A frequent Fox News guest, who touts himself as a law enforcement expert due to his brief tenure with the New York Police Department, groused that “bystander apathy” led to the deaths of four people in a deadly Manhattan shooting Monday, urging citizens to “deputize” themselves and confront gun-wielding suspects.
Shane Tamura, 27, opened fire at a Midtown Manhattan skyscraper with an assault-style rifle around 6:30 p.m. after traveling to the city from Las Vegas, authorities say. He killed four people, including an NYPD officer and a senior executive at the company Blackstone, before turning the gun on himself.
New York police said that Tamura had a “documented mental health history”, and wrote a suicide note claiming he suffered from a CTE brain injury, suggesting football was to blame. He appeared to have been targeting the NFL, which had offices in the building, but took an elevator to the wrong floor, Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday.
Around two hours after the shooting, “Wild” Bill Stanton, a private investigator and one of Fox News’ go-to police experts, appeared on Sean Hannity’s primetime show to discuss the latest developments. Stanton is regularly referred to as a “retired NYPD officer” during his Fox News appearances but left the department in the late 1980s after roughly two years on the job, following an accident that left him with an injured trigger finger and allowed him to collect a pension.
According to Stanton, the Midtown shooting not only suggests the need for more police officers in New York City and across the nation, but also means that ordinary citizens should be prepared to stop an armed suspect.
“But we need to deputize ourselves,” he declared, before referencing Hannity’s self-proclaimed martial arts expertise. “Sean, let’s take you as an example. My understanding is that you train really hard in MMA. I’m guessing you train with your firearm, as well.”
After Hannity affirmed that he has been trained with guns, Stanton said that “we each need to empower ourselves not to be a victim” because “bystander apathy is what occurred” during this latest shooting.
“This cretin walked with a long gun down the street. No one said anything. I’d be curious to see how many 9-1-1 calls were made. We need to empower ourselves, deputize ourselves,” Stanton added.
Turning back to Hannity, he reiterated that the Fox News star’s fighting skills would have come in handy at the scene of Monday’s massacre.
“If you would’ve seen that person, I guess you would’ve acted a lot different, as would have I,” Stanton boasted. “These businesses that have security in the lobbies, there’s a knee-jerk reaction. They may enhance it, but they do a cost-benefit analysis, and it’ll go right back to the same.”
Over the years, Hannity has regaled his viewers and guests with tales of his deadly martial arts training, describing himself as something of a lethal human weapon due to his “street fighting” and “blade” skills while sharing video footage of himself in the gym. The Fox host even touted his MMA training and “personal security plan” when covering the 2023 Maine mass shooting.
Stanton, meanwhile, also used his Fox News appearance to fume about the so-called “defund the police” movement while claiming that it is loss of respect for law enforcement that leads to mass casualty events.
“We see this perpetrator, this sicko, as well as criminals all over Manhattan, all over the country, not respecting the law, feeling they can do what they want. Only when we collectively push back, fight back, and act will this lesson hopefully stop,” he declared.
“Yeah, it’s sad,” Hannity responded. “I do think people need situational awareness. And you know, if you see something, say something. Make the phone call. Call the police. Try and get on top of it.”
Stanton’s status as a security and law enforcement expert, who is regularly featured on Fox News and other networks to provide analysis, has been criticized by police accountability activists who have labeled him a “copagandist”. It has prompted Stanton to sue several NYC civic association leaders for trying to “cancel” him with “defamatory” social media posts.
A Bronx Supreme Court judge, however, largely dismissed Stanton’s claims last year, asserting that “cancellation” is not an actual cause of action while specifically taking issue with his argument that he’s not a public figure.
“Plaintiff may not be a major ‘celebrity,’ but by his own admission he regularly appears on national TV to promote his security business and personal brand,” the judge stated last year. “Plaintiff also took the step of running for and being elected to a leadership position with a local civic organization. Hence, plaintiff took purposeful steps to thrust himself into the spotlight as a security expert and local politician. Therefore, plaintiff is a limited-purpose public figure. As such plaintiff must prove by clear and convincing evidence that defendants' defamatory statements were made with actual malice to recover.”
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