Society

A True Hero Emerges From The Umpqua Community College Shootings

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Chris Mintz
Chris Mintz

The tragedy of the deaths and wounding of students and faculty of Umpqua Community College was without doubt a terrible event. We first and foremost must center our prayers and attention towards the victims and their families who have endured suffering and pain that we hope to never experience ourselves.

But if anything can be praised it is the police, emergency crews, and community members who took upon the risks and the responsibility to protect the victims and provide at least a measure of comfort to the survivors and those who did not make it. One person in particular truly caught my attention and I am sure everyone else as well. He is Chris Mintz, who undoubtedly saved several lives but as a result became one of the shooting victims himself.

His actions are truly heroic as you may certainly agree.


 

Chris Mintz was attending class at Umpqua Community College when he heard shots ring out in an adjacent room. Instead of running for safety, the ten year military veteran went toward the scene, directing people away from the danger. He found and walked toward the shooter, trying to prevent him from entering another classroom by blocking the doorway. He attempted to calm the shooter by talking to him and trying to buy time and life for the other students. Mintz certainly knew the great risk of facing this armed attacker alone and it did not go well for him.

Chris was hit multiple times from gunfire and went down. As the gunman walked toward him, Chris told his assailant that today was his son’s birthday. Showing no mercy his assailant shot him again.

In all Chris was shot seven times trying to protect others. Authorities credit Chris with delaying the shooter and in doing so likely saved numerous lives. Though exact details of the events are still in flux with reporting information, it is clear Chris Mintz’ actions were heroic and lifesaving.

Police arrived six minutes after the active shooter dispatch went out. Every second in distraction of the shooter helped law enforcement arrive and be able to more quickly confront the gunman, who then committed suicide.

A hospital spokesperson stated that Chris suffered hits to his hands, arms, back, stomach and both legs were broken. Despite this he is expected to recover but he will need extensive rehabilitation.

I cannot stress how brave his actions were and how inspiring his story can be for many.

His cousin sponsored a GoFundMe petition to help defray the costs of his medical bills. Social media took hold and contributions from seventeen thousand donors rapidly poured in. Initially ten thousand dollars was requested in the fund drive, but in the first twenty two hours over half a million dollars poured in from grateful citizens. It is certainly enlightening.

chris-mintz-gofundme-100320150851

I have to stress that Chris Metz was not the only victim and that others suffered as much or worse as lives were tragically lost. Other victims now have similar pages started but have not yet garnered such large donations. Those also deserve contributions as well. Since it is only the beginning of such things I will at a later time attempt to compile a list of other victims’ pages or sources where funds may be directed in their direction.

UPDATE:Officials announced the shooter committed suicide during the shout-out with police.

By Darren Smith

Sources:

CNN
Chris Mintz GoFundMe Page
Northwest Cable News

The views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays or art are solely their decision and responsibility.

333 thoughts on “A True Hero Emerges From The Umpqua Community College Shootings”

  2. Nick
    “Of course, liberals don’t care about other people and their family lives. They actually seem to resent it.”
    = = =
    Oh dearest Nicholas,
    Liberals seek an end to the malady you call the 2nd Amendment’s ability to arm and render dangerous, every living person in these 50 States of America. If saving one human’s life was important to you, you would understand. However, the survival of human life isn’t a priority enough for you to actually care.

  3. Their next Presidential candidate, when her name is mentioned in word association, the first 2 words that come to voters minds are liar and untrustworthy. A classic Democrat through and through.

  4. And in good American tradition, we will accept the fact that doing nothing will somehow bring about the needed change…
    … In other news, the definition of insanity: American Gun Laws.

  5. Hopefully the troubled ones keep cool. It was a good day for JT. His Cubs and even the Bears won. He deserves a break. Of course, liberals don’t care about other people and their family lives. They actually seem to resent it.

  6. Annie
    “Nothing like another mass shooting to get the gun lovers to wax eloquent about their guns.”
    = = =
    Nothing like good porn to get a man to wax eloquent about his gun.

