Sheriff Mike Neal — The Walmart Shooting and What He Brought Home | Part 2
Sheriff Michael Neal was a wildlife officer with no business being at a West Memphis crime scene the afternoon of May 20th, 2010. He was over an hour away when two police officers were shot and killed during a traffic stop. He drove there anyway. Part 2 of this conversation is the story of what happened when he got there — and what he carried home from it.
The episode opens with Neal describing his wife seeing his bullet-riddled truck at the National Law Enforcement Museum for the first time, and the conversation about why he chose to get married on the anniversary of the shooting. From there it moves into the drive itself: running his Game and Fish truck at 140 miles an hour, stopping for gas at the Horizon Shell Station at Mile Marker 275 — not knowing it was the same exit as the crime scene — and looking down on the bodies of Brandon Paudert and Bill Evans from an overpass before pulling back onto the road.
What followed was a two-hour manhunt that failed because of a bad vehicle description. The killers were hiding in the Walmart parking lot in a battered white Plymouth Voyager while every officer in the area searched for a church van with "House of God and Prayer" written on the side. Neal explains the communication breakdown in plain terms: that's what gets cops killed.
He was on the other end of the parking lot when the shooting resumed. He describes the moment gunfire started, the decision to ram the van at 55 miles per hour rather than risk a mobile firefight, shooting through his own windshield while taking 12 rounds of AK fire, and the first thought he had walking up on scene after it was over: that he was going to jail.
The episode closes with why he stayed in law enforcement — a friend told him cops want to hear from cops, not has-beens — and what he wants people to feel when they see the names of Brandon Paudert and Bill Evans on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.
Transcript
What's the most memorable experience
Speaker:after that incident?
Speaker:Oh, wow.
Speaker:Man, there's so many.
Speaker:You know, there's so many.
Speaker:I think probably Bobby
Speaker:Paudert coming to the scene
Speaker:and hugging me.
Speaker:I'd say that one
Speaker:probably stands out the most.
Speaker:Part two picks up where part one left off
Speaker:with Mike Neal 16 years
Speaker:later, still carrying May 20th.
Speaker:So I want to go back just
Speaker:like Craig just went back.
Speaker:Let's talk about your
Speaker:wife and this anniversary.
Speaker:So all of this story
Speaker:that we're talking about,
Speaker:this just happened May 20th.
Speaker:You get married on May 20th.
Speaker:What did Chief Paudert and some other
Speaker:folks ever say to you about you deciding
Speaker:to get married on that same day?
Speaker:We're only two years in and I haven't
Speaker:heard anything from the chief and a lot
Speaker:of people don't realize
Speaker:that that's my anniversary.
Speaker:We had a false anniversary set in August,
Speaker:but we had actually kind of eloped if you
Speaker:will, on May 20th and
Speaker:we kind of kept it quiet.
Speaker:I didn't do it to offend anyone.
Speaker:I did it for me to try to help me cope
Speaker:through the day,
Speaker:honestly, to bring some joy.
Speaker:I finally found someone in my life that
Speaker:gives me the support that I need,
Speaker:the soft spot to come home to.
Speaker:Did she ever give you any pushback about
Speaker:that and say why that date?
Speaker:She laughed and she said, well, you'll
Speaker:make sure you won't miss our anniversary.
Speaker:That's for sure.
Speaker:But no, she understood.
Speaker:She got it.
Speaker:She's pretty special.
Speaker:Tell us about her.
Speaker:We've known each other for, oh, probably
Speaker:about 15 years and across paths
Speaker:throughout the years, but I got divorced
Speaker:in 19 and then she got divorced
Speaker:and they just all kind of clicked and
Speaker:fell together timing was right.
Speaker:It's been a life changing event.
Speaker:I never understood how good a marriage
Speaker:could be until you get the right one.
Speaker:And this one's the right one.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:And you needed that in your life.
Speaker:You needed that.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:She stood right there with me all last
Speaker:week, the police week.
Speaker:That support is invaluable.
Speaker:I promise you, it's an amazing thing.
Speaker:So when she stood there by you at the
Speaker:museum, how proud was she?
Speaker:Probably more proud than me.
Speaker:Yeah, she's super proud of her husband.
