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Journal photographer faces down 'intense' moment
The gunman stopped shooting, but 近距离内射合集 photographer Eddie Moore didn鈥檛.
As others hit the ground or fled in panic, Moore stood fast, clicking off photos of 23-year-old Ryan Martinez, who had just put a bullet in a man during an Espa帽ola rally celebrating a decision to delay installation of a statue of Spanish conquistador Juan de O帽ate.
Moore鈥檚 photograph of Martinez pointing his pistol at others after the shooting made its way around the world on Thursday and may well become an iconic image of America鈥檚 widespread gun violence.
Moore, 60, conceded he could not think of another incident during his more than 36 years as a photojournalist to compare to what happened Thursday.
鈥淲e have had rallies go south before, but never had anyone pull out a gun and shoot someone,鈥� he said. 鈥淗e had shot one man, and he was waving his gun around. That鈥檚 pretty intense.
鈥淏ut I didn鈥檛 get scared. I didn鈥檛 drop to the ground. I didn鈥檛 think he was going to shoot me. I just kept shooting (photos) until there was nothing to shoot.鈥�
Moore has worked for several papers in North Carolina and has been with the Journal for 27 years, two as a freelancer and 25 as a staff photographer.
He said he is accustomed to arriving on the scene just after a shooting. But on Thursday, he was there before violence erupted and had talked to both Martinez and his victim, asking for and writing down their names.
鈥�(Martinez) came back and asked why I got his name,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淚 told him I was just getting the names of people who might be in a photo I took. He seemed nice. He was polite to me.鈥�
As potentially deadly as Thursday鈥檚 incident was, Moore said it did not have the urgency of other things he has covered, such as a fire rushing toward a community and destroying people鈥檚 possessions and livelihoods.
鈥淚t was just a kind of happened in the moment thing,鈥� he said.
Moore texted his wife, Kim, and his 16-year-old son, Logan, to let them know he was OK.
鈥淏ut I definitely think I鈥檓 going to need a beer in an hour or two,鈥� he said.
8+ pictures of Juan de O帽ate statue rally in Espa帽ola
