Could you really do it?
We talk about it all the time. I pack a gun whenever I’m not asleep or in the shower. It’s part of my daily routine. Why do I do that exactly?
Much like insurance, I don’t carry a firearm because I ever expect to use it. I keep a gun handy in the rare event that there are no other options available. The rub is that you just can’t expect it.
That’s the nature of crime. I have been present for two serious crimes. In both cases, they both came out of the clear blue sky. I did not see them coming. One moment, I was walking along, just living my life. Next, things went a bit crazy. However, that was nothing compared to what happened to 58-year-old Wallace A. West at 0715 in the morning on 15 May 2021, in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
The Setting For Wally West
My own thriving little Southern community is overrun with new construction. Ours is a college town, and lots of folks want to live here. As a result, every scrap of vacant land is being bulldozed flat and festooned with cookie-cutter apartment and condo blocks. Perhaps I’d feel differently if I owned any of that land, but the place just seems to be getting somewhat cluttered.
I’ve lived in places like that before. There are certainly worse fates, but there is also a certain implicit congestion. Folks share common floors, ceilings, and walls. College students live right next door to pensioners who are neighbors with local cops, nurses, and firefighters. These complexes are communities. The human species has been crafting such stuff since the very beginning of time.
You seldom get to pick your neighbors. Most Americans are hard-working, productive citizens. A few are lazy slugs. A smaller subset are criminals, and a tiny sliver are flat-out psychopaths. That’s the reason I keep that gun I mentioned earlier handy.
The Players
Wally West shared his apartment complex with an 87-year-old retired lady named Lois Hicks. I never personally met Ms. Hicks, but I have known many like her. They are, generally speaking, sweet, altruistic, and harmless—the salt of the earth.
Also living in this same apartment block was a 26-year-old named Zachary Brian Arnold. Arnold was a military veteran who had recently returned from a combat tour in Afghanistan. His mother described her son as “pleasant and good-natured” growing up. However, she later admitted that Zach had been sending his family cryptic text messages about how they were all sinners and were going to pay for their transgressions.
The Broken Man
Zach came home from the war quite thoroughly messed up. War is the most horrible of human pursuits, and PTSD is a timeless component of that horrible practice. However, men have been institutionally offing each other since Cain brained his brother Abel with a rock. Just because a young man served his country in uniform in a war zone does not mean that he is going to come home all crazy and weird. Zachary Arnold had some bigger issues at play than just his time in the service.
In eras past, we just ignored it. Back in the day, veterans who found themselves unable to cope with their difficult military experiences often treated their depression and anxiety with alcohol. They then frequently died both young and badly. My own family has an example of that stemming from combat service in World War 2. Nowadays, we have better tools, but they’re still not great.
In Zachary’s case, the VA had him on prescription drugs for his PTSD, but he stopped taking them. He claimed they made him feel sick. Instead, Zach started self-medicating with marijuana.
Mental Health In America
I’m a doctor. As of 2020, 20.3% of the American population was undergoing treatment for some kind of mental health disorder. 16.3% were taking prescription psychiatric medication. That’s more than 53 million people. Nearly a quarter of American women over the age of sixty are on antidepressants. Those numbers are admittedly astronomical. However, what else would you have us do?
Every single day at work, I have desperate broken people walk into my medical clinic seeking medical assistance in coping with their myriad emotional problems. In a quarter century of medical practice, I have seen everything. That includes folks who have left my clinic, gone home, and taken their own lives. Trust me when I tell you, there are no simple answers.
The only thing riskier than shoveling prescription drugs at people for anxiety and depression is self-medicating with illicit substances. Alcohol invariably makes depression worse, and Lord-only-knows what’s actually in those pills that your buddy gave you that help calm him down. Smoking weed to cope with your problems never fixes anything. That timeless truism was on glorious display in the life of Zachary Arnold back in May of 2021.
