Authorities describe the incident in Tel Aviv as a terrorist attack that wounded at least seven people and resulted in a pregnant woman losing her unborn child. The Jerusalem Post listed the number of wounded at nine.
CNN reported that Hamas claimed responsibility for the incident, and a police spokesperson described the car ramming into a crowd of civilians at a shopping center a “terror attack.”
Even after the unidentified assailant plowed his vehicle into the unsuspecting crowd, he then exited and began randomly stabbing those frantically trying to get away. But that’s when an armed civilian stepped up and emphatically stopped the carnage.
Details are scant on the person who courageously confronted the violent attacker, but it took foresight to be armed and bravery to walk into mayhem and do what had to be done. The hero told officials afterwards, “I prayed [the] gun would fire or else I was dead.”
There have been ongoing battles between Israeli and Palestinian forces in the West Bank in recent days, and most believe the shopping center bloodbath was in retaliation for earlier violence.
Without treading into the local political struggle, it is still important to note that lives were likely saved by one person being armed and deciding to act.
The conflict in this troubled part of the world is hardly surprising, but the story today is that a good guy with a gun put an end to a random assault that would doubtlessly have had more victims without their action. This is a scenario played out all too often around the globe, and the United States is hardly immune to it.
