The scene of a would-be mass murder thwarted by a woman with a concealed carry license, her pistol and the skill sets to take out criminal with his AR-15 trying to kill people at a graduation party. Note the "Slow - Children at Play" sign on the right side. Screen capture by Boch via Twitter.
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Charleston Police Department’s Chief of Detectives Tony Hazelett credited an unnamed Charleston concealed carry license holder with stopping the threat following a shooting Wednesday evening. Police say Dennis Butler returned after being lectured about speeding through an apartment complex where kids were playing. He parked his car and began shooting at a graduation party with an AR-15.

A woman among the group of 30 to 40 people saw Butler, 37, in his back seat firing on the group. Instead of running, Hazelett said, she engaged the threat, shooting and killing him.


Lt. Hazelett said no charges would be filed against the woman, who he said was understandably very shaken up by the ordeal. Butler, on the other hand, had an “extensive” criminal history. As such, he was legally prohibited from owning, handling or carrying any firearm.

Several times in yesterday’s press conference, the Chief of Detectives credited that regular citizen who had a lawfully-carried firearm with saving lives because she didn’t run, but instead chose to engage and take out the threat.

WCHS has the story:

Police said a woman who was lawfully carrying a pistol shot and killed a man who began shooting at a crowd of people Wednesday night in Charleston.

Dennis Butler was killed after allegedly shooting at dozens of people attending a graduation party Wednesday near the Vista View Apartment complex. No injuries were reported from those at the party.

Investigators said Butler was warned about speeding in the area with children present before he left. He later returned with an AR-15-style firearm and began firing into the crowd before he was shot and killed.

“Instead of running from the threat, she engaged with the threat and saved several lives last night,” Charleston Police Department Chief of Detectives Tony Hazelett said.

A good woman with a gun stopped a bad person with evil in his heart and a gun in his hand. She didn’t wait 40 minutes or more for police to arrive and stage before taking action. She drew her firearm and stopped the threat with decisive accuracy while under fire.

With an extensive criminal record, Mr. Butler apparently thought he could continue to reoffend with impunity. Little did he know this particular Little Red Riding Hood had a little something on her hip in case a big, bad wolf came around.

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94 COMMENTS

    • It is putting together a detailed, well research fact filled report which will be on the noon news.

      NOT

    • “Will Don Lemon report this one?”

      Lemon will likely frame it as an example of a ‘White Supremacist’ murdering a ‘Person of Color’.

      Factually 100 percent correct, but deliberately misleading. Because misleading the gullible is straight from the Leftist Scum ™ playbook of winning at all costs… 🙁

    • JUst one incident out of literally tens of thousands and it does NOT make a case for the gun freak lobby. This woman undoubtedly showed courage but if the ‘perp’ had had his wits about him she would have been just another statistic on the Death Toll of gun crime in the USA. Sheer luck so do not hold her up as some kind of female Rambo.

      • Lowball estimates of legitimate defensive gun uses are over 1/2 million, annually. More liberal (lol) estimates are over 2.5 million, annually. Liberals most definitely do not like that more liberal estimate.

        If the perp has his wits, he wouldn’t have been a perp. You dumber than any box of rocks I’ve ever talked to.

      • Sure. This woman is lucky. But the point is she saved other lives! Just like that border patrol tactical officer saved children’s lives in that TX school as the donut eating cops were more concerned about their pensions. It’s not about finding a “Rambo” as much as it showed an armed populace provides safety.

      • A Hall, likes to use a lot “ifs” as does others. If this, if that.
        How about this if: IF you would go away, POTG would not miss you!

      • Why presume that the perpetrator would prevail in a gun fight against an armed citizen? In the absence of body armor that might stop a pistol bullet, an AR-15 rifle confers little advantage over a pistol in close quarters combat.
        An AR-15 rodent rifle isn’t that much superior except perhaps long accuracy. Given the fact that most mass murders who employ semiautomatic rifles are proud graduates of the Sleepy Joe Biden Spray and Pray school of gun fighting, any reasonably profecient CCW citizens would have a reasonably good chance of prevailing.

