[DougB]

Originally Posted by NJblue

No, I don't think they were cowards. The one person (Good) did step out and tried to break it up verbally and then did the prudent thing by calling 911. To get physically involved in a situation like that could end up with you being the one dead. For all anyone knew at the time, both parties could have been armed and you could be caught in the crossfire.

Actually, the one person who I think acted pretty stupidly was the one who, knowing that a shot was fired, still approached the scene. For all he knew, a "bad guy" did the shooting and would turn on him with his gun. I wonder why neither attorney asked him why he did this.

I was also amazed that the first cop to arrive (also knowing that shots had been fired), did so without his gun drawn. I would think that standard practice in such situations would be to wait for back-up to arrive and then approach the situation with guns drawn.

I agree with your second and third paragraphs and wondered the same things. I am on the fence with the first one. I would like to think if two people were fighting 15 feet from my backdoor with one screaming for help, I would attempt to break it more than verbally if need be.