Speaker:I have to ask, what was her feeling like
Speaker:when she first saw that truck with dozens
Speaker:of bullet holes through the windshield,
Speaker:knowing that you were
Speaker:on the other side of it?
Speaker:That had to hit her hard.
Speaker:It did.
Speaker:And it got me too,
Speaker:but I think it humbled her
Speaker:to actually see the truck.
Speaker:She's seen pictures of it, but that last
Speaker:week was the first time that she saw it
Speaker:in person, that got to see
Speaker:just how bad it really was.
Speaker:Seeing it in person is a lot different
Speaker:from seeing pictures or
Speaker:videos of it, that's for sure.
Speaker:I'm so glad that you thought to put that
Speaker:truck in that museum.
Speaker:At that luncheon when you mentioned it to
Speaker:me, I'm like, this story is incredible,
Speaker:but a truck in a museum,
Speaker:I hadn't seen the truck.
Speaker:I didn't know how many bullet holes there
Speaker:were in it or anything else.
Speaker:But I am so glad that you had that vision
Speaker:and that it came to life.
Speaker:And by the way, the people that installed
Speaker:our exhibits in the National Law
Speaker:Enforcement Museum told me that putting
Speaker:that truck up on that pedestal in the
Speaker:museum was the hardest
Speaker:part of building that museum.
Speaker:It was even tougher than putting the
Speaker:helicopter there
Speaker:hanging from the rafters.
Speaker:I think they used it for something to
Speaker:lift it up, didn't they,
Speaker:or something like that?
Speaker:Oh, incredible.
Speaker:But what a statement it makes, right?
Speaker:To me, I'm seeing
Speaker:this as a civilian again.
Speaker:I've never been a cop,
Speaker:never worn the badge.
Speaker:But to think what you all have to deal
Speaker:with at times, right?
Speaker:I mean, it can be a very normal, boring
Speaker:day most of the time, and then boom,
Speaker:within seconds, you're in the middle of a
Speaker:shootout with people that have no respect
Speaker:for the laws of this country or the men
Speaker:and women who serve in law enforcement.
Speaker:And it's just amazing to me that officers
Speaker:are willing to do what you did that day
Speaker:and that that truck tells that story to
Speaker:the American people, right?
Speaker:That our officers are willing to assume
Speaker:these risks, life and death moments, for
Speaker:the safety of others.
Speaker:And so that gets me to my question, which
Speaker:is, okay, you hear about these two
Speaker:killers that are on the loose, you're
Speaker:miles and miles away.
Speaker:It would have been easy, I think, for you
Speaker:as a wildlife officer to kind of let
Speaker:other people take
Speaker:charge and deal with it.
Speaker:But you took it on your own to end this
Speaker:mayhem and this murderous rampage.
Speaker:I mean, what is going through your mind
Speaker:when you heard that call go out and you
Speaker:decided I'm gonna be the one to stop it?
Speaker:You know, it goes back farther than that.
Speaker:I had always had the burn in me.
Speaker:I've always, for lack of better words,
Speaker:felt something coming
Speaker:within inside my soul, honestly.
Speaker:And it led up to that day.
Speaker:The doors throughout my
Speaker:careers that opened and closed
Speaker:are pretty phenomenal to
Speaker:lead to the May 20th shooting.
Speaker:There was no reason for me to be there.
Speaker:Just like you said, I was a game warden
Speaker:of, I had no business even being there.
Speaker:But it was, I was used as
Speaker:an instrument, honestly.
Speaker:That's the best way I can put it.
Speaker:That was a guardian angel that was taking
Speaker:control and putting me where I needed to
Speaker:be to stop a bad situation.
Speaker:But when that call went
Speaker:out, two officers down,
Speaker:it was put out, it was an MS-13 gang.
Speaker:It was a hit on the
Speaker:drug interdiction team.
Speaker:It was a really bad deal.
Speaker:And it was inside me like a fire.
Speaker:I had to be there.
Speaker:I'm one of those kind of guys, I guess
Speaker:true leaders are born with it.
Speaker:It's something that's in you.
Speaker:You don't really, I'm sure you can bring
Speaker:it out in any person, but for the ones
Speaker:that it's inside them or the cops that
Speaker:are out here doing it every day.