      • Uuuummm, no!! Not sure why you think it was ‘luck’. Idiot was firing an AR15 from an enclosed position that severely limited is ability to change firing positions. The lady rather obvious did not panic, and she took him out with a pistol which 99.9999% translates to someone well versed in using her weapon. Not only are there quite a few of us amongst the civilian population that have rather extensive service records, to include TWO consecutive generations with multiple combat tours b/t Afghanistan and Iraq, with rather extensive weapons and tactics training, there too exist a rather large number of civilians that train with their weapons routinely. The better half and our children are all excellent marksman with the kids starting out at 5 years old with their own 10/22. Luck has nothing to do with possessing the ability to react near instantly, not panic, and finish the mission. What does is muscle memory from repeated training. So yes, she should be held up as an example of just what a non-LEO can do before and during those rather deadly ‘few minutes’ it takes for cops to arrive and even then, they probably sit their at let children die until someone with a pair shows up.

    • Lol – not a chance in hell CNN reports this. A black shooter with an illegally obtained weapon shooting mostly at whites and taking out by a local woman that took carrying a firearm more seriously than most cops.

  2. This is how all mass shootings should go: don’t even let them get to the mass part.
    A fast recovery to the injured person, and a lot of mental strength to the woman that defended herself and everyone else around her.

  3. quote—————With an extensive criminal record, Mr. Butler apparently thought he could continue to reoffend with impunity———quote

    Of course he could because when he could not pass the Brady Bill on buying a new assault rifle he bought a second hand one. The article misses the whole point of the incident and that is it is often too late to stop a maniac with an assault rifle, what does work is preventing him from buying one in the first place. But the paranoia of the Far Right makes it impossible for them to think clearly and logically because to them “Losses can never be to High” (Adolf Hitler)

    A GOOD GUY WITH AN ATOM BOMB DOES NOT STOP A BAD BUY WITH AN ATOM BOMB.

    Stats show the incidents of a civilian stopping a criminal are very low and most times the citizen is often killed in the process. Also a Harvard study proved that resisting a robbery makes it far more likely the citizen will not survive the encounter.

    Rare incidents like this make the paranoid Far Right crow in their fantasy land of Dirty Harry rides again.

    • A recent major medical study has documented that living with your head up your ass causes oxygen depletion and causes the subject to ramble on and on with all sorts of incoherent bullshit… a word of advice, lil’d – – – pull your head out.

      • RE: darcydodo…”At no time did I ever say to ban guns but I do advocate keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and lunatics but the paranoia of the Far Right makes this totally incomprehensible to them.”

        News for you…You have ways of saying lots of things without saying them. Furthermore you stick in the mud geezer…The democRat Party coddles criminals, defunds the police, etc. You have no podium because you damned sure have no moral high ground whatsoever. Stop lying to pass the buck…man up for once grandpa.

      • FYI…
        The medical term is CRI, cranial rectal immersion.
        Usually genetic, but treatable only if patient seeks help.
        Chronic CRI usually results in severe bouts of passive-aggressive behavior, micro-management of everyone else’s lives, substance abuse, and denial that “…THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH ME!”
        Secondary effects are loneliness & depression because no one can stand to be around the A-hole.

        (Note: I am not a doctor, but have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express)

      • to possum

        Actually I am 73 years old and I do not toy with your mind I give you facts which you reject because it does not fit your far right propaganda and fantasies. . At no time did I ever say to ban guns but I do advocate keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and lunatics but the paranoia of the Far Right makes this totally incomprehensible to them. Mention gun control and they panic as much as they did when the Brady Bill was being past. Remember when the Far Right screamed the Feds would then come and take all their guns?????? They are very sick people.

        • jerry p. of canton ohio you are not 73. You are a liar.

          How do you propose keeping guns out of the hands of people? The same way cocaine is kept from our streets? Illegal aliens? Alcohol during prohibition?

