This guy stood tall

In an era of cowardly law enforcement who are afraid to "go in" when unarmed civilians are being slaughtered, Officer Justin Garner put it all on the line and stopped a raging gunman. Moreover, he did it alone, with NO backup, tactical command vehicles, SWAT team, or any other "help". In the great tradition of the "old tyme" American lawman, Garner did what he had to do.

No craven Virginia Tech police who stood by while a gunman massacred people. No inept Columbine response from a sheriff department. Just one man against the assailant. Garner was wounded in the leg but still managed to ;put his man down before more harm could come to old people and other innocents.

Garner is a true hero, in a time where that term has lost a lot of meaning. In a cynical time where a lot of folks think there is no "good and bad."

Thank you officer Garner.


Police: Gunman stopped by single shot from cop
By MIKE BAKER
A single shot from a decorated police officer stopped a gunman's rampage through a North Carolina nursing home, ending a slaughter that left eight people dead and three more wounded, police said Monday.
Carthage Police Chief Chris McKenzie said Monday the gunman may have targeted the home because his estranged wife, whom he did not name, works there. He said Monday he believed the couple were recently separated, but acknowledged he didn't yet know many more details about her.

Authorities said Robert Stewart, 45, went on a terrifying rampage in the Pinelake Health and Rehab center on Sunday morning, killing seven residents and a nurse and wounding three other people.

He was stopped by a single shot to the chest fired by Justin Garner, a decorated police officer responding to a 911 call. Stewart wounded Garner three times in the leg as they traded gunfire in a hallway, McKenzie said.

"Whether he realizes it now, he will hopefully realize someday how many lives he has saved," McKenzie said, adding: "A lot more lives would have been lost, I honestly feel, had he not done what he did. For certain."

Stewart's estranged wife is a certified nurse assistant at the nursing home named Wanda Luck, said Mark Barnett, a neighbor. Public records indicate she shared an address with Stewart in Carthage, and Barnett said Monday she was born and raised in the community, a small town about 60 miles southwest of Raleigh in North Carolina's Sandhills region.