Speaker:They're putting their life
Speaker:online for complete strangers.
Speaker:And this was kind of one of those deals.
Speaker:That call went out.
Speaker:I knew I had to be there because I know I
Speaker:know what I'm doing.
Speaker:I don't know if you know what you're
Speaker:doing, but I know I do.
Speaker:Let me go first.
Speaker:You know, so I'll go through the door
Speaker:first, move out of the way.
Speaker:I'm that kind of guy.
Speaker:I always have been, played football my
Speaker:entire, high school
Speaker:growing up, headhunter.
Speaker:You were a linebacker.
Speaker:I was a middle
Speaker:linebacker in a defensive end.
Speaker:Yes, sir.
Speaker:I was one of those, if I hit
Speaker:you harder, it don't hurt me.
Speaker:Yeah, I hit people, but getting out of
Speaker:that, I'm getting a little old, my bones
Speaker:break anymore, it hurts.
Speaker:So I still get invites as sheriff.
Speaker:Went up in the hospital about a year ago,
Speaker:I have a fight, broke
Speaker:my hand, but it happens.
Speaker:But that day-
Speaker:Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker:No, no, yeah, that day I
Speaker:had to be there, you know?
Speaker:And I could not get there fast enough.
Speaker:And if you stop and really listen to the
Speaker:story and how things
Speaker:went, I got there too quick.
Speaker:That old game of fish truck run 140 and I
Speaker:had her stretched out.
Speaker:What I'd done is I'd called my sergeant.
Speaker:I told him a little bit of a white lie.
Speaker:I said, "Hey, sergeant, I know what's up.
Speaker:I'm pretty close.
Speaker:Can I come help?"
Speaker:Well, I was game warden close.
Speaker:And I don't know if you see game wardens,
Speaker:you never see game
Speaker:wardens, that's how close I was.
Speaker:I was over an hour away.
Speaker:And he said, "Yeah, get up
Speaker:here as fast as you can."
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:"Green light, here we go."
Speaker:You just gave me permission to run lights
Speaker:and sirens as fast as I can.
Speaker:And that's what I did.
Speaker:But when I got into town, I was running
Speaker:out of gas in my truck.
Speaker:It was one of those moments, hey,
Speaker:it's where God kind of grabbed me and
Speaker:said like, "Hey, stupid, slow down.
Speaker:Hang on just a second, you
Speaker:pull the reins back a little bit."
Speaker:And I pulled into the gas station and I
Speaker:didn't even know where I was at.
Speaker:It was a gut punch is what I needed, but
Speaker:like a squirrel, something shiny over
Speaker:here, something shiny over there.
Speaker:I'm that kind of guy.
Speaker:But I pulled in that gas station, I was
Speaker:getting gas and I'd stopped at the
Speaker:Horizon Shell Gas Station at the 275 mile
Speaker:marker, had no idea.
Speaker:And as I'm gassing up that truck, I
Speaker:realized where I'm at.
Speaker:And I see two officers down.
Speaker:I was right there at the crime scene.
Speaker:It was right in front of me.
Speaker:And it was a humbling moment.
Speaker:There was also a moment of,
Speaker:this is real.
Speaker:This isn't training, this is real life.
Speaker:This is what you've prepared for.
Speaker:Get your mind right and get in the fight.
Speaker:And when I pulled out of that gas
Speaker:station, I drove over that overpass to
Speaker:look down on that crime scene.
Speaker:And I'm gonna tell you, it put a fire, a
Speaker:burn in my soul that
Speaker:I've never felt before.
Speaker:And I get adrenaline running right now,
Speaker:just thinking about it.
Speaker:And I remember
Speaker:thinking, we gotta fix this.
Speaker:Cops were fixers.
Speaker:That's what we are.
Speaker:As a cop, you're there to fix something.
Speaker:When you're called to the
Speaker:scene, you had to fix something.
Speaker:And I remember you through your rifle
Speaker:across your chest and you slung your
Speaker:rifle and left that gas station and you
Speaker:decided you were
Speaker:going to go into the hunt.
Speaker:Yeah, I was hunting.
Speaker:Well, a game war is a hunter.
Speaker:He hunts people.
Speaker:He hunts the hunter.
Speaker:He's the ultimate
Speaker:hunter, a game war, yes.
