous comment above, I do not agree with the shoot to wound theory. If I have to draw my weapon, I am settled in my mind I am willing to use it. If I point it anything, I likewise settled in my mind I am willing to kill or destroy whatever I am pointing at. When my bugger hook goes into the guard and on the trigger, my talk and negotiations are over. As my grandfather said, “make sure there’s only one story told…yours.”
I have a question, if that POS ends up having any hospital debt, can he sue for it? I’ve heard that kind of stuff where if someone breaks into your house and he ends up with a limp or something from you shooting it he can sue and get money from you.
Is that correct? or someone was trolling me?
It’s correct
So the ol’ 2 on the kill box with a cherry on top is even better? … Wow ..
I always thought the “Clean hands” principle applied to that kind of stuff, I can’t believe someone can actually go and say “well yes I was trying to rob him but hey he shot me in self defense judge! i want cash!” *facepalm*
LostOnThemInterwebs…Yes. My motto is two center mass and if they even so much as wobble, instead of dropping like a sack of shit, then it’s one in their melon. No questions, no negotiations and only one story told…mine.
LostOnThemInterwebs…Additionally from my State, yes. It happened here about 15 years ago. A homeowner “shot to wound” and did. The criminal with a life in and out of jail and prison, sued. He had his side of the story then to tell and it was of course, opposite the homeowner’s and quite heartwarming. He said in court he pleaded for mercy, promised to leave the way he came and “just please don’t shoot me”. According to homeowner, it was a similar scenario. He warned the intruder off and the guy advanced without a word towards him, with a knife from the kitchen. Intruder said, “the homeowner planted it after he was shot and on the floor begging for his life”. Unfortunately, the juror had sympathy for the intruder’s story since his attorney had gotten all references to his criminal past excluded from testimony. Homeowner was convicted. Probation for five years and ALL medical and rehabilitation costs to get the ass hole healthy and “back to his normal life”. Since his “normal life” had been excluded from testimony the jury assumed, wrongly, the only job he ever held, a delivery driver, from which he was fired for stealing from the company, would be his employment upon recovery. Not true, in fact six months of hospital and rehabilitation had him in tip top shape to continue his life of crime. After two more arrests and convictions on drug and burglary charges the ass hole gets out of a 7 years sentence at 3 years. Gets drunk, acquires a gun and is pulled over for speeding. Upon exiting his vehicle with weapon visible in waistband, when ORDERED to remain in his vehicle and put his hands out of the window, the officer pulled his weapon. The ass wipe, reaches for his. Whether to toss it or use it made no difference at that point because the officer’s story was the only one told. Five shots, three center mass, one to the upper arm and one down the street somewhere and he was pronounced, current asphalt temperature, at the scene. Now, if original homeowner… Read more »
Do you have a link or source? That needs to be posted in every defensive firearm story
I agree!!!
Opportunity, Capability, Intent. Shoot center mass until the threat stops. That’s all you have to worry about.
I wasn’t going to comment, because I wasn’t there, however, my instructor, and any good lawyer, will tell you to keep your mouth shut, especially to the press. DO NOT give the perp anything that can be used against you in court. If the guy really is a firearms instructor; he should know this.
As for his self defense performance………I’m not going to comment, because I wasn’t there.
Old Trooper – this video was shown in a class I took once. Lays your argument above out in terms that nobody with half a brain can argue with. It absolutely cemented in my brain the response to any questions from LEO no matter my perceived level of innocence or justification: “I would like to speak to a lawyer.”
Oh, I think Mr. Lawler got the perfect shot.
He did what I would have done – shot the perp where he lives. Now he will spend the rest of his life NOT reproducing (one can only hope) and will be reminded of his misbehavior every time he relieves himself, sitting down.
You do NOT shoot to WOUND. Go buy some pepper spray or an asp baton, if you want wounding for an option. A gun is a killing weapon and it should be used that way. Now we all get to support your mistake with our tax dollars.
Fucking Lieutenants.
OK – I am going to post links to two very long documents – if you have time, I really recommend reading them. If not, just skip to the end of the Cato Institute study and read the news reports they used for their analysis. You will see a repeating theme throughout: When the victim notifies the intruder that they are armed, more often than not, this incites the intruder to ADVANCE, rather than retreat. I could ramble on about the various psychological motivations for this (but I am not a head-shrinker, and I don’t even play one on TV…) and so I will just say that this study alone convinced me of the futility of warning someone before opening fire.
Bottom line: If you are in my house and I did not invite you in, you have displayed to my satisfaction that you intend to do harm to me or my family. The first indication that I am armed will be the report of my gun. If I am not satisfied of your criminal intent, then I will remain silent and hidden until I can better ascertain your intent.
And… as I posted above, when the cops show up, my first request will be for an attorney.
The second article is just an excellent study of defensive gun uses that turns the entire gun-control argument on its head.
http://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/WP-Tough-Targets.pdf
http://www.hoplofobia.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Armed-Resistance-to-Crime.pdf
That is all…
Which nicely flows into my personal peeve, “Rack the slide! They’ll scamper like bunnys!”
Bullshit. You’ve just given away your weapon, position, and intention to an unknown number of assailants. The only sound my Mossy 500 will make is the “snick” of the safety before a fleet of .32 caliber BBs set sail.
Yar!
The sign outside my front door says:
“This lock is for your protection, not mine – we don’t call 911”
OC
He let the assclown get within 5 or 6 feet? WTF, why would someone do that? Pull a knife on me and get within 20 feet, and you will get double tapped. Never let someone with a knife get that close!!! It takes less than 1.5 seconds to cover 20 feet if the guy is determined.
My sign at the entrance to my drive says “Due To The High Cost of Ammo There Will Be NO WARNING SHOT” . We don’t play out here in the country. There is a 5000.00 reward for the capture of any thief by the local Farmers Associator. Joe
A firearms instructor who obviously has not read Andrew Branca.
1) I feared for my life.
2) I would like to speak to my attorney.
Nothing. Else. Ever.
Although Darwin won this round, hopefully he can’t reproduce, I am with everyone else that says to shoot after you have identified your target and it is not someone in your own family or a neighbor or even someone needing help.
Yelling, “get the f### out of here” works to hopefully find out before you shoot that it is a family member and also scare the shit out of the puke, again, identify your target before you pull the trigger and watch your shots, don’t miss, they will go through drywall like a finger through c-ration asswipe paper…
If they have broken in they obviously intend on doing harm to me and mine and your ass belongs to me, and I’m real quick…
Then it get real simple real quick…
1)I feared for my life and the life of my
family.
2) I want to speak to my attorney.