We may never know what drove Earl Edward Clague Jr. to ram his car into the Perry, Florida car dealership where he worked and open fire with a shotgun last week. What we do know is that everyone there is extremely fortunate to have had a good guy with a gun on hand to stop him. Deputy Lundy took a blast to the midsection (he wasn’t wearing a vest) and two others were also wounded by Clague before Lundy shot and killed him. officer.com reports that Lundy happened to be having his patrol car serviced when Clague, a longtime dealership employee, chose to go postal automotive. Which makes this one of those rare circumstances in which seconds counted and an officer was immediately available to stop a bad guy with a gun. If only that were always possible. Deputy Lundy remains in stable but critical condition. Here’s hoping he makes a full recovery.  [h/t Travis P.]
Hmm, didn’t hear this one on the national news feed. I wonder why?
Oh wait, I know: low body count + positive gun use = buried.
The formula requires one more variable: type of firearm used. Evil black rifle gets you on the news. Shotgun is a negative and will only get on the news if other factors overwhelm its negative value.
I had “evil, black assault” laser scribed on the side of my Glock. Will that help it qualify?
Was it necessary to post a photo of his kids and wife? I know I would not want my kids and wife blasted all over the web.
It was a pic pulled off the original news article, and the only picture of him NOT bleeding and unconscious on a gurney.
Naturally, the civilian disarmament industrial complex and their presstitutes in the Leftist lamestream media will either ignore this completely (conveniently and purely for their own sake) or write it off as some kind of “one-off fluke”.
Took a blast from a shotgun and stayed in the fight long enough to put the bad guy down. Hero is an overused word. But it applies here.
Yep. So does “one tough dude.”
I hope and pray Deputy Lundy makes a full recovery. What he did was beyond the call of duty. His actions saved peoples lives. Anti’s need think about this incident when they draft up some feel good crappy law they put on the books under the guise that it will save lives.
Yep. And, they have an additional problem.
They can claim if there were no guns anywhere, this guy would not have been able to open fire and hurt innocents with a shotgun. “A gun ban would save lives!”
The big problem with that is the initial weapon was a car. If the guy attacked with a car and he did not have a shotgun, he could have kept up the attack with the car, reminding us once again that it’s not the tool, it the mind using it that is the problem.
While I highly respect and praise the officer’s actions, I don’t think what he did was “beyond the call of duty”. He’s a police officer and he is sworn to protect and serve the public. He did his job and did it well and hopefully he has a speedy recovery.
The only downside to this is that the antis will use this as an example of their excuse that only police should have weapons, not civilians.
No one should be expected to “serve the public” after taking a shotgun hit. That’s what makes him a hero.
Was it bird shot or 00 buck? I heard on the internet that bird shot is basically just a nuisance to the recipient once it goes farther than 10′. Maybe we’re being too generous here with all that hero stuff. Kidding.
and here i thought auto dealerships were the safest places in the whole wide world.
Not once a salesman set his sights on you.
Prayers for Officer Lundy and his family. As much as we rail against bad cops who get publicity, we have to remember that 90% of them are great citizens who live to protect and serve.
^^^This. ^^^
Yup. Heal quickly, Deputy Lundy.
Good job Lundy. Hope you fully recover and are back at it very soon.
Good Guy Lundy 😀
I truly hope he makes a full recovery; one does not simply take a shotgun blast to the gut and live…
Does this dealership have a no carry policy? Glad they had the Deputy there and that he was a tough mofo.
Wouldn’t have mattered: Its Florida and he’s a cop.
Awesome job! I have a lot of respect for our LEOs, and it is good to hear the positive for a change.
If he’d had an AR he could have shot the guy at range.
I’m betting he yelled “Police!” before opening fire, thus getting shot.
Wow, way to over speculate when you have no idea what you are talking about. Unless of course you were there, Mr Monday Morning Quarterback?
May I second the prayers for Officer Lundy and his family? Here’s what I find truly amazing.. 2-1 decision, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said San Diego County violates the Constitution’s Second Amendment by requiring residents to show “good cause” – and not merely the desire to protect themselves – to obtain a concealed-weapons permit.
Unreal!? CA actually upholds this law that protects it’s citizens? On top of that, they have yet to legalize marijuana?
