One Year Later: The Long Range Peach House Gunfight

When I first heard the reports of a pistolero making a long shot, stopping a mass murder and saving the life of a police officer a year ago, I knew that I would work to find the details if the possibility were offered. I found that opportunity and was able  to answer many of the questions that came to mind at the time. After I had interviewed Vic Stacy, I told him that I would wait until the Grand Jury  delivered a no bill before writing about what happened. This is the story of the Peach House Gunfight . . .

Vic Stacy heard the shots while he was watching a movie on the Sunday afternoon of July 29, 2012. He thought someone was shooting at the nearby small reservoir or “tank” as they’re called in Texas. Then the phone rang. It was his neighbor and friend who needed help. Armed help. There was a dead woman only feet from his doorstep and he asked Vic to bring a gun.

Early is a town of about 3,000 in the middle of Texas. The Peach House RV park is located five miles outside of town. It’s a small park with only a dozen spaces. When Charles Conner decided to go on a murder rampage, only six of the spaces were occupied. Conner was known for his irrational bursts of temper over minor events.

On the 29^th that temper boiled over into murder over a dispute about dog droppings. Conner had been arguing with David Michael House, 58 and Valentina Martinez Calaci, 53. The couple owned two dogs and had arrived from Arizona a few weeks earlier. Conner left the two, went back to his fifth wheel trailer, procured a 9mm pistol and returned to the couple’s RV. There he shot House, who fell within 20 feet of the RV.

Space where the victim’s RV was parked

Valentina fled, but was pursued by Conner who shot her, too. She fell to the ground only feet away from the RV of the friend who called Stacy. Valentina had a cell phone in her hand, and had not yet died when Conner approached and fired another shot, execution style.

Valentina fled toward this RV, which Vic Stacy’s friend 

occupied. She fell about 15 feet past the front of the RV.

Conner then went back to the couple’s RV, shot and killed the two dogs and returned to his fifth wheel. That’s when Stacy received the call for help, grabbed a .357 stainless Colt Python with a six inch barrel and headed toward his friend’s RV.

Stacy pushed the pistol contained in a leather holster of his own making under his shirt so as not to draw attention to himself and went to his friend’s aid. As Stacy went out the door of his trailer, he passed a scoped Bushmaster AR-15 with a loaded 30-round magazine. He later reflected on that fact and said that maybe he should have grabbed the rifle, but said that as it turned out, the pistol was sufficient.

Bushmaster rifle that Vic Stacy passed as he headed out to help

Stacy arrived at his friend’s RV. He had seen Conner come out of his fifth wheel with a scoped lever action rifle. His friend told him that he thought that Conner had done the shooting. They saw Conner, rifle in hand, put a tree between himself and the park entrance as they heard an approaching siren. It was Seargent Steven Means of the Early Police Department. He turned into the Peach House RV park and stopped, little more than 50 feet from from where Conner stood behind a ten inch diameter elm tree.

Vic Stacy stands about where Charles Conner stood behind the elm. The 5th wheel rig behind him was Charles Conner’s.

Seargent Means’ car had barely come to a halt when Conner started shooting at him. Seargent Means took cover behind his squad car with an AR-15 variant and returned fire. The .223 bullets couldn’t penetrate the elm tree. At that point, Stacy decided to take direct action.

Approximate view that Seargent Means had of the scene. Conner would have been behind the elm. You can see that the truck tire is flat. It was hit by a .223 round.

A number of .223 rounds hit the elm, but did not penetrate.

While Conner had cover from Seargent Means’ AR-15, his flank was exposed to Stacy. Stacy rested the Python on the hood of his friend’s RV, cocked the hammer, and fired his first shot.

Stacy could clearly see Conner, framed on the left by the Elm and on the right by a utility pedestal. The elm was between Conner and Seargent Means. Valencia’s body was only 15 feet to Stacy’s right, the RV whose hood he was resting on was mostly to his left.

Vic Stacy’s view of the scene. You can make out the electrical pedestal, center to the right of the elm tree midway to Conner’s RV. The elm that Conner was to the left of, from this view, is framed between the electrical pedestal and the midway elm.

This view shows the situation through a telephoto lens. Conner was to the left to the elm that is framed by the electrical pedestal and the elm on the left.