        • You don’t post facts, you post your misguided crap without evidence using whatever junk you find on anti-gun sites knowing that if you posted the source then it can be shown for the anti-gun tripe it is.

        • Hey “Special” Commissar, with an emphasis on the SPECIAL, do you realize that both the Buffalo and Ulvade shooters PASSED the NICS background checks?

          The background check is a look at the person’s PAST and does not give “Minority Report” clairvoyance into what a person will do in the future.

      • dacian’s comparison of atom bombs is a false equivalence and demonstrates the lengths at which some will go in a pseudo attempt to justify their position.

      • darcydodo below…Just think a woman did what you couldn’t do. If you were not all hat and no cattle you would shut your piehole and give credit where credit is due. And you would not be changing the subject and making finger pointing excuses for the perp, etc. Frankly dodo…By all accounts you belong in a nuthouse with the rabid bett midler.

        • Hope they keep the woman’s name confidential and someone buys her a case of ammo and a lifetime membership to a range.

    • Source where you have information that the AR15 was obtained 2nd hand? Nowhere does it mention that in the article.

      Second – the only study I found was with the Dept of Justice (Victim Resistance and Offender Weapon Effects in Robbery) and the concludsion was that self protection of any kind reduces likelihood the robbery will be completed. Armed resistance reduced the likelihood the victim would be injured. Only unarmed resistance appeared to increase risk of injury. I suspect that your cherry picked unarmed resistance. Armed resistance is effective.

      Good guys with atomic bombs do deter bad guys with atom bombs. If not, a number of hostile nations would have already launched nukes. Putin comes to mind – for all his threats, the MAD principle continues to deter him from using any kind of nuke, tactical or otherwise.

    • One of the best analysis here. I was for manyn years an Armourer and Smallarms instructor in the Royal Air Force I even instructed USAF Air Police in the use of sub-machine guns. These guys were due to be posted to ‘Nam where they were to be equipped with the AUSTRALIAN OWEN GUN [the funny bugger with the a vertical upwards mag] The trouble I had with them was it was nigh on impossible to stop then m emptying and entire mag every time they pulled the trigger.
      One of the things I tried to drum into the heads of recruits . You cannot out draw the guy with a gun at your head and you have to wait until there is an advantage to be had – if any as long as you live you live in hope!!

      • So do we petition the queen to take care of her malfunctioning property when you yap irrelevant things at people?

    • Actually, stats show that guns are used defensively up to 2 million times a year, most of the time without firing a single round.

    • Hey, stupid. Who told you that Butler bought a used rifle? You have any citations? I highly doubt he bought anything at all. He likely stole it, or if he didn’t steal it, he bartered stolen goods for the stolen rifle. Do you understand ‘black market’? Criminals understand it quite well.

    • Actually that’s factually not true. It’s well documented that a good guy with an atom bomb stops a bad guy with an atom bomb. Mutually Assured Destruction as a policy has worked very well for 80 years. Now if we follow your and John Kerry’s stupid lead we’ll end up giving Iran one and they do not care about living.

    • “Of course he could because when he could not pass the Brady Bill on buying a new assault rifle he bought a second hand one. ”

      Do you really believe this? Do you really believe a criminal will perform a background check on another criminal? Both are prohibited and both would be self incriminating by doing such a check. See Haynes, SCOTUS 1968.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haynes_v._United_States

      “A GOOD GUY WITH AN ATOM BOMB DOES NOT STOP A BAD BUY WITH AN ATOM BOMB”

      Irrelevant. There is a difference between the weapons of a State and those of a Citizen. Nuclear, Atomic and Biological weapons are those of a State.

      “Stats show the incidents of a civilian stopping a criminal are very low and most times the citizen is often killed in the process. Also a Harvard study proved that resisting a robbery makes it far more likely the citizen will not survive the encounter.”

      You state you carry a firearm, yet promote this line of BS. Why would you carry a gun if it is proven resistance is going to kill you?

