'I just knew I had to stop them,' Ohio CHL-holder says

The Dayton Daily News is reporting that Ohio concealed handgun license-holder Robert Bragg apprehended an armed suspect just moments after a fatal shooting in a nearby laundromat.

From the story:

Robert Bragg said he had no time to consider the risks to himself when he confronted two ski-mask-wearing gunmen headed down his street Tuesday afternoon.

The 24-year-old Ohio Air National Guardsman, who works as a military policeman at the Springfield Air National Guard base, went into his house and came out with his personal 9mm Beretta semi-automatic handgun and headed into the street soon after he heard gunfire and screaming.

Police said the gunfire had come from inside the Covault Market and Coin Laundry, 3705 Wayne Ave., where the owner, Roger Covault, 71, of Vandalia, and one of his employees, Robert T. Harris, 53, of Dayton, had been shot. Both died.

...Bragg said he heard gunshots at about 1:30 p.m. and got a bad feeling. Moments later, he saw two men carrying handguns headed his way. He told his mother, Barbi Byrd, to dial 911.

"I just knew I had to stop them," recalled Bragg, who holds a concealed carry permit.

He walked across Coventry with his handgun at the ready. When the two moved into range, Bragg identified himself as a military policeman and told both to stop, to drop their weapons and hit the ground.

"They were both stunned," Bragg said.

One lowered his gun. For an instant, the other began to raise his gun as if to take aim at Bragg.

"I think he thought about it," Bragg recalled. "And once he realized I was going to shoot him before he could shoot me, he just took off on foot."

The newspaper goes on to say that the suspect who lowered his gun, hit the ground and dropped the gun and his ski mask. Police arrived soon thereafter and took the gunman into custody. The suspect that fled was captured by police.

Again, from the story:

Since his actions and the shooting that killed two men he knew, Bragg has had time to reflect. Many people have told him that he's a hero.

Bragg politely thanks those who praise his actions, like an elderly woman who drove by his house and hailed him from her car on Wednesday afternoon. But he also said he wonders.

"It's hard to feel like a hero when two people lost their lives," he said. "It's a horrible loss."

Click here to access the list of Ohio CHL-holders acting in self-defense in the Buckeyefirearms.org Education Guide.