A sad, tragic and infuriating case.
A good Samaritan shoots and kills a gunman who murdered one cop and had vowed to murder as many officers "as I possibly can".
That good Samaritan, Johnny Hurley, was then shot by an officer who arrived on-scene.
It happened in Colorado, the Denver Post reports:
“An Arvada police officer fatally shot “good Samaritan” Johnny Hurley in Olde Town after Hurley killed a gunman intent on murdering police officers and picked up the gunman’s AR-15, investigators said Friday.
Minutes earlier, the gunman ambushed Arvada police Officer Gordon Beesley, fatally shooting him. Hurley shot the gunman, identified by police as Ronald Troyke, and was holding Troyke’s AR-15 rifle when an Arvada officer arrived, according to a timeline of events released by police…
The incident began with a 12:49 p.m. call to police from Troyke’s brother who asked for a welfare check because Troyke was going to “do something crazy,” according to the timeline.
Just after 1 p.m., Beesley and an unnamed officer went to contact Troyke at his Arvada home, but were unable to find him.
Soon after, at 1:17 p.m., police dispatch received a call about a “suspicious person” in Olde Town Square, police said. A teen reported being approached by an older man who made a weird noise and showed them a condom, police said.
Beesley responded to the square at 1:31 p.m., parking on Webster Street before walking through an alley toward the plaza.
Troyke pulled up in his truck, parked and ran after the officer with a semi-automatic shotgun, police said. Troyke then yelled at Beesley, and shot the officer when he stopped and turned around, according to the timeline.
The surveillance video shows people running after the shooting and Beesley’s body lying in the plaza.
After he killed Beesley, police said, Troyke shot out the windows of a patrol car and fired shots in the air. He then returned to his truck to retrieve an AR-15 rifle.
As the gunman ran back toward Olde Town Square, Hurley shot him with a handgun, according to police. Hurley, 40, of Denver, had been shopping inside the nearby Army Navy Surplus Store when he saw the gunman walk by, a witness previously told The Denver Post.
“A responding Arvada Police Officer then encountered Mr. Hurley, who was holding the suspect’s AR-15,” police wrote. “The officer shot him.”
Arvada Police Chief Link Strate said in a video statement:
“...our police department, and the community's, view of Mr. Hurley and his actions are heroic. It is clear that Mr. Hurley intervened in an active shooting that unfolded quickly in a busy commercial area in the middle of the day. And he did so without hesitation. Mr. Hurley's actions saved others from serious injury or death… He is a true hero, who likely disrupted a larger loss of life,”
The mayor along with the District Attorney and Police Chief vow to thoroughly investigate Hurley’s death.
Hurley’s family put out a statement saying "before Johnny engaged in a clear-eyed response to a dire situation, he was already a wonderful human being with a great enthusiasm for life.”
God Bless Johnny Hurley.