Speaker:And I'd honestly put that
Speaker:rifle on 40 minutes before.
Speaker:When I pulled over on the side of the
Speaker:road and got the green light to go, I
Speaker:started preparing myself
Speaker:and I put an old vest on.
Speaker:I didn't have my good vest on because
Speaker:that morning I got up and it was hot and
Speaker:I didn't want to wear it.
Speaker:I thought, I don't need that.
Speaker:And I left it at the house.
Speaker:But luckily I have enough equipment in my
Speaker:truck for everybody.
Speaker:And I put one of my old vest on and I
Speaker:pulled that rifle down and I slung it,
Speaker:hung it right here, started driving.
Speaker:And when I left that gas
Speaker:station, you're exactly right.
Speaker:It was time to fix this.
Speaker:And as I was waiting, man, I had my hand
Speaker:on my rifle the whole time.
Speaker:I'm hunting.
Speaker:I'm looking for a
Speaker:stolen white church van.
Speaker:That's what they put it out as, that's
Speaker:what I was looking for.
Speaker:Yeah, crazy.
Speaker:And I'll tell you what, and I just wanna
Speaker:say it just flat out straight as it is.
Speaker:You went on the hunt and you dispatched
Speaker:two pieces of shit to the greatest depths
Speaker:of hell, just where they believe, just
Speaker:where we all believe they deserve it and
Speaker:where they definitely will live the rest
Speaker:of their evil lives.
Speaker:Yeah, their evil will not torment anyone
Speaker:else here on Earth, that's for sure.
Speaker:You know, Mike, I'm confused though.
Speaker:You mentioned you were an hour away when
Speaker:you first got the call.
Speaker:I assume that was the two cops that had
Speaker:been shot and killed.
Speaker:And apparently nobody knew exactly where
Speaker:these murderers had gone at that point.
Speaker:There was a couple hours
Speaker:where they kind of were,
Speaker:disappeared and now
Speaker:everybody's looking for them.
Speaker:Is that when you
Speaker:decided to get to the chase?
Speaker:And why, I'm just aghast really that if
Speaker:you were able to get there, from an hour
Speaker:away, why weren't other
Speaker:officers already on the scene?
Speaker:Why hadn't they
Speaker:already dealt with these two?
Speaker:What was the delay?
Speaker:Well, it's the same in every one of these
Speaker:mass incidences you see across the US, no
Speaker:matter which one, if it's Pulse Nightclub
Speaker:or the Sikh Temple shooting or the
Speaker:bombing in San Bernardino.
Speaker:The biggest breakdown in law
Speaker:enforcement is communication.
Speaker:And incorrect communication and
Speaker:information is the death of a cop, is
Speaker:what it boils down to.
Speaker:That's what gets cops killed.
Speaker:And that was a breakdown that day.
Speaker:The information that they were putting
Speaker:out is you're looking for
Speaker:a stolen white church van
Speaker:with a house of God and
Speaker:prayer written on the side of it.
Speaker:So you figure, picture that in your mind.
Speaker:What do you see?
Speaker:Well, those 15 passenger forward vans
Speaker:with a house of God and
Speaker:prayer written on the side, right?
Speaker:That's what you think of as a church van.
Speaker:What we were looking for was a dirty
Speaker:white piece of crap
Speaker:wore out Plymouth Voyager.
Speaker:Nothing of the sorts that we were told.
Speaker:So everybody's out hunting a church van
Speaker:where this little van is
Speaker:sneaking around through town.
Speaker:Nobody's paying any attention to it.
Speaker:And they're hiding in
Speaker:the Walmart parking lot.
Speaker:They were there twice,
Speaker:not just once, but twice.
Speaker:They were there right after the shooting
Speaker:where the boy went in.
Speaker:He was in there for
Speaker:15, 20 minutes shopping.
Speaker:The dad was outside and a patrol unit
Speaker:drives right by, never seizing because
Speaker:that's not what he's looking for.
Speaker:That's not the
Speaker:information that he was given.
Speaker:If you would have said, you're looking
Speaker:for a piece of crap, trashy little white
Speaker:van, yeah, we'd have found it quicker.
Speaker:But we're looking for a church van with a
Speaker:house of God and prayer
Speaker:written on the side of it.