The Rampage
Zachary and his mother still talked. She later said that Zach admitted to using marijuana, but that she was certain this was not being done under medical supervision. Her son also revealed that he no longer ventured outside and that he had been on the decline mentally. During one phone conversation, he had confided to his mother a desire to “kill all evil.” On 15 May, all that came bubbling over.
For reasons known only to him and God, early that morning Zachary Arnold armed himself with a semiautomatic rifle and went on the hunt through his apartment complex. Arnold exited his apartment screaming for his neighbors to come outside. Lois Hicks ventured out along with another elderly neighbor to check on the troubled young man. Arnold chased the poor woman back into her house and shot her to death. Several citizens notified police at the sound of gunfire.
Wally West lived nearby with his adult son and emerged on his balcony in time to see Arnold shooting into Ms. Hicks’ apartment. He then reflexively sent his son to cover and retrieved a bolt-action hunting rifle with an optical sight. Wallace kept the weapon loaded but secured in a gun cabinet. Taking up a stable firing position on his apartment balcony, Wallace West tried to attend to his breathing.
The Gunfight
West’s first shot went wide. He later told police that he was shaking so badly he struggled to sight his weapon. In response, Zach Arnold loosed a fusillade of gunfire in his direction. One round struck within nine inches of where West was positioned. The lunatic gunman then returned to his apartment, presumably to retrieve more ammunition and reload.
When Arnold subsequently emerged, he began walking through the complex looking for more victims. Wally West took his time, steadied his weapon, and shot the crazed gunman through the head. Zachary Arnold was dead where he fell.
West and his son ran downstairs and secured Arnold’s rifle. The cops showed up minutes later. West relinquished his weapon, and the police took over.
After Wally West Stood His Ground
After a thorough investigation, Sebastian County Prosecutor Dan Shue said, “Although there are unfortunately mental health aspects to this case, had West not acted in a swift and decisive manner, my office could just as easily be dealing with multiple homicides rather than the homicide of Lois Hicks and the justified shooting of Zachary Arnold.” Shue declared that West’s decisive actions were objectively reasonable given the circumstances. No further law enforcement or legal action was required.
Everything about this sordid story is objectively hideous. An innocent woman was viciously murdered, and a troubled young veteran was gunned down like a dog. Wallace West will no doubt carry the emotional scars from that exchange with him to his grave. However, Mr. West did an undeniably amazing thing. Lesser men might have just barricaded themselves somewhere to let someone else solve the problem. Wallace West voluntarily placed himself in the line of fire and, in so doing, undoubtedly saved lives.
Wally West Did What He Had To Do
The story of Zachary Arnold is undeniably tragic. However, there was no other practical solution on that dark day in Fort Smith, Arkansas. You cannot institutionalize every troubled young man who chooses to smoke dope to deal with his problems. In a free country, arbitrary incarceration simply isn’t on the table.
Some would say that the problem stems from Arnold’s access to firearms. Seriously? Ours is a nation of 328 million people. We already have more than 400 million guns. That number goes up by another 15 to 20 million every year. Zachary Arnold was a military veteran who did not have a criminal record. No amount of legislating could have kept weapons out of that young man’s hands. In the final analysis, the only thing that ended the carnage was Wally West–a good guy with a gun.
Conclusion
I carry a gun because a cop would be too heavy. Law officers will do a simply brilliant job of catching the guy who killed you. However, if ever you find yourself in such a crisis, for the first little bit at least, it will be a come-as-you-are affair. Failure to assume responsibility for your security and that of your family makes you a victim by default.
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Thankfully, Wally West had access to his favorite deer rifle and possessed the skill and will to wield it properly. The argument could be made that this whole ghastly episode is a perfect example of the system working as it should when everything else had failed. A responsible citizen stopped a crazed madman before the authorities had an opportunity to respond.
Wally West later said, “I could have run; I could have hidden. But I knew the families in my apartment complex didn’t have a way to defend themselves. I really didn’t have a choice.”
Spoken like a true hero.
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