Gun Store Gives New Gun to Man Who Saved Florida Deputy
OutdoorHub Reporters 11.18.16
On Monday in Estero, Florida, Deputy First Class Dean Bardes, a 12-year veteran of the Lee County Sheriff’s office was working on I-75 when a vehicle flew by him at high speed. OutdoorHub covered this Second Amendment success story in a recent article.
Once Deputy Bardes stopped and exited his squad car, 53-year-old Edward Strother ran at and slammed the officer to the ground. He jumped on top and began pummeling him.
Just then, when it looked like Deputy Bardes was in serious danger, a brave bystander approached. The hero, who wishes to remain anonymous, had a concealed carry permit and had his gun armed and ready. He gave the assailant multiple warnings and instructed him to stop beating the deputy. When the man refused to comply, the bystander shot him 3 times, killing Strother.
Now, by law, the bystander’s gun had to be confiscated and taken in as evidence during the investigation.
Fortunately, however, a local gun store heard about this incident, and was not going to let this citizen hero walk around unarmed.
Enter Mark Williams, the store manager at Shoot Straight Gun Store. When he heard about what took place, he reached out to the sheriff’s department to set up a visit for the bystander to come pick out a shiny new gun free of charge. A class act that should not go unrecognized.
That’s what it’s about though. We should all have each-others back no matter what, just like this bystander did for the deputy who always has his back, and just like Mr. Williams who has the bystanders back. For the record, Shoot Straight gun store ended up hooking up the hero with a Springfield XDS.
Check out Shoot Straight’s website here.
