The reason I carry (reposted from r/offmychest)

I’m a paramedic. I’ve been in situations before where I’ve been glad that I carry. But tonight was the first time that I’m truly grateful that I’m armed when I’m at work. Tonight would have been the night that my crew would have been ambushed if I hadn’t been armed.<br><br>We got called for a violent male who was threatening everyone and was being combative at a nursing home. The nurse told dispatch that he wasn’t dangerous, that he just needed to be taken to a psych hospital. We transmitted a report of what he said to the police who met us at the scene. The report said that he was armed with a bat and had attempted to assault staff. When we got there, the nurse came out to meet us and told us that yes, he was violent and that we should be careful. That if he had a baseball bat, he would have used it on them already. She told us he’s big and strong and can easily overpower someone if he wanted to. That they’ve already called for an ambulance 3 times tonight because he’d attacked and injured three different staff members. <br><br>As we’re getting this information, he’s in the room closest to the door, sitting in an armchair and watching us. A staff member comes out and tells us that the psych hospital has accepted him and that we can take him whenever we’re ready. We tell them that we have to wait for the police. They tell us that they haven’t been called. That the nurse who called dispatch told them that he wasn’t a danger to anyone and that they didn’t need to call the cops because we can handle it on our own. <br><br>I immediately go on radio and ask dispatch to change the call from a routine transfer to an active assault, tell them to tone the police and that we need “all available units responding emergency”. The police chief who was doing car to car told us that no other units were available. It takes him about 10 minutes to arrive (I know that feels agonizingly long to people who aren’t medical but that’s relatively fast). During that 10 minutes, there were probably 8 staff members trying to restrain this guy who is still sitting in the chair. He’s not being combative at this point, just grinning evilly at all of us.<br><br>The chief and another officer finally arrive. They say they need to speak to administration before they can do anything. I tell them that we can’t wait that long and that we have to take him. They tell me that they can’t help me if they don’t have someone come sign a form. I tell them we’re not waiting and I start rolling the guy out. As I’m rolling the stretcher out the door, the guy I’m taking stands up without any of us noticing and walks out with us. I glance behind us as we’re walking out and everyone is standing still staring at the chair he was in, grinning like a possum. I turn around and say “you guys want to do something about that”. The chief says “oh shit. He’s getting away”. <br><br>I pull my gun and shout for him to stop. He keeps running across the parking lot towards the dark, wooded area behind the nursing home. The chief and one officer are chasing after him but he’s gaining ground on them . I’m still standing by the rig pointing my gun at him. I shout again for him to stop. If he hadn’t stopped, I would have shot him. Thankfully he did stop and the cops were able to catch up to him and arrest him. If I hadn’t had my gun, it would have been a completely different ending. If I had missed, I could have hit a staff member that was behind him. But I didn’t miss. I went for a head shot and would have blown his brains out. I can’t tell you how happy I am that I carry my gun. We’re supposed to be healthcare workers, not targets. Tonight, I was thankfully both.<br><br>Edit: to clarify, he was violent in that he had punched and kicked three different staff members and broken their ribs. He was not armed when we were there. But the nurses told us that he had threatened to find out where they live so that he can go after them when he’s released from the psychward.<br><br>Also, I realize now that people may assume that this happened in theUnited States, but I’m fairly certain that this was in Canada.