On May 31, 2026, before 11 a.m., a woman who had obtained a domestic violence injunction escaped kidnapping in a church parking lot. Two armed Samaritans intervened and prevented an armed man from dragging the woman away. In a news conference, Police Chief Leo Niemczyk identified the suspect as Jose Tsu Zamora, 64, who had been in a long-term prior relationship with the victim.
Zamora is a convicted felon who is reported to have said to the victim something to the effect of: If I can’t have you, nobody can. The suspect is reported as knowing the victim attended the church in Port St. Lucie and intercepted the victim as she exited a vehicle.
Two male bystanders, who told police they were armed, intervened and confronted Zamora. Chief Leo Niemczyk with PSLPD credited the two bystanders for saving the woman’s life.
Several people are reported as seeing the attempted kidnapping. One man is seen confronting the suspect, seconds later, another runs into the scene. The video appears to show what may be a holster on the second armed Samaritan.
Before 1987, it would have been unlikely that two people in a church parking lot in Florida would have been armed and able to respond to a kidnapping by an armed man. The suspect was reported to have held a handgun against the victim’s side as the kidnapping was attempted.
In 1987, Florida passed a shall-issue concealed carry permit bill, which is credited with being the start of the shall-issue revolution in the United States. Another change since 1987 is the increase in the number of church security teams. News coverage has not mentioned whether the armed Samaritans were part of a church security team.
As of 2025, over 20 million concealed carry permits were active in the United States. In 29 states, no permit is needed for people to carry loaded handguns, either openly or concealed, in most public spaces.
John Lott and others have published peer-reviewed papers that show an increase in concealed carry permits is correlated with a drop in violent crime. Other academics dispute this finding. Papers sometimes claim to show a limited increase in very specific types of crime in particular states.
Most of the literature shows either a decrease in violent crime or no measurable change.
Concealed Carry Permit Holders Remain Among America’s Most Law-Abiding Citizens
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
