Nick Meli was at Clackamas Town Center with a friend and her baby when a masked man opened fire:
“I heard three shots and turned and looked at Casey and said, ‘are you serious?,’” he said.
The friend and baby hit the floor. Meli, who has a concealed carry permit, positioned himself behind a pillar.
“He was working on his rifle,” said Meli. “He kept pulling the charging handle and hitting the side.”
The break in gunfire allowed Meli to pull out his own gun, but he never took his eyes off the shooter.
“As I was going down to pull, I saw someone in the back of the Charlotte move, and I knew if I fired and missed, I could hit them,” he said.
Meli took cover inside a nearby store. He never pulled the trigger. He stands by that decision.
“I’m not beating myself up cause I didn’t shoot him,” said Meli. “I know after he saw me, I think the last shot he fired was the one he used on himself.”
A spree-killer can be suicidal yet scared to get shot.
Your typical spree killer isn’t well trained. He’s got a script that he’s following. Any deviation from the script causes hesitation and what a wargamer would term a ‘morale check’. Usually they blow that check and off themselves right after they meet any armed resistance.