A Greyhound bus hijacking by an armed foreigner in Colorado nearly turned into a bloodbath, had it not been for the quick and level-headed actions of an armed US Army soldier who saved the day.
In a decisive win for both gun rights advocates and the US Army, a tense armed standoff ended relatively peacefully near the town of Fountain after Edmundo Arellanes-Audelo began waving a knife and screaming, injuring the driver and causing the bus to crash.
Witnessing the event was Fort Carson-based Specialist Nathaniel Barrett-Fireson, who quickly stepped into action armed with medical training and an openly-carried 1911 pistol.
“I have a lot of medical training, so I want to make sure that everybody was okay medically-wise,” Barrett-Frieson said.
Upon closing in on the bus, it became obvious that the situation was much more serious.
“There’s a gentleman screaming, ‘They’re killing me, they’re killing me, let me out!’ And the bus driver was screaming over him, like, ‘Don’t let him out- he caused the accident. He did this,” the Specialist recounted.
Colorado is an open-carry state, which allows the visible carry of sidearms on one’s person without a permit.
Fortunately, Barrett-Frieson was armed that day, and able to protect himself and others as the situation became more violent.
“I saw two guys with a knife, a terrified bus driver telling me not to let this guy off, and I warned him, I was like, ‘I am armed. You guys need to calm down, stay where you are, don’t do anything, like don’t make me draw my weapon.’ They continued to escalate the situation, so I drew my weapon.”
The situation de-escalated shortly after, with the bus driver the only individual injured in the incident.
Looking back, Barrett-Frieson was happy to be armed that day.
“I always carry, just because you never know what’s going to happen,” he told KOAA. “You never know who you’re going to run into…I did what I felt was necessary to keep myself safe and everybody else safe, and I would do it again any day of the week.”
However, the soldier wasn’t the only one who was happy that he had been prepared: the Fountain Police praised him for his cool head and willingness to step into the fray.
“It’s great that we do still have people that are willing to step up and kind of take that danger in their own hands in hopes of protecting everyone else around them,” said Fountain Police Officer Lisa Schneider.
Identified as a Mexican national )whose legal status is unknown at this time), Arellanes-Audelo is currently sitting in the El Paso County Jail, so far on suspicion of felony criminal mischief, hindering public transportation, felony menacing with a weapon, assault, and reckless endangerment.
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