Two Guys with Swords, Two Different Outcomes

Hey, remember that recent post of mine that linked to a NY Times article chronicling the 1986 event where are deranged fellow brought a samurai sword on to the Staten Island ferry?  No, well, it's here, but to refresh...

A homeless Cuban refugee, chanting and apparently deranged, went on a rampage with a sword aboard a Staten Island ferryboat yesterday and killed two people and wounded nine others before being subdued by a retired police officer at gunpoint.

Wielding a two-foot ornamental blade apparently purchased in Times Square, the assailant pursued, hacked and stabbed victims on two decks of the rumbling, 310-foot ferry, the Samuel I. Newhouse, at about 8:45 A.M. as the boat passed the Statue of Liberty, bound from Manhattan to Staten Island.

Two dead.  Nine wounded and the rest just damn lucky that a retired cop packing heat was onboard that ferry.

Now, fast forward to today and clear across the country to Las Vegas.

Police say a clerk at a Las Vegas Dairy Queen shot and killed a sword-wielding, masked man who tried to rob the restaurant.

Detectives say the suspect was shot twice and was lying just outside the doors when officers arrived around 12:15 p.m. Sunday.

The suspect died at a hospital.

Metro Police Lt. Les Lane tells the Las Vegas-Journal the sword was at least three-feet long.

 No deaths.  None wounded.  No cop present.  What was the difference?