Speaker:And it all falls back.
Speaker:The breakdown where it
Speaker:happened was in the 911 system.
Speaker:If we would have stopped and had the
Speaker:fortitude to thought to
Speaker:check the calls, the 911 calls,
Speaker:investigate those a little deeper,
Speaker:they didn't really have time to do that.
Speaker:We're Monday morning
Speaker:quarterbacking this — really bad.
Speaker:And I'm not trying to
Speaker:say they did stuff wrong.
Speaker:Don't get me wrong here.
Speaker:I'm just saying things if we could have
Speaker:done would have been different.
Speaker:But the guy describes the van is just a
Speaker:plain white van in the 911 call.
Speaker:And what happens is the dispatchers run
Speaker:the plates and it comes back to the house
Speaker:of God and prayer and a van.
Speaker:So they start putting
Speaker:out the information.
Speaker:You're looking for a van, house of God
Speaker:and prayer on the side of it.
Speaker:So that's where everything
Speaker:went really wrong for us.
Speaker:And at what point did it evolve though?
Speaker:Where did it go from that
Speaker:white van to the actual van?
Speaker:It didn't until they
Speaker:started shooting officers again.
Speaker:In the Walmart.
Speaker:In the Walmart parking lot.
Speaker:So when W.A.
Speaker:Wren and Sheriff Dick Busby pull in and I
Speaker:had conversations with them, they didn't
Speaker:know this was a van either.
Speaker:This van turns out off of row 12 where
Speaker:another 911 call had called in and just
Speaker:said, "Hey, there's a
Speaker:dude acting weird on row 12.
Speaker:He's putting aluminum
Speaker:foil on these windows."
Speaker:And it kind of sparked the attention.
Speaker:Wait a minute, what are they doing?
Speaker:They're putting sunscreens up.
Speaker:That's what they were trying to do.
Speaker:They were trying to
Speaker:blend in in the Walmart.
Speaker:That was the second time they were there.
Speaker:So when the sheriff and the chief deputy
Speaker:pull in, this van goes to pull out,
Speaker:there's not a green arrow above them
Speaker:going, "Hey, here's your bad guys.
Speaker:These are your bad guys."
Speaker:And they just pull up in a head-on
Speaker:traffic stop and are shot immediately.
Speaker:And luckily for me, I'm on the
Speaker:other end of the parking lot.
Speaker:I hear the 911 call come out.
Speaker:Suspects are spotted in row 12 as I'm
Speaker:driving by Walmart, perfect timing.
Speaker:Here we go again with the
Speaker:doors opening and closing for me.
Speaker:And I pulled in at the parking lot.
Speaker:So as I turn right in front of
Speaker:the doors, the gunfire starts.
Speaker:So there is a green arrow or a red arrow
Speaker:for me pointing at the van.
Speaker:These are the bad guys.
Speaker:Here they are right in front of you.
Speaker:And you cranked up your truck.
Speaker:How fast were you going when you zipped
Speaker:across that Walmart parking lot and
Speaker:rammed into their van and you're firing
Speaker:through your windshield?
Speaker:I honestly could not tell
Speaker:you how fast I was going.
Speaker:State police estimates with damages to
Speaker:the vehicles and the surveillance videos
Speaker:at about 55 miles an hour.
Speaker:I didn't care how fast I was going.
Speaker:I was just trying to
Speaker:get up and amongst it.
Speaker:Wow, and you got there quickly and you
Speaker:made a crisis decision
Speaker:to ram their vehicle.
Speaker:That probably saved the sheriff and
Speaker:deputy or under sheriff.
Speaker:Yeah, you know, it did.
Speaker:It took the fire away from them.
Speaker:You know, in our training at Game and
Speaker:Fish, they taught us to
Speaker:shoot through our windshield.
Speaker:So I knew going into that moment that,
Speaker:hey, I'm going to shoot
Speaker:through this windshield.
Speaker:I don't have time to roll up, get out,
Speaker:you know, and engage.
Speaker:Why not just go ahead and start shooting
Speaker:through the windshield?
Speaker:So in my mind, I see the driver with the
Speaker:door open and he's shooting in between
Speaker:the A pillar and the door.