      “Actually I am 73 years old and I do not toy with your mind I give you facts which you reject because it does not fit your far right propaganda and fantasies”

      You did state you like to toy with peoples minds, did you not? Or are all of us hallucinating?

      I still doubt you claims of your “credentials” and age. You don’t write here like someone of such age and experience.

      • to Storm trooper

        quote—————-You did state you like to toy with peoples minds, did you not? Or are all of us hallucinating?———–quote

        Wrong I never said any such thing.

        quote——————You state you carry a firearm, yet promote this line of BS. Why would you carry a gun if it is proven resistance is going to kill you?————quote

        Unlike the far right who are so stingy they would rather die than give up even one penny I do not place money above life. My statements were about being robbed not about saving the life of another person if they were about to be killed by a nut case. I realize I am now speaking way over your head but any 5 th grader can explain it to you.

        quote————–Do you really believe this? Do you really believe a criminal will perform a background check on another criminal?———–quote

        Your statement makes you look like the absolute fool that you always are. A federal law that would ban private sales would dry up the sea of second hand gun sales almost overnight because sane people (a group you do not belong to) would never risk being caught selling their guns without going through a dealer.

        Safe Storage laws would prevent thousands of smash and grab robberies which take place after hours in guns stores and in private dwellings. Again denying thousands of guns to criminals again makes it much harder to get them.

        Now Moron pay attention, civilized nations have done this decades ago. I have been to Europe and Japan and if you think its easy to get a gun in those countries you have never been there like I have.

        • dacian, the Dunderhead. Where do I start!???

          So you believe you should let a robber take your money. I have a news flash for you. Your life is not worth a plug nickel if you see the perps face. You see they don’t really want to go to jail?

          You really believe that a Federal Firearm Background check would “dry up private sales?” ROFLAMO. Criminals don’t do Background Checks, or didn’t you know that. You seem to think because a law is passed everyone will obey blindly? ROFLMAOBT
          Safe storage laws? ROFLAMOBT again. It seems that gun stores already do lock up their firearms. Private dwellings? Most people do. You are trying to legislate common sense. Hell, you don’t even have common sense.

          Now speaking of morons, please go and get help. As our “resident gun expert” you have shown that you know little or nothing about firearms.
          still don’t know the firing sequence of a cartridge yet? LOL

    • Dacian,the Dunderhead, Psst! Criminals don’t bother with your “Brady bill Background checks”. Can anyone be as dumb as you? Have you figured out the firing sequence of a cartridge yet?

    • Actually a good man with an atom bomb will deter a bad person from using his. But we are talking guns not bombs in any event. And this women made dam sure that this bad guy will never use his again.

  4. Yep, and this is the second recent incident of AR 15s being employed in criminal acts.

    It was fortunate the young lady was able to defend her and her friends, that one could’ve been much worse.

    There was also an incident in Doddridge county where police attempting to serve a warrant ran into a barricaded suspect with an AR15. Gunfire was exchanged and the 74 year old homeowner was killed and his 70 year old wife was badly wounded.

    It’s interesting this article didn’t mention that shooting…

    https://www.newsandsentinel.com/news/local-news/2022/04/report-74-year-old-man-slain-after-opening-fire-on-doddridge-county-deputies/

    • Or you know could just be from last month, not a mass shooting, and totally unrelated like many of your posts.

      • Lol in addition no AR-15 you lying/lacking reading comprehension ass “He was armed, drew his pistol and opened fire on the deputies. The deputies returned gunfire and he was killed as a result of that gunfire,”

        • So the cops escalated the “situation” leading to gun fire. Then shot the guys wife. No dogs present that needed shootin?

        • “Lol in addition no AR-15 you lying/lacking reading comprehension ass“

          It’s just like a right wing extremist, not only do they claim they know the truth, they are also very fond of the personal attacks.

          Unfortunately, you are wrong and your blustering attempt to claim you are right is nothing but the childish technique of an undisciplined mind.

