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Today in History - March 14 | If he missed this shot, countless people could have died

Nick Pearson
Nick Pearson

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A buzzer beater from college basketball player Mykal Riley was credited with saving the lives of countless people on March 14, 2008.

In the very last second of regular play between Mississippi State and University of Alabama, Riley nailed a shot that tied the game.

The shot from Riley put the game into overtime, keeping fans in their seats.

Attribution: Getty
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But outside at that moment, a tornado tore through the carpark of the Georgia Dome.

Had the game ended on time, hundreds of fans would have been directly in the path of the twister.

Attribution: National Weather Service
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The tornado outbreak caused major damage to Atlanta, including to the Georgia Dome, but only one person was killed.

Mississippi State ended up winning the game, but Riley went on to a long career playing basketball in Europe.

Attribution: National Weather Service
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Five people were killed and seven others were injured when a shootout broke out at a US courthouse on March 14, 1912.

Local landowner Floyd Allen was on trial at Carroll County Courthouse in Virginia for attacking a local deputy.

Attribution: Public Domain
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The courthouse was packed with armed supporters and opponents of Allen, who himself was carrying a pistol as he held the jury's guilty verdict.

"If you sentence me on that verdict, I will kill you," Allen told the judge.

Moments after Allen was sentenced to a year in jail, shots broke out.

The judge, the sheriff, the prosecutor, the jury foreman and a witness were all killed.

Attribution: Public Domain
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With the sheriff dead, the local deputies lost all legal powers, so the governor had to send in a private detective agency to restore order.

They soon caught Allen, who himself had been seriously wounded in the shootout.

Attribution: Public Domain
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Allen and his son Claude were both found guilty of murder and executed via the electric chair a year later.

Attribution: Public Domain
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He was later elected to the US House of Representatives in 1982 and then the Senate in 1986 from the south-western state of Arizona.

John McCain died in 2018 after a long battle with cancer.

Attribution: AP
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