What’s the US coming to when this state gets it right.
If you want to legally protect yourself, you shouldn’t have to show good cause. If it wasn’t for Officer Lundy, who knows how many more people might have ended up in this news story.
California didn’t get it right, and is planning to appeal the appellate court’s decision to SCOTUS.
It’s the Feds who – strangely enough – got it right.
Officer Lundy is a tough guy and deserves an attaboy. Hero? Lundy killed a guy to save his own life. That’s good. That’s great. I praise him. I’d buy him a beer. But hero?
Sure. Why not?
Given that so many people in our society would have curled into a ball and hoped against hope that they would not get hit, he took action. He fought through pain of having been shot and his actions very likely saved the lives of others.
Not sure where the line for ‘hero’ is. I’ve got no problem with using it for this case.
Sounds like a hero to me.
Curt Schilling pitched with a bloody ankle. That’s a hero.
I’m with JR on this. As this forum reminds us frequently, even on duty LEO’s have no duty to protect. Mr. Lundy chose to engage and as such most certainly put himself at additional risk than someone who fled (which he had every right to do). Gut shot, he remained engaged and successfully neutralized the attacker. If this had been a non LEO civilian or even a soldier, his actions would justifiably been called heroic. Why not him?
Because it’s part of his Job description? Not to demean him in any way at all. He certainly was brave under fire. But that’s why we pay those folks.
Maybe, maybe not. I do tend to think the word ‘hero’ is overused a bit. If Michael Vick can be honored as one for ‘overcoming obstacles’ then maybe I’d settle for saying this guy got shit done.
If you wanna volunteer to take a shotgun blast to the stomach and are able to get up and subdue a nutjob on a kill-crazy rampage, I’ll call you a hero, too. Hell, I’ll throw in the beer and attaboy, too. SMH
I’d call a cop, CCW carrier, or Navy SEAL a hero in that situation. Especially if I had family or friends at that dealership. I’m not sure what your definition of a hero is. Running towards gunfire, getting shot, and still taking out the bad guy meets mine.
Godspeed, Officer Lundy.
At the very least he has my thanks and appreciation for his actions. He also has my admiration for being able to save lives by staying in the fight after being shot.
If someones actions are purely motivated by self preservation I am not sure if hero is appropriate but if they put themselves in additional harms way to protect others then I say a definite yes. I don’t know enough about this case to make the call yet but my bet at this time would be on yes. No matter what I applaud this guys efforts and I hope he recovers well.
Shotgun blast to he midsection, and comes up fighting. That’s one tough deputy.
May he be doing situps again real soon.
Cute family, and some serious stones on that guy. I hope I can acquit myself as well as he did, and live up to the training mantra- Good guys stay in the fight.
As much as anonymous words on the internet count, between two guys that don’t know each other- I’m pulling for ya, dude. You did good, and it would be nice to see you get to go home and play with your kids again.
How do you know he was a good guy?.. the uniform isnt a slam dunk for being a good guy you know,
I doubt he’s being labeled a good guy based on his uniform, but based on his ACTIONS in this case. He fought the bad guy; he ended a lethal threat to numerous innocents. That makes him the good guy.
What is the problem with that? Because he wears a uniform in his job, he cannot be a good guy?
I guess I was attempting to put his actions on par with the public’s, based on the same rational that police use when they judge our actions,using the same set of standards that are imposed on us so to speak..
If this had been a felon in possession of a weapon, and he had engaged the shotgun welding perp saving lives, while taking a round, he would have been drawn and quartered for possession, the act of saving the lives of innocents would have been over shadowed by his “crime”…
I’m pretty sure even the crookedest cop is going to shoot back to save his own life. It’s just ridiculous to speculate on what kind of man he is from one incident. I don’t wish anyone to be shot in the course of their lawful daily actions though, police or not, and wish him a speedy recovery.
Hero generally means someone in the wrong place, at the wrong time, doing something he knew was wrong.
That being said, stuff happens you respond as you can. Wouldnt have faulted him for getting cover and calling it in. Getting shot is not a good plan.
Heroes aren’t born, they’ re cornered. Oh, I was cornered. And I found out that I was no hero.
