TXGunGeek raises a good point about getting involved:

The general manager of a local car dealership was shot during an incident at a San Antonio gentlemen’s club early Monday morning.

KENS 5 in San Antonio reports the victim of the shooting was Mike Vivaldi, who heads up Team Ford of Navasota.

According to WOAI Radio, the shooting happened around 2:00 a.m. Monday at the Palace Men’s Club on Northeast Loop 410.

Police believe Vivaldi was attempting to break up a fight in the truck in the parking lot between a man and a woman when a gun was pulled by the man. Vivaldi was reportedly shot twice in the mid-section.

The truck drove away from the scene, both the shooter and the woman reportedly inside.

Vivaldi was hospitalized at the San Antonio Military Medical Center, originally in critical condition, though reports out of San Antonio say he has been stabilized.

Original Story

TXGunGeek’s main point? Getting involved in third party issues.

Now certainly, we can understand the situation. You see a fight. You see perhaps some man beating up a woman. You are going to have a hard time standing by and watching it.

But do you know what’s going on?

Is it worth getting in the middle of someone else’s heated issue, because it may cost you. Mr. Vivaldi was fortunate he wasn’t killed, but look at the medical bills, lost work, and who knows what longer-term impacts upon his quality of life he’s going to have. Was it worth it?

Was it worth (potentially) dying over?

This is a personal decision. We all draw our lines at different points. Even if you consider the “beer & TV maxim” of self-defense, we can still draw our lines in different places.

To come to the aid of a third party is a personal decision. It may also depend upon who this third party is: your spouse, your child, your boss, a friend, an ex-significant other, a random person on the street. But you need to figure out where your line is BEFORE you get involved. Where is your line? where is your threshold?

Another point to consider is something John Farnam says all the time about how to avoid trouble:

Donʼt go to stupid places; donʼt associate with stupid people; donʼt do stupid things. We will add to that, be in bed by 10 oʼclock.

Updated 2013-04-04: There’s more to the story.

Updated story

According to the San Antonio Police Department’s preliminary report, a friend of Vivaldi’s told police that three people — Vivaldi, himself and another friend — had attended Sunday night’s San Antonio Spurs game and went to the gentlemen’s club afterwards, all part of a birthday celebration. SAPD noted all three were under the influence of alcohol. The names of Vivaldi’s friends were redacted in the report.

As the trio was getting into a cab, Vivaldi’s friend said an unknown white male came to the driver’s side window and started yelling an obscenity-laced string of words at the group.

The first friend of Vivaldi’s told police the trio exited the cab and started walking towards the yelling man, who waved them on towards him. The friend says he then noticed a white female who was with the male. Vivaldi would reportedly go on to remove his shirt as he and his friends moved towards the man.

Eventually, Vivaldi’s friend told police the man made it to his pickup truck in the parking lot, pulled out a pistol and aimed it at Vivaldi’s other friend. After trying to talk the gunman down, the first friend of Vivaldi’s said the man turned the weapon towards Vivaldi and fired multiple shots.

Whenever I hear, read, or see some guy taking off his shirt in this context, I always think about LowTechCombat’s “Alpha Male” notion.

Anyways, I’ll just refer back to Mr. Farnam’s quote above.