Heroic Fort Leavenworth Soldier stops active shooter with his car
SUMMARY
On Wednesday, an active duty U.S. Army soldier brought an active shooter situation in Kansas to an abrupt end by ramming the suspect with a vehicle after another soldier was wounded.
Police were first called to Centennial Bridge over the Missouri River, which spans across the border between Kansas and Missouri, after reports of a road rage incident at approximately 11 a.m. local time on Wednesday. By the time they arrived, the shooter had already been neutralized by a Soldier that had been waiting in traffic. According to Leavenworth Police Chief Pat Kitchens, responding officers arrived to find one Soldier nursing a gunshot wound and the suspect "trapped under the car" of another Soldier. Neither of the Soldier's names have been released thus far.
Both the soldier who was wounded and the shooter were transported to a nearby hospital where both are now listed in "serious, but in stable condition."
According to reports, the shooter was armed with a semi-automatic rifle and a pistol, and responding officers found bullet holes in a number of surrounding vehicles. According to witnesses on the scene, the shooter wasn't seeming to target anyone specifically.
The Soldier, who is stationed in Ft. Leavenworth, was reportedly waiting in traffic when the shooting first began. Once he had assessed that it was an active shooter situation, he took quick action to pull his vehicle out of the line of traffic and sped directly toward the shooter. As the shooter was already firing rounds at surrounding vehicles, the decision to ram him was a risky one, and police are crediting his quick and decisive action for potentially saving a number of lives.
"What was a very, very dangerous situation, fortunately, was ended quite quickly," Kitchens said in a press conference.
"The soldier intervened by striking the shooter with his vehicle, causing him to be critically injured, but ending the encounter with the active shooter and likely saving countless lives," Kitchens continued.
You can watch Chief Kitchen's full statement about the incident in the video below:
Thus far, the U.S. Army has not revealed the identity of the Soldier who stopped the shooting, nor have they made any official statements regarding the incident.
"It's one thing to react under fire in a war zone — you're in that mental state, even when you're relaxing your mind is still kind of on edge all the time. It's another thing to have the quick thinking and courage to do something like this stateside — shootings back home are extremely surreal," former Army Ranger and author Luke Ryan told Sandboxx news. Ryan speaks from experience–having served in combat as a Ranger after surviving a school shooting as a student.
"They don't feel real, and it takes your mind longer to sort out exactly what's happening. Of course, in a violent situation like that, every second is precious and can mean another life lost. The soldier who stopped this shooter is commendable, not only for their courageous actions, but also their ability to think fast and act decisively. I don't know what this soldier's background is, whether they relied on years of combat experience or whether they were just a regular person reacting the best way they knew how — either way, hats off."
An investigation into the incident, including what the motive for the shooting may have been, remains ongoing.
This article originally appeared on Sandboxx. Follow Sandboxx on Facebook.