          The fact is, in the past two months AR15 modern sporting rifles have been used in two separate criminal attacks here in West Virginia.

          “The sheriff said initially, McMillian fired a dozen rounds from his 9mm pistol. The first volley forced the two deputies on the scene to retreat to cover behind their cruisers. McMillian reloaded and fired 12 more rounds before he retrieved an AR-15 rifle from the home. The sheriff said McMillian fired three shots from the rifle, repositioned and fired two more rounds before he was killed.

          “We believe Mr. McMillian fired at least 36 rounds and our deputies returned 15 rounds.” Boring said.“

          https://wvmetronews.com/2022/04/08/one-dead-one-wounded-in-an-officer-involved-shooting-in-doddridge-county/

          Fascinating, the facts show that ‘Void’ is the “lying/lacking reading comprehension ass“.

        • Nellie, the police officers were serving a valid warrant, the subject opened fire first and then retreated into his home and accessed an AR15 he also used in an attempt to murder the police officers.

          You claim the police officers escalated the incident when they were actually serving a warrant, I guess all that ‘back the blue’ was nothing but bullshit, typical right wing cult member.

          You are all for ‘law and order’, until the police officers enforce the laws on your cult members, and that’s now somehow different.

    • AR-15s, and rifles in general, are still used in a very small minority of crimes committed with guns. Meanwhile, handguns are used in the vast majority if crimes with a gun, but this woman lawfully used hers to save lives. Funny how it apprently doesn’t matter what tool is used, but rather what the tool is used for.

      • 2% of homicides are with rifles including AR’s so less than 2% involve AR’s according to the now racist FBI stats.

        But since when has the “follow the science” crowd actually followed science? They’d rather focus on appearances and fictional media portrayals. A Harry Potter/Star Wars/Disney-fied version of reality.

        • How are statistics RACIST? Either they are right or they are wrong The truth knows no personal or political boundaries -it either is or it is not! Why nthe continuing nessessity in the USA to politicise every bloody utterence . The fact is that sooner or later the question of gun control will result in greater and greater restrictions by PUBLIC demand and buy force if necessary. IF it becomes a case of ‘over my dead body’ then so be it.

          Surely at this point in time it would be wiser to agree to reasonable restrictions rather than to reach a point, and it will reach a point if enough of the electorate deem it so, just as it has in most of the civilised world, whereby the force of LAW may have to be used

        • Albert you are out of your depth with the humor and irony involved in US gun control go back to your side of the pond and remember to pay for the privilege of owning a tele.

        • @ Albert Hall – maths are racissss. Science is racissss. Success is racissss. School is racisssss. And all you Limeys are racisssss.

        • Albert, The US does have restrictions on firearms of who can purchase them by Federal Law and a list of things that makes one prohibited from owning, possessing or using a firearm. Many States have additional laws, some contrary to Federal Law that are more restrictive.

          The issue of violence is not the tools. The issues are with individuals. Semiautomatic firearms have been available for 100 plus years, and until recently in history that violence has changed. Firearms were easier to purchase, even thru the mail from Sears and Roebuck. No age restrictions, background checks, licenses, etc. Yet violence wasn’t as prevalent. And in fact our violence is still below 1990 levels.

          That leaves us to people being the change in the equation. That is where a scientific mind or someone with the common sense of goose crap would begin the search for answers.

          Until those who suffer from First World-itis of too much freedom and opportunity will look at the people doing the violence and not the tools, you are not solving a damn thing.

        • Exactly, 4 times as many people are murdered each year with knives than rifles and TWICE as many people are murdered with fists, hands and feet than rifles. It’s even less for “ar-15” style rifles. Using miner49ers logic we should ban hands and feet. Miner49er (Scooby-Doo ghost returns) should be forced to give up ALL knives he owns or are in his home. No butter knives, steak knives, kitchen knives and box opening knives. Miner49er, cut your fake steak with a spoon, you tw it.