James Belushi
Interesting that in a previous report, TTAG posters lambast police, and their Nazi tactics, Police kick in the door and shoot an old man in bed, while looking for drugs in one breath.. a mouse click away, the next story brings praise and well wishing to a deputy who gets shot.
I wonder if Deputy lundy has ever gone on a similar raid such as the one the LA county Sheriffs office executed, ever abused his police power. Ever lied to support his claim, ever shot an unarmed person, ever shot a dog? Dresses up in his paramilitary garb kicking in doors and shooting citizens first and asking questions later.
We put a name and face on the citizens that have been abused by police, yet we never bother putting a name to a face of the officers that use excessive force, … Im just wondering if anyone else sees the same double standard??
All shootings are tragic, But in the current Police States of America I cant help but p keep score… Citizens-1 Police- 1…
So you’re trying to say that TTAG has double standards because they are full of praise for the police? You’re new here, aren’t you?
Yeah, Im the new guy on the block, and reading opinions on these stories..
Maybe Im missing something here, is the general consensus that posters are in support of police?? there seems to be a lot of opinions that police are over reaching and abusing their powers, and i agree with that opinion. I don’t believe that the Police practice discerning between good guys and bad guys when they deal with the public. Police engage the public with the same contempt because of the us ‘against them’ mentality.. and im just trying to figure out the general position of the board.
Cops get called out a lot more than praised here. I don’t believe all cops are bad so I get called things like bootlicker a lot. I keep pointing out that calling all cops bad because of the actions of some is like calling all gun owners bad because of the few. Hang around for a while. It gets interesting and a bit testy.
There is no “general position of the board.” That’s progressive thinking – that we all think one way or judge all “others” in one way.
I used to work in LE and I won’t offer blanket condemnations of all police. I will, however, speak loud and often against police abuses. There is no inherent illogic in this unless one has a very closed mind.
There are some on this board that may hate cops – all cops and in any situation or circumstance. But, what are they going to say in this case? That they wished he would have laid there bleeding and let others get shot?
You are trying to pigeon hole this board’s audience into black and white (extreme, not race) thinking, and the world is not that simple. There is no “we think,” as we are not drunk on the Progressive Groupthink Kool Aid.
If you take a step back, you may find that one can congratulate this man, and thank him and lose nothing in the argument that cops should not do things like break into people’s hopes in the middle of the night and shoot them in their bed.
Before I retired I worked with Federal LEOs. All kinds. A lot. For decades. I found that, like any other profession, there are good and bad cops; those that want to do well and have a career to be proud of, and those who are punks, armed gang-bangers with a badge and a car.
We just call ’em like we see ’em, based on the specifics, IMO. And as always, YMMV.
JWM,
Im of the opinion that at this stage of the game, we are beyond the point of ” not all cops are bad”… Iv seen bad guys usher away the women and children to protect them from a fire fight.. But From a good guy perspective, I cannot give concessions to police, because police do not give me concessions..
According to Police We are all bad guys , some bad guys are a little nicer and some are a little “bader” But we are all subject to the same treatment and contempt..
Sorry to hear you get the name calling..
“According to some Police, we are all bad guys.”
Fixed it for ya!
Over-generalization is a pretty common logical fallacy, and one committed by a lot of progressives to manipulate the narrative.
I’ve had very good interactions with the local cops. I don’t say much about the federal level cause it’s been 30 years since I knew any and they were marshals. As for name calling. I steal a phrase some other commenter used. “If you’re getting flak, you must be over the target.”
I should State for the record, that I live and breath the Hypocrisy everyday..My wife is in LE ( admin ), yet they have no bigger critic then me… I despise their choice of profession and their exclusivity mentality.. If they have been properly trained, they have no ‘friends’ outside of their colleagues. and for *most police* the few allies they do have will quickly be turned on if it interferes with the progression of the agenda..
Saying our marriage is interesting is an understatement..
Took a while to comment because this is such disturbing news. He and his family will live with the memory of this for some time. I can only hope and pray that he is awarded the Congressional Badge of Bravery for his actions as he us truly deserving of it.
This deputy needs to be presented a wallet from his department inscribed with “bad-ass mother-fvcker”.
In all seriousness I hope this gentleman makes a swift recovery.
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