Stacy had killed deer with the Python. It’s known as a very accurate handgun. He squeezed the trigger, and Conner went down with a solid hit to the thigh. Now on the ground, Conner worked the lever on his rifle and turned the scoped firearm toward Stacy. Seeing the threat, Stacy took cover behind the front wheel of his friends RV. The shot hit the ground, sending rock fragments flying, causing a minor cut on Stacy’s leg. He was wearing shorts.

Conner turned his attention back to Seargent Means, who was continuing to fire.

Stacy came back up over the RV hood and cocking the Python, fired four more times at the prone Conner, single action. Stacy counted his shots, as he didn’t want to run the revolver dry and didn’t have spare ammunition with him. He stopped with one round remaining. Seargent Means was also still firing. After Stacy fired the four shots, there was no more movement from Conner. One of Stacy’s shots had hit the framing elm tree dead center. Stacy thinks the other three shots hit Conner in the abdomen.

Stacy’s .357 round that hit the elm tree

In less than a minute, another officer with an AR had come up behind Stacy. Stacy placed his Python on the ground, and was handcuffed while the officers sorted out what happened. Stacy’s friend was also required to lie face down on the gravel, but wasn’t handcuffed. In about 15 minutes, Stacy was released, his Python was impounded and multiple officers and agencies were on the scene investigating.

The dark blood stain shows where Valentina’s body lay, only feet from where Stacy fired at Conner.

How far was the famous shot that put Conner on the ground? Vic Stacy had a 100 foot tape measure and he and I measured the shot. One hundred and sixty-nine feet, just over 56 yards. While this is only a third of the much-reported media figure of 165 yards, it’s still an impressive shot. Stacy still thinks he connected with three of the following four shots, but he wasn’t allowed near Conner’s body to find out. I haven’t seen the coroner’s report, so we don’t know for sure. With the Python and its remaining cartridge impounded, Stacy couldn’t say for certain at the time what brand of ammunition he was using.

Vic Stacy is a retired welder who currently works making leather products. He said that if people are interested in his leather products, he can be reached at (325) 998-1034. I asked if being a welder helped him as a shooter. He replied that both required care, planning and good control of your hands. He said that while he was raised a Christian, he hadn’t been going to church much lately but might start going more regularly now.

I was impressed with Stacy. He’s been a lifelong hunter and said that he picked up his shooting skills growing up on a farm near Gorman, Texas. He told me he started shooting at age seven or eight, with a .22. He has also participated in club-level competitions. He said that he’s as good a shot with a rifle as he is with a pistol, and that he regularly practices with his AR-15. He has no police or military experience in his 66 years, though he did say that he had often thought of enlisting in the Marine Corps. If I were the Marine Corps Commandant, I would enlist Vic Stacy as an honorary Marine. He showed the kind of judgement and cool consideration under fire that would be a credit to any Marine.

Some people have wondered about the possibility of collateral damage. The Peach House RV park isn’t exactly near the Empire State Building. Both Vic Stacy and Seargent Means had thick woods and/or Conner’s truck and fifth wheel trailer as their backstops. And neither the .223 nor the .357 rounds were able to penetrate through the common elm trees in the area.

Stacy’s 6-inch stainless Colt Python, similar to this one, was returned to him.

Vic Stacy and Seargent Means were subsequently “no billed” by the Grand Jury. When I talked to Vic on the phone a year after the shooting, he said that he was given an award by the Brownwood county Sheriff. He was also given an award by Governor Rick Perry.  That award was a little more substantial:  A custom made, LaRue OBR (Optimized Battle Rifle) and a case of ammunition.  From Brownwoodtx.com:

Vic Stacy visited sheriff’s officials and showed them the LaRue OBR (Optimized Battle Rifle), often referred to as a “sniper rifle,” Stacy received in Austin. Gov. Rick Perry presented the 7.62 mm rifle to Perry in recognition of Stacy’s action at the July 29 triple-fatality shooting at an RV park.

The OBR runs over $3,000. A case of ammo for it might run $2,000.
This is the sort of story that legends are made of. It rivals many in the old west. I was privileged to talk to Vic and record the details and shed some light on what happened a year ago. I wonder how a mere blogger could have scooped the national media on a story like this.

Update: Here is part of  Sgt. Steven Means account.  From policemag.com:

Means' observations of the shooter lining up his sights directly at him had led the officer to conclude that the suspect had been responsible for those first rounds of the engagement. They were, however, the rounds of a guardian angel—Vic Stacy.

