Vancouvered in Blood: Small Tumbler Ridge Community takes a Bloody Fall as School Shooting Rocks Town
Another small town shooting, this time in Canada, is something Gun Owners of America (GOA) spokesman, Stephen Willeford knows about firsthand. He personally stopped one in progress, before the shooter could take more lives, in the small sleepy town of Sutherland Springs, TX in 2017, at a Church there.
As the world reels today from another horrific school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia — where a small community’s students, teachers, and families were struck by unimaginable violence and loss — audiences will be glued to voices that make sense of chaos and offer hard-earned insight into how these attacks unfold and how they can be stopped.
There is no more compelling and credible voice on this topic than Stephen Willeford — who, in November 2017, heard gunshots, ran barefoot toward danger with his own rifle, and engaged a mass shooter, ultimately stopping the carnage at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs.
Click here to order Stephen Willeford’s book, A Town Called Sutherland Springs
Willeford doesn’t claim super-human courage — he says he was “scared to death” — but he acted when others were dying. His firsthand account combines raw emotion, tactical awareness, and a deep understanding of what it’s like to confront an active shooter in real life, not in theory.
With today’s tragedy in Canada once again thrusting the question of violence, defense, community response, and prevention into the spotlight, Willeford is uniquely positioned to speak with empathy and authority — appealing to both policy-minded audiences and everyday viewers seeking meaning amid heartbreak.
He can discuss:
- What happens in the first critical seconds of an attack (from personal experience);
- How ordinary citizens and first responders can prepare and respond;
- Lessons learned from past incidents that have real relevance to today’s events.
This is the moment your audience wants to hear from someone who saw it, lived it, and can talk about it with honesty and humanity.
What makes this moment especially urgent is that the Tumbler Ridge shooting underscores a reality many communities still resist confronting: violence does not announce itself, respect borders, or wait for perfect conditions. It erupts in ordinary places, on ordinary days, and forces impossible decisions in seconds.
Stephen Willeford understands that reality in a way few ever will. He is not an academic, pundit, or armchair theorist — he is someone who heard gunfire, recognized what it meant, and acted when hesitation would have meant more lives lost. His experience offers a rare, grounded perspective on what actually happens before, during, and immediately after an active-shooter event.
In the wake of Tumbler Ridge, audiences are searching for more than platitudes or politicized shouting matches. They want clarity, honesty, and lived experience. Willeford can speak to fear, courage, preparation, and the uncomfortable truths about how quickly normal life can collapse — and what, if anything, can interrupt that collapse.
His voice doesn’t sensationalize tragedy. It humanizes it — and, crucially, explains it.
Related Articles:
Shootings at school and home in British Columbia, Canada, leave 10 dead including suspect
Q&A:
- What went through your mind the moment you heard gunfire in Sutherland Springs and realized lives depended on immediate action?
- You’ve said you were “scared to death” — can you walk us through how fear and instinct collide in those first critical seconds?
- Based on your firsthand experience, what do most people misunderstand about how mass shootings actually unfold in real time?
- When you look at today’s school shootings, what warning signs or failures stand out to you that the public often overlooks?
- What practical lessons can ordinary citizens, schools, or communities learn from what happened in Sutherland Springs?
- How should people think about preparedness without living in fear or paranoia?
- What role do courage, training, and split-second decision-making really play when law enforcement hasn’t arrived yet?
- For families and communities grieving after these tragedies, what do you most want them to hear from someone who has been there and survived it?
ABOUT STEPHEN WILLEFORD…
Stephen represents Gun Owners of America and is known around the country as the “good guy with the gun” for helping stop the largest Texas mass shooting in the history of the state in 2017. He is available to speak about all gun rights issues, as well as the importance of Gun Owners of America. He is the author of the book A Town Called Sutherland Springs: Faith and Heroism Through Tragedy. You can read more about him at http://www.thebarefootdefender.com and www.gunowners.org
CONTACT: Todd Baumann at 512-966-0983 or by email Jerry McGlothlin at bookings@specialguests.com.