    • minor49IQ…No one here is sneaking around playing word games to deny you your right of self defense, etc. Whereas you and your ilk stoop to use the acts of criminals and your beloved racist, genocide based Gun Control rot to deny the rights of the law abiding.

      Your own words confirms you and your ilk are seriously misguided dirtbags carrying on the work of racists and nazis…Apologize brown shirt.

  5. Too bad she wasn’t in Uvalde instead of the keystone kops. What a pathetic clusterfluck…

  7. This is just like being in combat. It takes the right person, at the right time and in the right place to change the outcome of the event.

    The difference between a war “hero” with medals for valor and the rest of the warriors is that they happened to be where they were needed when they were needed.

    Fortunately, this woman had all those things going for her. What truly made this event possible, she was armed. It’s a fine line between hero and witness, or worse, victim.

    • This will be DEEPLY buried by MSM…. black perp shooting into a mostly white crowd. DFN. (doesn’t fit the narrative). By the way, you’ll need to verify on the police blotter page, it is otherwise ghosted.

  8. And the detective said the woman was herself under fire when she took the bastard out.

    • Yes, it is unfortunate when incidents such as Uvalde take place during police lunch breaks.

  10. Once again a vehicle was used in the commission of a crime.
    In fact the whole incident occurred because of the misuse of a vehicle.
    .
    Woman must be a pretty good shot, she needs the keys to the city.

  12. Somewhat off the subject, the press is going after Daniel Defense, the manufacturer of the rifle used in Uvalde, because of its “incendiary advertising.” Law suit to follow in 3, 2, 1….

  13. “..Also a Harvard study proved that resisting a robbery makes it far more likely the citizen will not survive the encounter…”

    If a robber or criminal attempts to move you into a more private area it’s time to fight. Being in a ‘stop and rob’ when a robber tries to move the clerk or anybody into a back room is one example. Fight as if you are the third monkey on the ramp of Noah’s boat and it’s starting to rain. Too many times this has happened and I give less than zero effs what some azzhats at Harvard say.

  14. Shooters family when asked for a comment responded:
    “He was a good kid, loved his Grandma, was an honor student and was looking forward to going to college, we never saw any signs of bad behavior in him.”

    Shooters fiance (baby-momma) commented “We’ve been together on and off for seven years now and we was just planning on getting married so my 3 kids with him and other 2 could have a good family home; now that’s never gonna happen all because that woman.

    • I would type a certain phrase, but it gets automatically deleted on the TTAG forums.

    • That “baby-momma” is a horrible person for her offensive portrayal of such a horrible stereotype.

  15. The deceased sounds like he was a real piece of work. Apparently he had at least 20 prior arrests, including for wounding a woman after shooting at her house, and family/child neglect and abuse charges in Pennsylvania. He also apparently skated from most of those charges as the state could not get witnesses to come forward against him. I’m going to take a huge leap of faith and speculate that translates to the deceased engaging in witness intimidation on the regular.

    So yeah, not seeing any great loss to humanity here.

  16. GLAD OVER CAME EVIL PERSON .
    N WHY I HELL WAS HE NOT BEHIND BARS IN FIRST PLACE .
    FRIGN COURT SHOULD HAVE PLACED HIM THERE ALONG TIME AGO .

    • this is the only website that i read with earmuffs.
      does your keyboard have a muzzle brake?

    • Jailhouses mostly seem to be a waste of money. Better that people like this woman deal the ‘final solution’ to the perpetrator. Someone fire up the incinerator, burn the trash.

  18. Wan’t it dacian the Dunderdeah and Minor MINEr49 both say that a good guy with a gun will never stop a bad guy with a gun?

  19. glad the lady wasnt trained to call for back up, consider options, and wait for the hostage negotiator. she, like Todd Beamer, decided to protect human lives by killing the killer. she better get a lawyer

  20. The question I have is, will Biden invite this woman to the WH to recognize her for her heroic actions?
    Nah! Of course not!

  21. If her skin is pigmented the probability goes up. If she is trans, 100% for sure.

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