Speaker:So I thought, I'm going to roll up, get
Speaker:close enough and I'm going to pop him
Speaker:through this windshield.
Speaker:And I guess he heard me.
Speaker:You see him on the video.
Speaker:He kind of looks back behind him and gets
Speaker:in the van starts backing up.
Speaker:He wasn't retreating.
Speaker:I don't believe that.
Speaker:I believe he was trying to get turned
Speaker:around for a head-on
Speaker:confrontation with me.
Speaker:What he didn't expect was me to hit him.
Speaker:So when he gets in the van starts backing
Speaker:up, I transitioned to,
Speaker:okay, I'm going to ram you.
Speaker:You know, I'm going to stop this vehicle.
Speaker:You're not getting
Speaker:out of this parking lot.
Speaker:We're not going into a mobile
Speaker:firefight risking more lives.
Speaker:So that's when I made
Speaker:the decision to hit them.
Speaker:And, you know, they're
Speaker:backing straight up towards me.
Speaker:I thought I'm just going to ram you as
Speaker:hard as I can and,
Speaker:you know, go from there.
Speaker:There at the last second
Speaker:that they had kind of turns
Speaker:and, you know, Michael Bay, he ruined me.
Speaker:He thought I'm going
Speaker:to run into this dude.
Speaker:He's going to roll over and blow up.
Speaker:Cause that's what
Speaker:Michael Bay's taught us.
Speaker:You know, you've been in the movie.
Speaker:You know how it works.
Speaker:In the movies.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I thought I'm going to ram you or you'll
Speaker:roll over and blow up.
Speaker:Well, he didn't.
Speaker:It was immediate.
Speaker:You know, he, driver turns around with a,
Speaker:what I know now as a Taurus judge,
Speaker:it looked like an RPG when you're looking
Speaker:down my angry eye of it.
Speaker:And that's where I engaged my first two
Speaker:rounds to the front windshield.
Speaker:Here again,
Speaker:the guardian angel.
Speaker:I hit the steering wheel, bent the
Speaker:steering wheel on my truck with my body
Speaker:and was thrown into the air conditioner
Speaker:control system, which
Speaker:dead center of the truck.
Speaker:And that's where I fired my first two
Speaker:rounds, dead center of the windshield.
Speaker:That's where the two rounds
Speaker:struck the driver in the face.
Speaker:I knew the fight was over with and I
Speaker:started taking the incoming rounds.
Speaker:Well, what he was trying to do is shoot
Speaker:the driver's compartment
Speaker:where I should have been sitting.
Speaker:And luckily for me, I'm dead center in
Speaker:the truck and the angles, all the bullets
Speaker:are kind of coming at
Speaker:an angle across my body.
Speaker:So that's why I didn't
Speaker:take a full head on bullet.
Speaker:I took shrapnel and I had a jacket, piece
Speaker:of the jacket of the metal in my hip,
Speaker:but the rest of it was just shrapnel and
Speaker:plastic and glass and just crap flying
Speaker:through the truck, taking 12 rounds of AK
Speaker:through the windshield.
Speaker:You can imagine how much crap was flying.
Speaker:I put 30 rounds of 223
Speaker:back through the windshield.
Speaker:So there was a lot of particles flying
Speaker:through the truck for seven days.
Speaker:Lot of blasting, man, that's
Speaker:just some crazy, crazy shit.
Speaker:But I'll tell you what,
Speaker:after all of that, Mike,
Speaker:what's the most memorable experience
Speaker:after that incident as far as somebody
Speaker:that said something to you, called you,
Speaker:wrote you a letter, approached you,
Speaker:what's the most memorable thing?
Speaker:Oh, wow,
Speaker:man, there's so many.
Speaker:There's so many, I think probably Bobby
Speaker:Paudert coming to the scene
Speaker:and hugging me.
Speaker:I'd say that one
Speaker:probably stands out the most.
Speaker:Just at that same day,
Speaker:right after the incident.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah, it was right after that.
Speaker:And now my memories blurred, like I said
Speaker:earlier, but I don't remember if it was
Speaker:before I went to the
Speaker:hospital or after I got back.
Speaker:I think it was after I got back from the
Speaker:hospital because once they released me,
Speaker:it was a few hours after the shooting,
Speaker:they cleaned me up, so
Speaker:I glued my head back up.
