On the evening of March 25th, the Nye County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call for a stabbing that had occurred. Detectives quickly identified a prime suspect: a young man named Matthew Moore.

Moore’s records-check revealed he had a violent history – especially with law enforcement. Two Nye County Detectives (Gibbs and Cooper) dispatched to the Moore home to question him.

Arriving at the residence, Detective Cooper knocked on the front door. Detective Gibbs took up position on the north side of the house. The suspect’s mother answered the door and began talking with the detectives…

Suddenly, Moore appeared behind his mother, armed with a Mossberg model 500 12-gauge shotgun. Using his mother as cover, Moore shot Detective Cooper twice, hitting him in the shoulder and the chest.

Moore then continued to stalk Detective Cooper, racking and firing a third round. Detective Cooper fell backwards while fleeing the onslaught, and was caught helpless, lying on his back, staring down the barrel of a shotgun…

Moore stood over the detective, racked a fourth round into the chamber, and fired. Then Moore racked a fifth round into the shotgun and prepared to execute Detective Cooper…

But, before he could fire the lethal fifth round, Detective Gibbs engaged Moore. Gibbs fired his Glock handgun 13 times, hitting Moore with 12 rounds, killing him.

The entire incident was captured on video thanks to the detectives’ body cameras and a surveillance camera across the street. Thankfully, Detective Cooper is expected to make a full recovery from his wounds.

But, even in this situation, some “bleeding hearts” will cry foul, claiming excessive use of force. They’ll ask questions like:

Why did Gibbs need to fire 13 rounds? And why did he have to shoot Moore 12 times?

Rest assured, if you are ever involved in a self-defense shooting someone is going to Monday morning quarterback every decision you make. So, here are some critical things to remember:

Stop the threat. The goal when your life is in immediate danger is to stop the threat. Notice, I didn’t say “kill the bad guy.” Stop the threat.

So, when training, focus on hitting vital areas that will give you the best chance of stopping the threat. Once the threat is stopped you should stop using deadly force. There is no set amount of rounds that you should or should not fire…

You only stop when your life, or someone else’s life, is no longer in danger. It doesn’t matter if this takes 2 rounds or 22 rounds to accomplish this.Train to shoot until the threat is stopped.

Articulation. The definition of articulate is “having the ability to speak coherently.” Now, I’m not saying you want to spill your guts after you are involved in a self-defense situation. In fact, just the opposite…

You should be polite to the police, but tell them you would like to speak with your attorney. But when the time comes to share what happened, you need to be able to articulate your actions.

Again, there is no set number of rounds that you should or should not fire. If one round stops the deadly assault, you had better stop shooting after one round…

Like I said, if it takes 15 rounds, then shoot 15… Just be ready to articulate why you considered the person a threat during all of those 15 rounds you fired.

Bottom line: if you ever have to use your firearm in self-defense, stay in the fight until there is no longer a threat no matter how many rounds it takes.

This is a reason it’s a good idea to carry a spare magazine since you never know how many bullets it will take.

I know of one fellow who got in a gunfight and had 8 rounds in his 1911. He used all 8 rounds and survived, but he later told me he will now always carry a spare magazine.