But I heard that “Good Guys with Guns\u2122” don’t exist!<\/p>\n
Armed Good Samaritans Provided Cover Fire, Rescue Wounded Deputies<\/a><\/p>\n Peaceful Valley, WA \u2013 The sheriff released more details about what led up to the shooting of two Whatcom County Sheriff\u2019s Office (WCSO) deputies on Thursday and thanked the armed good Samaritans who came to the\u00a0wounded heroes\u2019<\/a>\u00a0aid and kept them safe until backup arrived.<\/p>\n The Bellingham Police Department (BPD) said the incident began at about 3 p.m. on Feb. 10 when a homeowner started burning a trash pile outside their home and the smoke bothered a neighbor, 60-year-old Joel B. Young,\u00a0KGMI<\/a>\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n Police said Young became enraged and went outside and yelled at the neighbor burning trash, claiming that smoked had blown through the windows into his home, the\u00a0Bellingham Herald<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n The neighbor responded with an expletive, according to police.\u00a0Young had been drinking and he became enraged, KGMI reported.\u00a0So he grabbed his shotgun and went outside and fired birdshot into the air near the neighbor who was burning trash, according to police.\u00a0Then he went back inside his home and had another beer.<\/p>\n A neighbor called 911 and reported that Young was outside firing his 12-guage shotgun into the air, the Bellingham Herald reported.\u00a0Two Whatcom County sheriff\u2019s deputies responded to the address near Peaceful Valley and State Route 247 in the Maple Falls area, KGMI reported.<\/p>\n Deputies arrived on the scene at about 4:30 p.m. and when Young heard them announce themselves, he went outside yelling and waving a gun, the Bellingham Herald reported.\u00a0\u201cSheriff\u2019s Office \u2014 drop the gun!\u201d the deputies ordered Young.\u00a0Young ignored the deputies\u2019 commands and opened fire on them instead, the Bellingham Herald reported.<\/p>\n One deputy was shot in the head and fell to the ground.\u00a0The second deputy put himself between Young and the wounded deputy and returned fire, the Bellingham Herald reported.\u00a0Young opened fire on the second deputy and shot him, too.\u00a0Then he retreated to a position of cover nearby.<\/p>\n Police said that was when good Samaritans armed with their own weapons stepped forward and fired multiple shots in the direction of Young to provide cover for and protect the wounded deputies, the Bellingham Herald reported.\u00a0The good Samaritans told\u00a0KING<\/a>\u00a0that they were military veterans and they weren\u2019t going to sit still and watch law enforcement officers be murdered so they took their children inside their homes and came back out with their own guns.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Other neighbors jumped in to assist the first good Samaritan and they were able to pull the wounded deputies into a garage and out of the line of fire.\u00a0The good Samaritans immediately began performing first aid on the wounded heroes as they waited for an ambulance to arrive, the Bellingham Herald reported.<\/p>\n Both wounded deputies were transported to nearby hospitals for treatment as soon as backup arrived.\u00a0One deputy remained under observation at St. Joseph\u2019s Hospital in Bellingham and the other was transferred to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatment by a specialist, the Bellingham Herald reported.\u00a0Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo said both deputies were in \u201cstable\u201d condition, KGMI reported.<\/p>\n Backup arrived from multiple law enforcement agencies and the Bellingham police called in the SWAT team and surrounded Young\u2019s home.\u00a0Bellingham Police Department Spokesperson Claudia Murphy told the Bellingham Herald that Young surrendered to deputies just after 6 p.m. and was taken into custody without incident.<\/p>\n He was booked into the Skagit County Community Justice Center and charged with two counts of first-degree attempted murder.\u00a0The investigation is being headed up by the Law Enforcement Mutual Aid Response Team (LEMART) and the Whatcom County Prosecutor\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are ever so grateful the WCSO deputies are in stable condition and that no residents were injured,\u201d Bellingham Police Chief Flo Simon said in a statement. \u201cThe members of the LEMART team are working tirelessly to ensure there is a thorough and complete investigation delivered to the prosecutor\u2019s office.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur thoughts and prayers go out to the WCSO deputies, their families, and the entire Whatcom County Sheriff\u2019s Office. We wish them a speedy recovery,\u201d Chief Simon said.\u00a0Sheriff Elfo posted a statement to\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0on Sunday that applauded his deputies\u2019 bravery and the heroics of the good Samaritans that came to their aid.<\/p>\n The sheriff wrote that \u201cdespite being seriously wounded and impaired by their injuries, both deputies courageously followed their training, stayed in the fight and took care of each other and area residents.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSecond, we are extraordinarily blessed that several armed citizens came to the deputies\u2019 assistance at the critical moments when they were most vulnerable,\u201d the sheriff continued. \u201cI have contacted all three of the good Samaritans and expressed appreciation on behalf of myself and all members of law enforcement and their families. There will be a more formal recognition of these humble citizen heroes once more details of their actions can be released.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" But I heard that “Good Guys with Guns\u2122” don’t exist! Armed Good Samaritans Provided Cover Fire, Rescue Wounded Deputies Peaceful Valley, WA \u2013 The sheriff released more details about what led up to the shooting of two Whatcom County Sheriff\u2019s Office (WCSO) deputies on Thursday and thanked the armed good Samaritans who came to the\u00a0wounded … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-heroism","category-law-order"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77478","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=77478"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77489,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77478\/revisions\/77489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}