Speaker:The wife at the time, I
Speaker:told her, I said, "Hey,
Speaker:run me up to Walmart, I need to get some
Speaker:stuff out of my truck."
Speaker:I wasn't thinking, I wasn't gonna be able
Speaker:to get anywhere near that truck.
Speaker:I remember pulling up on that scene and
Speaker:the reality set in
Speaker:real quick of this is bad.
Speaker:Of my thought patterns, well, I'm gonna
Speaker:get fired for this one for sure.
Speaker:I just shot two people in Walmart parking
Speaker:lot, broad daylight,
Speaker:this isn't gonna go well.
Speaker:And when I walked up on scene, I remember
Speaker:it was like the record stopped and
Speaker:everybody turned around and looked at me
Speaker:and I thought, yep, I'm
Speaker:going to jail, here we go.
Speaker:But everybody turned around and looked at
Speaker:you because they were all going, wow.
Speaker:I didn't see it that way at the time, but
Speaker:yeah, I thought this is bad.
Speaker:Mike, what are you most proud of?
Speaker:What are you most proud of in your life?
Speaker:Oh, well, you know, my
Speaker:family is what I'm most proud of.
Speaker:Family, yeah, and I am proud that I was
Speaker:able to rise to the occasion, you know,
Speaker:because in these critical incidents,
Speaker:you're gonna do one of two things.
Speaker:You're either gonna fall to your level of
Speaker:training or you're gonna
Speaker:rise to your level of training.
Speaker:You know, that's on you.
Speaker:You gotta be the decider of that.
Speaker:Luckily for me, I was able to rise to my
Speaker:level of training and it's not
Speaker:been a one and done situation.
Speaker:I've been in multiple situations where,
Speaker:you second guess yourself sometimes you
Speaker:think, dang, could I do it again?
Speaker:I think I could do it again, but could I?
Speaker:I've been tried and true,
Speaker:you know, quite a few times.
Speaker:Matter of fact, there's a t-shirt at Tent
Speaker:City that said, send me on it.
Speaker:I didn't buy it.
Speaker:I was like, no,
Speaker:I've been to Tent City.
Speaker:You don't want these stuff anymore.
Speaker:They already sent you, yes.
Speaker:I still go, but yeah,
Speaker:let's let some of these
Speaker:younger guys do it now.
Speaker:Mike, as we get ready to close, an
Speaker:amazing story, but I've gotta ask you, so
Speaker:many officers that have been in officer
Speaker:involved shootings that have maybe had to
Speaker:take the life of another
Speaker:human being as you did,
Speaker:they deservedly so, but nevertheless,
Speaker:it's still always with you that you had
Speaker:to take another human life and you
Speaker:referred to that earlier.
Speaker:A lot of those officers
Speaker:quit the profession, right?
Speaker:They don't wanna go back.
Speaker:They can't go back.
Speaker:You did.
Speaker:And you not only went back, but here you
Speaker:are, what, 16 years later, and now you're
Speaker:a sheriff and you've still got many more
Speaker:years probably in you in the law
Speaker:enforcement profession.
Speaker:Why did you make that
Speaker:decision to go back?
Speaker:You know, I had a buddy that was with me
Speaker:through a lot of that
Speaker:and we were doing training.
Speaker:And he told me, cause I
Speaker:was considering getting out.
Speaker:And he said, look, he said, the story
Speaker:that you have is powerful.
Speaker:And he said, you're helping a lot of
Speaker:other cops and cops wanna hear from cops.
Speaker:They don't wanna hear from
Speaker:has-beens or things like that.
Speaker:And that really motivated me.
Speaker:Okay, you know, if I wanna continue my
Speaker:story and continue helping other
Speaker:officers, you gotta stay in the game.
Speaker:You know, you gotta stay relevant.
Speaker:You gotta stay part of it.
Speaker:And that's what kept me
Speaker:going for a long time, honestly.
Speaker:You know, I wanna make sure that I can do
Speaker:everything I can to help
Speaker:save officers as long as I can.
Speaker:You know, as long as somebody wants to
Speaker:hear the story, I'm gonna tell it.
Speaker:And that's been the
Speaker:driving factor for years.
Speaker:Love it.