  7. KCF, Lying is their expertise. Their cult leader led off the lying weekend w/ his BIG lie that where strong gun laws are in place there is less violence. He has only lived in Chicago and DC for the past few decades. They have the toughest gun laws[both were unconstitutional] and annually some of the highest murder rates. Liberals lie shamelessly, and are not good @ it.

  9. Nothing like another mass shooting to get the State lovers to wax eloquent about the need for the government to run our lives.

    Actually, shootings, food, water, temperature, light bulbs, toilets, schools, religion, wedding cakes -heck, anything at all- can all get the State lovers to wax eloquent about fascism.

  12. Nothing like another mass shooting to get the gun lovers to wax eloquent about their guns.

  13. Although, someone please explain why you need a semi-automatic for general use. That one I do not get!!

    OK Elspeth …Let me explain. I do hope you understand the difference between semi-automatic and a fully automatic weapon

    I can only speak to rifles and shotguns as the hand gun that I generally use/carry is a revolver and I hope to H#ll that I never have to use it on anything other than snakes or varmints

    This is the definition of a semi automatic: A semi-automatic shotgun is a shotgun that is able to fire a shell after every trigger squeeze, without needing to manually chamber another round. Ditto for a rifle. You don’t need to manually chamber a round.

    In a shotgun which is semi automatic, the ability to rapidly fire at the game bird…..pheasant, goose etc enhances your chances of being able to efficiently kill the bird. You can keep your aim and follow the bird in the air without the distraction of manually “jacking” a shell in the chamber as with a pump action gun. The action of the pump will cause less experienced shooters to loose their precise aim

    The issue is the same for a rifle in shooting, perhaps a deer. The first shot doesn’t always result in a clean kill and if you have to manually with chamber the next round, that delay not only can cause a very short time lag during which the deer will bolt and possibly be unable to be seen again, only to run off and die a lingering horrible death from blood loss or by predators. In addition the action of chambering can cause the aim to be skewed a bit and when you are hunting in an area where the distance between you and the deer is long, hundreds of yards, that miniscule skewing can make a huge difference.

    As to handguns A semi-automatic pistol is a type of handgun that is semi-automatic, that is it utilizes the energy of the fired cartridge to cycle the action of the firearm and advance the next available cartridge into position for firing. One round is fired each time the trigger of a semi-automatic pistol is pulled.

    If you are in a situation where speed in shooting is the difference between life and death, say being charged by a bear or by a crazed person……timing is crucial and you’d better be able to bring down the bear or other threat before it reaches you.

    The DIFFERENCE between semi automatic and a fully automatic weapon is quoted below. The main difference is that a semi needs to have a trigger pull each and every time the shooter wants to fire the gun and the fully automatic just keeps going until it runs out of ammo. http://science.howstuffworks.com/semi-automatic-weapon-vs-machine-gun.htm

    A machine gun is a military weapon capable of fully automatic fire. That is, the weapon continues to fire until it runs out of ammunition, so long as the trigger is pulled down. In the United States and elsewhere around the world, these weapons are likely to only be found on a battlefield [source 1=”Violence” 2=”Policy” 3=”Center” language=”:”][/source].

    A semi-automatic weapon, on the other hand, could be described as a civilian version of a military machine gun, one that is less capable of rapid fire. Although the firearm automatically reloads, a shooter must pull the trigger separately in order to fire another round. Semi-automatic weapons are typically pistols, rifles and shotguns, including the AK-47 and AR-15 rifles, the UZI submachine guns, and MAC-10 machine pistols.

    Hope that helps. If you are afraid of guns you need to either become educated or just avoid owning one. I don’t think anyone is going to force you to own a gun 🙂

  17. forget
    Chicken and the egg.

    Which came first:
    The American Revolution
    Or The Second Amendment

  19. Hey, maybe President Trump will repeal the 2nd Amendment,

    or the 19th.

    You better import some more “Anchor Baby” voters.

Comments are closed.