WI: Armed Citizen from Tennessee Shows Restraint when faced with fake gun in Wisconsin

In the notoriously anti-second amendment town of Madison, Wisconsin, a concealed carry permit holder from Tennessee refrained from shooting a man who menaced him with a fake, but gun shaped and realistic looking laser/lighter.  The man drew his real gun but did not shoot.  The case contrasts with similar, recent cases where the police have shot people who pointed toy guns at them, and/or refused to obey commands while being armed with what turned out to be fake, but real looking guns.  From cityofmadison.com:

Shortly after 10:55pm, on 12/24/2014, a 22-year-old female walked out of Walgreens and was planning on getting into the car where her 25-year-old boyfriend was waiting in the parking lot. She was shocked that a male subject, later identified as Quincy Thompson, was hovering around their car, and pointing an object at her boyfriend that looked like a gun. The object, with laser displayed, was fixated on her boyfriend until Thompson was aware she was within 10-15 feet of the vehicle. Quincy then turned the gun/laser on the female, and this allowed for her boyfriend to access his weapon; with both male subjects now being confronted with a dire situation. Quincy allegedly yells, "Go ahead and shoot me, I'm not afraid of you, I'm from the south side of Chicago and I'm not afraid of white people!"

Quincy then ran off.  The threatened couple called police.  The officers took Quincy into custody.  It appears that he was irrational:

When Quincy was made aware he was being arrested, he punched the interior protective windows, and he kicked the door of the squad with so much force that it was noted to have separated approximately 1-2 inches from the structural frame! Quincy threatened to spit in the face of an officer, talked about blowing up the City of Madison, and even stated he "Kills cops"; going so far to talk about getting a tattoo for having done so.

The police attitude in Madison seems to have changed from the bad old days when the "Wisconsin Five" were arrested for exercising their open carry rights. Police spokesman Howard Payne described the lookalike:

This item looked like a functional 4 ½ inch chrome plated firearm, named, "Ji Guan Deng", and prompted a reasonable response from the male victim.

It is worth noting that the police did not charge the armed citizen with brandishing, disorderly conduct, threatening, or any other crimes.  They clearly understand that he acted reasonably.   They did not claim that he could not have believed himself and his girlfriend to be threatened, because he did not shoot.  Police attitudes toward peaceful armed citizens have been improving for decades.

Quincy R. Thompson is lucky that the armed citizen from Tennessee showed such restraint.  Many highly trained individuals would not have done so.  Quincy faces numerous charges.  He is 19 years old.

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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