Lies by Omission: America's Morning News on Sutherland Church Shooting Heroics

Stephen Wilford, Hero with AR15 at Texas Church Shooting

This morning, I was listening to KBLU 560, in Yuma, Arizona. America's Morning News came on at 0943. It was a short segment. I did not have a recorder going. but I heard this report near the end of the segment.  I believe it  is fairly accurate, certainly the sense of it. I could not find a transcript of it on the Internet.

After a report on heroics at the Sutherland First Baptist Church, in Texas, the scene of a horrific mass murder, this was the report:

The gunman died of a self-inflicted gun shot wound after being chased by bystanders, after he crashed his car.

Notice that everything stated is true, such as it is. This is a case of lying by omission.  It is particularly egregious because the report was about heroics at the church. The mass murderer may have died of a self inflicted gun shot wound after crashing his car, and being chased by "bystanders"; what is left out is important, vital, to the story.

What is left out is one of the men in the chase vehicle was involved in a gunfight with the murderer, where he wounded the murderer at least twice. One of the survivors of the massacre credits the intervention of the neighbor with saving her life. From the washingtonpost.com:

“Then she thought that it was her turn,” David Brown told The Post. “She just started praying.”

-Name of murderer removed -

At that moment, she heard a shot fired from a different man, at the front door.

The other man was Stephen Willeford, who lives near the church. Willeford, a certified shooting instructor, grabbed his own rifle and raced out of his house barefoot.

If you are going to do a report on the heroics at the church, doesn't it seem odd to leave out one of the most heroic of the figures in the situation? Leave out that an NRA instructor armed himself with a version of the AR15 rifle, did not even take the time to put on shoes before entering combat?

Isn't it irresponsible to say that the murderer died of a self inflicted gunshot wound without mentioning that he had already been wounded by the hero who got into a gunfight with him?  This from CNN, hardly a conservative outlet:

After Kelley left the church, he was confronted and shot by an armed resident, Stephen Willeford. After Kelley was shot, he called his father, telling him he didn't think he was going to make it, Martin said. That's when Kelley shot himself.

It was not immediately clear whether Kelley died from the self-inflicted gunshot wound or from being shot by the resident. "However, investigators found evidence at the scene that indicates the subject may have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound," Martin said.

After being wounded in a gunfight with an armed neighbor, the murderer says he does not think he will make it. Then, after a high speed chase involving the private defender and another volunteer, he lowers his speed a considerable amount, and comes to a stop off the road. At that point, it is believed he shot himself.

The establishment media wonders why the public no longer trusts them. They can look at this example as just one of many where they have earned every bit of that distrust.

If anyone can find a transcript of this broadcast, or on online recording, it would be appreciated. If we can  find an online source a link will be added.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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