Stacy—a fellow Texan and proud gun owner—had retrieved his own handgun after 58-year-old Charles Conner's initial volley had been brought to his attention by another neighbor. From a trailer, Stacy watched as Conner lined up his rifle sights on Officer Means.

"I thought, 'He's fixin' to kill that boy'," Stacy told the Brownwood Bulletin afterward. "And that's why I squared off and hit him in the leg and knocked him down."

© 2013 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.

One in Ten Mass Shootings Stopped by Armed Citizens; Most Occur Where Guns are Banned

In the best published study of mass shootings, it was found that 99 had occurred between 1980 and 2010. We know that a number of mass shootings have been stopped by armed citizens. All but one of the “successful” mass shootings occurred in areas where armed citizens are banned. A comparison of mass shootings stopped by 911 response vs mass shootings stopped by citizens indicates that when citizens are able to stop the killing, they prevent 84 percent of the deaths.

Mass shooting study link

Mass shootings Stopped by Armed Citizens

Armed Citizen stopped shooting average 2.3 deaths, 911 response average, 14.3 deaths (84% reduction)

Definitions and precise numbers vary by researcher, but it is clear that at least 10 percent of mass shootings are stopped by armed citizens. I believe this is the minimum number, the actual number may be much higher, because when a citizen stops an intended mass shooting early, it never becomes a successful mass shooting and may never become a news story of note. For example, in the recent Clackamas Mall shooting, an armed citizen may well have cut the killings short without firing a shot. While we can never be certain, a large percentage of mass shooters stop killing and commit suicide when they are confronted with armed force.

Clackamas CCW video

The problem of quantifying mass shootings stopped by armed citizens is exacerbated by the inablility to know the intentions of a dead attacker. Some attackers leave notes, making their intentions clear, as did the Santa Clara shooter in 1999, or the AT&T store shooter in 2010. Some announce their intentions, or otherwise indicate that they intend to kill many people. But these are the rare cases. If an attacker attempts to kill many, but is stopped at the beginning of the attack or after a few shots are fired, it is impossible to know if a mass killing was stopped, or if it was only one of thousands of more ordinary crimes stopped by armed citizens.

Santa Clara Shooting Link

AT&T Store shooting Link

It is clear that the number of mass shootings has decreased as the number of armed citizens has increased. Three decades ago, there were very few citizens with concealed carry permits. Most states did not allow concealed carry. The increase in concealed carry states mostly occurred after 1994, and the bulk of concealed carry permits have been issued after the turn of the new millenium. Even today, less than 2.6% of the population has concealed carry permits, and 30 percent of the population of the country live in states where it is very difficult to obtain a permit, or in the case of Illinois, impossible. The first decade of the millennia showed a remarkable drop in mass shootings, a 44 percent reduction, according to Grant Duwe, a criminologist with the Minnesota Department of Corrections . These numbers are compatible with research published in 1999, that showed a drop in mass shootings with increased concealed carry permits.

Growth of CCW permits:

Current number of CCW permits:

Mass shooting study link

Mass shootings in gun free zones link

Link to paper

While it is too early in this decade to determine if the trend will continue, reducing the number of places that ban armed citizens will likely result in more citizens being able to stop the mass shootings in the early stages, sometimes before any innocents are killed.

Dean Weingarten

Mass Killings Stopped by Armed Citizens

There are several documented cases where armed citizens have stopped mass attacks by gunmen. Let me list a few: The Pearl, Mississippi school shooting was stopped by the vice principal Joel Myrick with a Colt .45, The Appalachian School shooting was stopped by two students with handguns. Both of the above incidents were stopped by the armed citizens threatening the shooter without firing.

Pearl High School Link      October 1, 1997

Appalachian Law School Link  January 16, 2002 

Plans to slay everyone in the Muskegon, Michigan, store and steal enough cash and jewelry to feed their "gnawing hunger for crack cocaine" fell apart for a band of would-be killers after one of their victims fought back.

Muskegon Shooting Link  August 23, 1995

The mass church shooting in Colorado Springs was stopped by the shooter being shot by a church member with a CCW permit.

New Life Church Link    9 December, 2007

The Santa Clara gunshop shooting in 1999 was stopped by an armed citizen after the shooter declared that he was going to kill everyone. Police found a list of intended victims in his car. Only the perpetrator, Richard Gable Stevens was shot.

