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Elisjsha Dicken, an American Hero
Every so often, an American Hero emerges. A normal American who, in a moment of great stress, does something heroic. We celebrate them too rarely, so when someone does something great, I believe that it is time to acknowledge their heroism, be in on the battlefield, going into a burning building, landing a plane on the Hudson River, or hanging out in the mall, and needing to step up suddenly. Below is a picture of an American hero.
Elisjsha Dicken, age 22, was shopping with his girlfriend when a gunman opened fire in a mall’s food court. While the shooter shot 24 rounds, killing three strangers and wounding two others, who the shooter did not know, Elisjsha Dicken used a Glock handgun to advance on the shooter and kill him. The incident took only 15 seconds. If this American hero had not been there, who knows what would have happened.
I am really sick and tired of hearing about the shooters, who they were, what’s their picture, and why they did what they did. (My answer is that they are often losers intent on committing suicide but want to take as many people with them in their blaze of glory.) But who cares about those losers?
I want to celebrate someone who did something right. Elisjsha Dicken is such an American Hero. Good for him. The world is a much better place with him in it. There are other heroes among us. We should celebrate all of them.
Published in General
When seconds count, 376 police are only 77 minutes away.
Just don’t call him a Good Samaritan. Otherwise, your good friends on the other side of the aisle, will absolutely go insane (redundantly). [link]
So ironic. Because these same idiots would also scream at someone else who invoked the bible and scripture having anything to do with actions today.
The police chief corrected the timeline. The incident took only 15 seconds.
“I would like to make a correction on a statement made yesterday at the 2 p.m. press conference concerning the Greenwood Park Mall shooting. There was an error in the timeline of events given. The time lapse between the moment that [name deleted] exited the restroom and began shooting, and when he was shot by the civilian (Elisjsha Dicken) was only fifteen seconds, not two minutes. The surveillance video shows [name deleted] exited the restroom at 5:56:48 p.m. He was neutralized by Dicken at 5:57:03 p.m. This error was simply a result of misreading notes during the conference. I feel the need to correct this immediately. Thank you.”
You are so right on both counts. Elisjsha Dicken was a Good Samaritan and scripture is always appropriate to quote.
Someone at my FB feed shared approvingly a WashPost article quoting someone who referred to him as a Good Samaritan.
And some person in comments reacted very negatively, saying that Violence is Never the Answer and that the Good Samaritan story had nothing to do with self-defense. A very high % of comments to the WP article were along the same lines.
I’m not a Christian myself, but pretty sure I remember a passage where Jesus advised his followers to buy a sword (if they didn’t already have one), and that, I believe, was about self-defense.
I saw in that account of the shooting a statement by someone criticizing Mr. Dicken being armed and saying that was illegal without anything to support that claim. Perhaps the mall has a rule against weapons on the premises but I don’t think that violation of that rule is a crime.
He has a chance here in Indiana. We have yet to lose our mind entirely here. So self defense still means something here.
What I do not understand is why there was only one of him. The good ole boys around here carry more than not. Granted he was is in south Indy so we have to deal with the city folk junk when in town.
I think I may know his family, I believe I worked with his cousins in seymour a while back.
We all carry there. So it is a bit surprising anybody would try opening up in a mall.
In the NY Post article, his lawyer said that Dicken would not be issuing any statement until after the police investigation. I hope he is out of the woods if everything happened as stated in the article.
What I don’t understand is why the name and the picture of the perp of these mass shootings are released and published in the newspaper. These are people who should die in anonymity if they are killed at the scene. It might reduce the number of such shootings. It might not motivate all of them, but it probably motivates some of them.
Correct – the mall has signs up saying that it is a gun-free zone, so you’re not allowed to carry in the mall.
The criminal who killed three people before he was shot by the good Samaritan must not have noticed that sign. If he had, none of this would have happened, obviously.
From what I read he was 40 yards away.
The man has skills.
Holy cats. Shooting a live target. From 40 yards away. With a freakin Glock.
I wonder if that was a subcompact carry pistol? If so, that’s bordering on miraculous.
And now it is reported that it happened within 15 seconds of the first shot.
Back before the country lost its mind there was poster/meme saying that aside from securing the country, ending slavery, destroying The Third Reich . . . violence has never accomplished anything.
There was a pretty long list, but I can’t find it anymore.
He did a lot of damage in 15 seconds. Perhaps he was thinking this could be the most people ever killed in a mass killing. We don’t really know how many lives were saved by this hero’s quick and skilled action.
There probably would have been others. He took the guy down (apparently) in 15 seconds.
Problem was the bad guy hit his targets quickly too.
I read 50 to 60 yards away and he hit the shooter with the very first shot. He continued firing as he advanced on the shooter. There were eight bullets found in the shooter’s body; none of them from the shooter’s guns.
Practice. Practice. Practice.
Even the NYT is on board:
I wonder if one of his parents sneezed while writing his name on the birth certificate.
@garyrobbins
Thanks for this post.
Spare a thought also for Nicholas Bostic, a 25 year old pizza delivery guy in Lafayette IN who ran into a burning house and rescued 4 kids. And when they told him that their six year old sibling was missing, this enormously courageous young man ran back into the now fire-engulfed house and got the six year old girl out a window, and then followed her safely himself. What stands out to me is that in both cases, neither Mr. Dicken nor Mr. Bostic were in anyway compelled to face mortal danger. Neither was certain of survival. Either could have sought shelter or in Bostic’s case, simply called 911. What shining examples of courage and duty.
I am in awe.
Thanks Hoyacon. When you have the New York Times…
Another American Hero. I remembered the story, but could not find it earlier. Mr. Bostic is in the hospital with smoke inhalation. I guess that Indiana is the home of heroes.
The Sheriff described Dicken’s actions as “tactically sound.” I understood from further description that he moved toward the shooter, continually instructing people to get behind him and out of the area. Tactically sound would also seem to indicate he did not stand in the open as he did this. Quick action from quicker thinking and instinct, well done.
AMEN!
At some point I wondered if the term “Good Samaritan” was a remnant of ancient prejudices. Sure, he was a Samaritan, but he was a good one. It’s like reading a story from Elizabethan England about “The Good Jew.”
Meanwhile, it sounds like Uvalde has found their new Chief of Police.
The original Good Samaritan didn’t risk his life. Elisjsha Dicken did.
If violence is never the answer, I guess they’d be equally opposed to cops using weapons to stop him? I suppose they do want to Defund the Police, so at least they’re consistently insane.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but violence – or the threat of same – is one of the very few tools that do solve things.
I’m pretty sure that is exactly the case