The Florida Man Who Faced The Yoga Studio Gunman With A Broom And A Vacuum
“Thanks to him, I was able to rush out the door,” says Daniela Garcia Albalat of Josh Quick, the man who faced down a gunman at a Florida yoga studio with only a broom and a vacuum, according to the BBC. They were the only weapons of self-defense available to Quick, who bravely rushed the gunman during a terrifying attack last week.
“I jumped up as quickly as I could,” said Josh Quick. After the handgun seemed to jam, Quick wrestled with the gunman.
“He saved my life,” said Albalat of Quick.
“I picked up the only thing nearby to hit him with, which was a vacuum cleaner, and I hit him over the head,” said Quick.
The gunman, Scott Beierle, then “pistol-whipped” Quick, who fell to the floor. Quick then got back to his feet and ran to the only other serviceable weapon in the room: a broomstick.
“Again, he pushed me off, but some people were able to run out of the room.”
Two people died when the gunman entered the studio on Friday: 21-year-old Maura Binkley and 61-year-old Dr. Nancy Vessem. Beierle entered the yoga studio in Tallahassee Friday night and opened fire, wounding six people in addition to the two fatalities.
A video has surfaced from the Florida white supremacist, Scott Beierle, who killed multiple people at a yoga studio. In the video, he goes on a long, vile, racist, anti-Black rant about what he hates about Black people pic.twitter.com/E93XlQCWVw
— Tariq Nasheed ?? (@tariqnasheed) November 4, 2018
Social media posts show that the gunman may have harbored hatred for women, which could have motivated his attack.
In 2014, he created a series of YouTube videos that disparaged women. He was a self-described misogynist, according to CBS News.
YouTube has since removed Beierle’s account, NBC News reports.
Beierle turned the gun on himself to end his rampage, leaving investigators and the public at large looking for answers.
Police are searching for any connections between Beierle and his victims. They’re also combing through his electronic devices and social media profiles, reports NPR.
Beierle was banned from the FSU campus in 2014 following a 2012 charge for battery. He was accused of grabbing a woman’s bottom in a campus dining hall. Beierle was a graduate of Florida State University.
Another report was filed in 2016 by a woman who says Beierle grabbed her bottom at an apartment complex swimming pool. Her testimony was corroborated by video evidence.
However, both these battery charges were eventually dropped.
Police are trying to find some connection to the shooter and the studio. “It’s kind of off the beaten path,” said Officer Damon Miller, Jr., a spokesperson for the department. “If you didn’t know it was there, you basically wouldn’t know [it exists].”