Santa Clara Gunshop Link     July 5, 1999

The 17 December, 1991, Aniston, Alabama defense where a CCW holder stopped armed robbers who were herding employees, customers, and his wife into a cooler. He shot both robbers, killing one.

 17 December, 1991, 20 innocent lives saved, and it wasn't even news to ABC,  CBS, NBC, or CNN__no bloody innocent bodies for the "film at eleven." What's  more, it never even made it in to the largest Georgia daily newspaper. I was  doing a site inspection of our Warner Robins (Robins AFB) classified/crypto  account at the time.

Aniston Shoney's Shooting Link  


July 13, 2009, in Virginia at the Golden Food Market: The gunman tried to shoot several people, was stopped by a CCW carrier.

Golden Food Market Shooting Link

Just recently, 29 July, 2012 in Early Texas, armed citizen Vic Stacy shot and stopped a deranged man who had just murdered two neighbors and was firing at police with a rifle. Stacy made a very long shot with his revolver, three times as far as the perpetrator was from the police officer, who had an AR-15 type rifle.

Early Texas Peach House Shooting Link

 Updated link to Peach House Shooting one Year Later

That sounds like a very good story... but it never made the national news.
I wonder who made the decision to spike that story.
Of course, when a mass shooting is stopped by an armed citizen, there are not as many victims. This leads to the charge that it would not really have been a “mass shooting”.

I have added this incident at the request of a reader:
Abraham Dickman had a history of anger against employees of the AT&T store in New York Mills, New York. On May 27th, 2010, he walked into the store with a .357 and a list of six employees. He shot the first employee, but was stopped from further attacks when Donald J. Moore, an off duty police officer who was allowed to carry his own handgun when not on duty, drew and fired his .40 caliber, killing Mr. Dickman before he could fire any more shots.

AT&T store Link

Here is another likely candidate.
College Park, GA, May 4, 2009.
Two gunman entered a party and ordered the men separated from the women. Then they started counting bullets. “The other guy asked how many (bullets) he had. He said he had enough,” said Bailey.
When one of the assailants prepared to rape a girl, a student was able to access a handgun and engage the two attackers in a firefight, driving one off and killing the other before the thug could rape his girlfriend.
“I think all of us are really cognizant of the fact that we could have all been killed,” said Bailey.

College Park Link

Another off duty police officer stopped the Trolley Square shooting with his personal handgun. He stopped the killing and contained the shooter until police reinforcements arrived and ended the situation.  February 12, 2007

Trolley Square Shooting Link

Winnemucca NV shooting, 25 May, 2008
The shooter, Ernesto Villagomez, entered the Players Bar and Grill and killed two people. He reloaded and was continuing to shoot when a citizen with a concealed carry permit shot him and stopped the killing.

Winnemuca Shooting Link

Parker Middle School Dance Shooting  April 24, 1998
14 Year old Andrew Jerome Wurst Killed one person and wounded three others when he was confronted by James Strand who subdued Wurst with a shotgun and held him until police arrived.

Parker Middle School Dance Shooting Link

Destiny Christian Center Shooting, April 24, 2012
Kiarron Parker rammed his car into another in the church parking lot, got out and attempted to kill multiple church members. He was only able to kill one before a member of the congregation, the nephew of the lady killed, and an off duty police officer, drew his handgun and shot Parker, stopping the killing.

Destiny Christian Center Shooting Link

Tyler Courthouse shooting, 2005 While police officers were involved in this shooting before and after Mark Alan Wilson intervened, no more people were killed after he shot the shooter, who had body armor, and who was able to return fire and kill the CCW holder, Wilson.

Tyler Courthouse Shooting Link

Clackamas Mall Shooting  11 December, 2012
I include this story because it is recent and has been getting some interest on the net. This case is not as clear as the others listed. This incident is similar to the more common defensive uses of guns because the mere display of the gun was enough to defuse the situation. We can never know if the shooter decided to commit suicide because he was confronted by Nick Meli, the CCW holder, as the shooter is dead. However, many mass shooters commit suicide when they know that armed resistance is at hand.

