By: Ashleigh Meyer

The small town of Duncan, Oklahoma is reeling after a gunman opened fire in a Walmart parking lot on Monday morning, killing his wife and her boyfriend. Security footage from the scene, as well as eye-witness testimony, reveals that a legally armed citizen approached the shooter with his weapon drawn, and it is speculated that this action prompted the shooter to turn the gun on himself and commit suicide, thus ending the shooting spree.

The victims, Rebecca N. Vescio Varela, 31, and Aubrey P. Perkins, 39, were shot through the windshield of their vehicle in what appears to have been a domestic dispute. Local resident and Army veteran Aaron Helton claims to have heard roughly nine shots, before seeing a man cross the parking lot and approach the shooter with a gun drawn.

Helton said the armed citizen yelled for the shooter to stop, at which point the shooter took his own life. Police have confirmed that a handgun was discovered at the scene, and that the armed citizen did approach.

While it cannot be determined with certainty that the armed citizen stopped the shooting, it is very possible that in his rage, this gunman, had he not been confronted, would have taken more lives. Oklahoma’s new Constitutional Carry law, enacted this year and in effect since October, allows law-abiding citizens to carry a concealed weapon without first asking the government for permission. Oklahoma is one of 16 states with Constitutional Carry laws in place.

Ashleigh Meyer is a professional writer, and Conservative political correspondent from rural Virginia.