Speaker:Last question.
Speaker:When people see your truck in the
Speaker:National Law Enforcement Museum and hear
Speaker:that story, when they see the names of
Speaker:Brandon Paudert and Bill Evans on the
Speaker:National Law
Speaker:Enforcement Officers Memorial,
Speaker:what would you like people to take away
Speaker:from that experience?
Speaker:That's somebody's brother,
Speaker:son, father.
Speaker:Those aren't just names.
Speaker:Every one of those names,
Speaker:those are not just names.
Speaker:Those are lives.
Speaker:Those are people's family.
Speaker:But these guys, these are real people.
Speaker:These are real people that put their
Speaker:lives out there to save other lives.
Speaker:And don't ever forget that.
Speaker:Don't just walk by.
Speaker:Yeah, there's a name,
Speaker:there's a name, there's a name.
Speaker:Every one of those names have a story of
Speaker:a lifetime attached to them.
Speaker:And if it touches you, read up on them.
Speaker:They're all on the website.
Speaker:Most of them are, I'm sure.
Speaker:Go on there, pull that
Speaker:name up, read their story.
Speaker:Find out what really
Speaker:went on in their lives.
Speaker:And your story, Mike, is an inspiration
Speaker:for many, many people and
Speaker:will be for years to come.
Speaker:I hope so.
Speaker:I hope it helps a lot of people.
Speaker:That's for sure.
Speaker:And I thank you guys.
Speaker:Y'all have been, you two guys
Speaker:have been a major part of this.
Speaker:And I appreciate
Speaker:everything y'all have done for me.
Speaker:That's for sure.
Speaker:You're the man, baby.
Speaker:Yeah, it's been our honor and our
Speaker:pleasure to get to know Mike Neal.
Speaker:And I'm so glad we got to share your
Speaker:story here today with our audience.
Speaker:Mike, there's a inscription on the
Speaker:National Law
Speaker:Enforcement Officers Memorial.
Speaker:And I know you've seen it many times.
Speaker:It says, "It is not how these officers
Speaker:died "that made them heroes.
Speaker:"It is how they lived."
Speaker:And I think that's such an important
Speaker:sentiment that, okay, we're gonna always
Speaker:honor people like Bill
Speaker:Evans and Brandon Paudert.
Speaker:They're gonna live forever because we're
Speaker:gonna continue to see their names on a
Speaker:national monument and we're gonna go
Speaker:across the street to the National Law
Speaker:Enforcement Museum and hear
Speaker:their stories and see your truck.
Speaker:And know that there are men and women
Speaker:among us who are willing to risk their
Speaker:lives, put their lives at risk for the
Speaker:safety and the protection of others.
Speaker:And that's such an important part of that
Speaker:National Law Enforcement Officers
Speaker:Memorial and that museum experience.
Speaker:And I hope if you haven't already visited
Speaker:the memorial and the
Speaker:museum, I hope you will do so.
Speaker:Thank you, Bill. Thank you, Chris, for being a member of
Speaker:our audience because it is inspirational.
Speaker:It will change you the way you look at
Speaker:your own life to know that there are men
Speaker:and women that have laid
Speaker:down their lives for others.
Speaker:And Mike, I think your story is the
Speaker:epitome of law
Speaker:enforcement and what it means to me.
Speaker:The men and women whose courage and
Speaker:compassion for others
Speaker:is a moment that is just so
Speaker:amazing to even think about.
Speaker:This is the conclusion of Heroes Behind
Speaker:the Badge, today's podcast.
Speaker:It is produced by Citizens Behind the
Speaker:Badge, the leading voice of the American
Speaker:people in support of law enforcement.
Speaker:And I hope you go to our website,
Speaker:behindthebadge.org and you'll hear
Speaker:stories like Mike Neal's, you'll hear
Speaker:stories of the men and women who've made
Speaker:the ultimate sacrifice and you'll learn
Speaker:how you can support the men and women in
Speaker:law enforcement by becoming a supporter
Speaker:of Citizens Behind the Badge.
Speaker:So Mike Neal, thank you, my friend.
Speaker:It's been an honor and
Speaker:a pleasure as always.
Speaker:Yes, sir, thank y'all so much.
Speaker:(Upbeat Music)