Clackamas Concealed Carry Showdown Link
 

I have added this link as suggested by Doug Kuiphoff in the comments.  I do not think that it qualifies as a mass shooting stopped, because the potential shooter says that he did not intend to shoot anyone, but to kidnap some people.  Still, it is an interesting story, so here is the link:

 SC:Boiling Springs Freewill Baptist Church event

Added, from 9 September, 2012.  Consider that the Plymouth shooting incident happened just three months before Sandy Hook.  Mark Ktytor, a concealed carry permit holder, stopped a likely mass killing before it reached enough victims to officially quallify.   From the citizensvoice.com:

"Mark Ktytor?" the latest in the stream of reporters asked, trying to put a face to the name of the man investigators credited with preventing a fatal bar shooting last weekend from escalating into a massacre.

 Link to Plymouth, PA Shooting story

 This is  the oldest incident that I have found.  I include it because it is in the "modern era".   It occurred in 1915, in Brunswick, Georgia.  It is a bit unusual in that 20 or more people were wounded and at least five killed.  The citizen who finally stopped the slaughter obtained the pistol used from a hardware store during the attack.  The shotgun was actually a double barreled model.

Angered by losses in a real estate deal, Monroe Phillips, a lead business man, ran amuck today with an automatic shotgun and killed five men and wounded twenty others before he himself was killed. Phillips was shot dead by E.C. Butts, a lawyer, while he was trying to fire upon citizens who appeared in the street.

Link to 1915 Brunswick GA Mass Shooting story

Link to the 1915 NYTs Article 



Link to Doctor Stops Murderer at Phildelphia Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital 24 July, 2014 


ATLANTA — A mental-health caseworker is dead and a doctor and his patient wounded after a bizarre gunfight at a gun-free-zoned hospital in Yeadon, Pa., near Philadelphia, Thursday. As police prepare murder charges against the wounded patient, focus is shifting to the gun-toting psychiatrist who stopped the mayhem, likely saving other lives.

Prosecutors say Dr. Lee Silverman opened fire on Richard Plotts, after Mr. Plotts shot his caseworker and barged his way toward Dr. Silverman’s office desk after gaining access to Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital. Silverman crouched down behind his desk and fetched his gun, which he then fired at Mr. Plotts, wounding him several times before he was subdued.

Comment on some of the media coverage of a rare firearms defense in a gun free zone

 Doctor Stops Murderer at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital 24 July, 2014 

Falah Barbershop shooting May 22, 2015 at West Philadelphia. 

A 40-year-old man was inside Falah Barber Shop Inc. on the 600 block of Preston Street shortly before 3 p.m. Sunday when police say he began fighting with another person inside.

 "The person who responded was a legal gun permit carrier," said Philadelphia Police Captain Frank Llewellyn. "He responded and I guess he saved a lot of people in there."

Link to Philadelphia Barbershop shooting stopped by Armed Citizen with CCW Permit   

Uber driver Shoots Gunman who is shooting into Crowd in Chicago, 19 April, 2015

The driver had a concealed-carry permit and acted in the defense of himself and others, Assistant State's Attorney Barry Quinn said in court Sunday.
A group of people had been walking in front of the driver around 11:50 p.m. Friday in the 2900 block of North Milwaukee Avenue when Everardo Custodio, 22, began firing into the crowd, Quinn said.


The driver pulled out a handgun and fired six shots at Custodio, hitting him several times, according to court records.

Link to Uber Driver Hero in Chicago article

 Los Altos Skate Park Shooting

The mass shooting took place on 22 March, 2015.  It took a while for the police to figure out what happened from cell phone video, but apparantly a criminal gang attempted to steal a skateboard, then opened up on the mass of skate boarders when they attempted to retrieve the stolen item.   At least three people were shooting illegaly, hitting six innocents, paralyzing one, until a legal handgun carrier was able to fire back, killing one of the aggressors,  17 year old Jaquise Lewis.  That stopped the attack.

 Link to Los Altos Skate Park Shooting


 31 May, 2015  Conyers Georgia Magnet Bottle Shop Shooting

The active shooter came into the shop with pistol drawn and immediately started fireing.  He killed two people before Todd Scott drew his openly carried pistol, a .40 caliber Smith & Wesson, and returned fire.  The active shooter exited the store, and returned to his parents home, where he wounded both of them.  The police arrived, and the active shooter was killed.   Sheriff Eric Levett called Todd scott a hero who saved lives.

Link to Conyers Georgia Magnet Bottle Shop Shooting

Link to Gun Watch article on Open Carrier Stops Mass Killing



Compiled by Dean Weingarten