'Hero' Cop Killed Club Shooter

'Hero' Cop Killed Club Shooter
Thursday, December 09, 2004

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The cop who shot and killed a gunman on a rampage in a Columbus, Ohio, nightclub Wednesday night was being hailed on Thursday as a hero.

"We were fortunate that we had an officer that was very close that more than likely prevented numerous deaths inside," Sgt. Brent Mull of the Columbus Police Department (search) said of Officer James D. Niggemeyer.

"I think the community has a hero here."

Niggemeyer, 31, was patrolling only a couple of blocks away from the Alrosa Villa club Wednesday night when he got the call about a shooting at the heavy metal concert.

He got there in just two minutes and entered alone through a door at the back of the facility.

The gunman, 25-year-old Nathan Gale, had already shot and killed four people — including guitarist Darrell "Dimebag" Abbott (search) — and had a hostage in a headlock when the cop approached him.

Somehow, Niggemeyer — a five-year veteran of the force — managed to shoot and kill Gale without injuring the hostage.

"The officer was able to strategically gun this guy down before he was able to kill his hostage," Mull told reporters. "It appeared that he was about to kill this hostage when the officer basically put an end to it.

"Again, I can't say enough [about] his abilities, his skills."

Normal protocol has officers going into a dangerous situation like the one at the club only with backup from other police. But Niggemeyer didn't hesitate to brave it alone.

"The officer ran in without any backup, from what I'm being told at this time, and obviously put himself at risk with everybody else," Mull said. "If the officer wasn't as close as he was, I think this would have been a lot worse. It was a chaotic scene, just a horrific scene."



http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,141029,00.html

Sounds like some good shooting.

You can imagine what that would be like... running into a club, mayhem everywhere, people screaming and running everywhere, and being able to pull off a clean stop without hitting anyone else.

A *real* Hero.

Why is the "Hero" in quotes. Is it supposed to be sarcastic. I thought the cop did an outstanding job. Who know how many other people that nutjob would have killed. He freakin' shot Dimbag Darrell because he was still upset about Pantera breaking up and blamed it on him. I wish stupidity was painful.

No. Not sarcastic. The opposite.

I meant *real* hero, as opposed to the "heros" who get labled as such for things I really don't think were that heroic.

I mean, I've heard the victims of the World Trade Center bombing called heros. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time and lived through it. Lucky yes. Hero no.

A *real* hero is someone like Columbus Police Officer James Niggemeyer who put down the nut in this shooting or judoka Jeremy Glick who fought back against the hijackers of flight 93 on September 11, 2001.

link: http://www.unitedheroes.com/Jeremy-Glick.html