XPost: alt.politics.usa.constitution.gun-rights, talk.politics.guns,   
   alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: zinn@reno.us   
      
   'If I didn't have my gun with me, everyone in the house would have died,'   
   Mendez says   
      
   An Arizona man who was shot in the head while attending a Fourth of July   
   party with his family this summer is speaking out about how he was able to   
   thwart the shooter from killing more people with his concealed carry   
   firearm.   
      
   "My back was turned. I heard the first gunshot and that's what made me,   
   kind of turn my head ... But by the time I even was able to look and see   
   what was going on, a bullet already had struck the side of my face," Raul   
   Mendez recounted to Fox News Digital in a phone interview Tuesday.   
      
   Gunshots rang out at a home in Surprise, Arizona, on the evening of July 3   
   as Mendez, his two daughters and his seven-month pregnant wife gathered   
   with friends and other families to celebrate the founding of America.   
   About 30 people were gathered in the home, including young children, as   
   the group celebrated with fireworks and food, Mendez told Fox News   
   Digital.   
      
   A neighbor of the man hosting the party soon joined, and mingled with the   
   group despite not being close friends with anyone there, according to   
   Mendez. That neighbor was later identified by police as 46-year-old Jason   
   Hunt, the sole suspect in the case who opened fire unprovoked on the   
   families and partiers, police said in July according to the Arizona   
   Republic.   
      
   Two of Mendez’s friends, Conrradito Ochoa Navarro, 41, and Carl Dinora,   
   38, were killed in the incident. Four others, including Mendez, were left   
   seriously injured.   
      
   As Hunt and other partiers had a bite to eat in the kitchen, the suspect   
   pulled out a gun and began firing on the crowd, sending everyone fleeing,   
   Mendez recounted.   
      
   Mendez was shot in the head in front of his wife, who rushed to his side   
   and believed he was dead due to the amount of blood covering his face. She   
   then grabbed their two daughters and put them into a room deeper in the   
   house, barricading them and other children inside.   
      
   "She barricaded the door with the dresser. There were three other children   
   in there, not including my two daughters. A total of five kids. She …   
   throws them in the closet, throws clothes over them. Tells them, ‘Be   
   quiet. Do not make a peep if you hear loud noises in this room,’" Mendez   
   said of his wife's actions.   
      
   As Hunt continued his alleged rampage, two other women began fighting back   
   against the suspect and screamed for Mendez, knowing he had a concealed   
   carry weapon, Mendez said.   
      
   "By the glory of God or the adrenaline and just everything, just the will   
   to live and the will to protect my family, I was able to hear those pleas,   
   those yells for help. I heard my name. And I was able to get up," he said.   
      
   He was able to pull out his firearm and shoot the suspect four times in   
   the chest.   
      
   "Detectives have determined the individual who shot Jason, and others who   
   fought against Jason, were acting in self-defense and defense of other   
   innocent parties," Sgt. Tommy Hale said in a press release days after the   
   incident, KTAR reported at the time.   
      
   Mendez spent a week in the hospital after the shooting and has more   
   surgeries on the docket. He lost his left eye, fractured his jaw, suffered   
   a torn eardrum, and lost his sense of smell.   
      
   "Luckily, I turned because it just got me at that perfect angle," he said.   
      
   Mendez is now speaking out about the importance of the Second Amendment   
   and how law-abiding, armed Americans can help end shootings before they   
   claim more lives.   
      
   "I fully back up the Second Amendment and … this is why I'm speaking up,"   
   Mendez told Fox News Digital.   
      
   "This world is unpredictable. And honestly, at the end of the day, the   
   people that want to ban guns, they're only banning it from good people,   
   not criminals. Because again, there is no gun laws for criminals."   
      
   A lifetime NRA member, Mendez recently filmed a video for the NRA   
   celebrating the Second Amendment and denouncing the media for not covering   
   his story.   
      
   "If I didn't have my gun with me, everyone in the house would have died.   
   The news vans would've been front and center. But because I did, you never   
   even heard about it," he said in the video.   
      
   He has since purchased two additional handguns for his family to train   
   with, saying they are "??more ready to confront [evil] with equal force   
   now than ever."   
      
   NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre highlighted in comments to Fox News Digital that   
   the Mendez family’s story "must be told because they are just one example   
   of why the NRA fights hard to improve self-defense laws all across our   
   country."   
      
   "Raul Mendez and his beautiful family are alive today because he was able   
   to carry his firearm under NRA-backed Constitutional Carry," LaPierre   
   said.   
      
   "Over one million Americans use firearms yearly to protect themselves and   
   their loved ones, and often most media outlets refuse to tell their   
   stories. That is why the NRA is committed to spotlighting these courageous   
   American armed citizens."   
      
   No motive has been released in the case. The Surprise, Arizona, police   
   department did not immediately respond to requests for updates on the   
   case.   
      
   https://www.foxnews.com/us/arizona-man-shot-head-party-celebrates-second-   
   amendment-thwarting-shooter   
      
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