{"id":67045,"date":"2021-04-20T17:44:32","date_gmt":"2021-04-20T22:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=67045"},"modified":"2021-04-20T17:44:32","modified_gmt":"2021-04-20T22:44:32","slug":"67045","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=67045","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

‘I never expected I would touch my gun’: Dad pulls CCW gun to protect family in Westroads shooting<\/a><\/p>\n

OMAHA, Neb. \u2014 A metro area dad said the choice was easy to grab his concealed carry weapon and protect his family as gunfire erupted at Westroads Mall Saturday.<\/p>\n

“My daughter is getting baptized next weekend so I wanted to get a nice special outfit for her baptism,\u201d Scott Tafoya said.\u00a0As Tafoya was trying on a suit in Von Maur Saturday, his wife and two daughters went upstairs to shop.<\/p>\n

He noticed commotion and saw people running. One man made eye contact with him.\u00a0“I looked in his eyes and he yelled, \u2018Shooter,’\u201d Tafoya said.\u00a0He took off upstairs to find his family.\u00a0As he did, he grabbed his gun.\u00a0His wife told him she heard gunfire.<\/p>\n

“Every indication said our lives were in danger and I was going to do everything in my power to make sure we got out of there OK,\u201d Tafoya said.<\/p>\n

He’s a legal conceal carry permit holder, even though Westroads Mall is a weapon-free zone.<\/p>\n

“I knew that if I ever pulled that out it would truly be a life and death situation and I would deal with the consequences later,” he said.<\/p>\n

As Von Maur employees shuttled shoppers into a bathroom, he stood guard.<\/p>\n

“I said I have a permit, I\u2019m legal,\u201d he said.\u00a0He said he stood near the escalators to draw any threat away from where his family was.<\/p>\n

“Everyone else on the third floor just got added into that because the best way to keep my family safe was to make sure nobody with ill intentions came up that escalator.\u201d\u00a0In that moment, he said he didn’t feel fear, but something else.\u00a0“I was sad. Because I wasn\u2019t expecting to, if it was real I didn\u2019t think I was going to come home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Tafoya said he took the bullets out of his gun and walked toward police with his hands up as soon as they arrived.<\/p>\n

“I unloaded my weapon, I put it back in the holster where it was very visible that the slide was locked open. I put my permit in my hands and my hands above my head,\u201d he said.\u00a0He said police allowed him to leave without facing any charges.<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t condone anyone breaking the law. I made the decision that was right for my family, and I stand behind it. I may still get in trouble for it, if I do, it was worth it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Tafoya said gun-free zones put people at risk.\u00a0“I do not want to be carrying a weapon ever. It\u2019s not comfortable, I don\u2019t like it, I wish there was not a need for it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Tafoya said he’s been a permit holder for around four years.<\/p>\n

“I never, never ever expected to ever touch my gun. But, I\u2019m exceptionally thankful that I had it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He adds this won’t discourage him from going to the mall. Westroads Mall said it will have a weapon sniffing dog on premises for the time being.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘I never expected I would touch my gun’: Dad pulls CCW gun to protect family in Westroads shooting OMAHA, Neb. \u2014 A metro area dad said the choice was easy to grab his concealed carry weapon and protect his family as gunfire erupted at Westroads Mall Saturday. “My daughter is getting baptized next weekend so … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,29,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rkba","category-safety","category-self-defense"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67045"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67046,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67045\/revisions\/67046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}