[-project.rattus-] said:
Musketeer was victim of a crime (and a dog-assault), which explains this fear, allthough he obviously had a gun beforehand. I would be interested in what the criminal wanted to achieve and how you fended him off. Was it enough to draw the gun, or did you have to shoot him?
It was 1992 and I was living in Florida at the time. I had just completed my degree a couple months earlier but due to a major downturn in the defense industry (where most in my field worked) I had no gotten a "real" job yet. To pay the rent in the meantime I was working as a pizza deliveryman. The job required that I go into some unfriendly areas and even the police I knew said I would be crazy not to be armed.
At the time there had been a rash of carjacking/kidnapping/assaults and murders. The routine was they would take you and your car to an ATM machine to get all the cash they could. Afterwards they would at the very least beat the living daylights out of you, in more than one instance the victim was just killed and the body dumped.
There had also been numerous assualts on pizza guys. We carried cash (don't beleive that maximum amount stuff, on a busy night there is no time to off load the cash between runs), had food and cars. That is just about everything the criminal wanted short of drugs. It got so bad the chain pizza places started blocking out sections of the town maps where they refused to deliver. Of course this was branded as racist since those areas of highest crime also tended to be predominantely black. I was with a small family shop and we went everywhere (but our piza was also much better than Dominos!).
I was making a delivery run into one of the low income housing projects, a high crime area. My car, a red firebird, was well known as the "pizza guy's car" and I was in and out of there several times a night. I also stood out like a sore thumb as the only white guy in the neighborhood. I pulled head first into a parking spot. As soon as I did I heard the screech of tires and saw a car come skidding to a stop, blocking me in my spot. The passenger jumped out and raced up to my passenger door. This is how several other people were taken, they were forced to drive the attacker to the ATM (criminals are not always smart and I wouldn't do it that way but I am not a criminal). As soon as I heard the tires and saw the car I grabebd the gun I was carrying (legally) and the 4 D Cell Maglight I also kept with me. The attacker reached my passenger door and gave a couple hard yanks on it to try to open it (pizza guys often leave the door onlocked so they could run around and get the pies quickly). My door was locked though and the windows were up as they always were when I enterred this neighborhood. After one or two pulls at the door he looked up and realized I had the gun pointed at him from 3 feet away. His hands were not visible, but if they came up into view with a gun I would have begun firing as fast as possible. As soon as I knew he saw what I had I blinded him with the flashlight. He turned and ran off. He must have yelled to the car, although I didn't hear a thing and can't recall hearing anything after the screach of tires when I was blocked in. The car took off out of the parking lot.
Afterwards I shook like a leaf for a couple minutes and came very close to throwing up, adrenaline. To this day even typing this story makes my pulse race and my breath grow short.
Things I did right.
1. Physically preparred. I had a gun.
2. Mentally preparred. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind I would have shot if he had presented a weapon capabale of harming me. I never saw his hands clearly and perhaps his weapon was just out of site. Bottom line was I had no doubts I would shoot if I had to and I think he understood that.
3. Kept my doors locked. It is easier to leave them unlocked and a little quicker but I made a point of only unlocking them the moment I would leave the car.
4. Used the right tool. I had a gun, a big flashlight, and a peppergas sprayer. I love my peppergas, and still keep one on me for situations that may warrant it, although I have not had one since the dog attack the same year as the near shooting. Peppergas is NOT the solution for when in a car and will certainly not work through a closed window. Even with open windows residual spray may easily blind you as well inside a vehicle and make escape impossible.
Things I could improve upon.
1. Get a Better Job! Pizza delivery does not pay enough for that type of encoutner...
2. Use of the flashlight. It worked and may have helped drive him away but it also seriously inhibited my vision due to its reflection off the window. The big flashlight was great for finding houses in the dark and a two foot metal pipe hanging on my belt hook certainly made the casual criminal think twice about accosting me but in this case I should not have lit it up.
3. Avenue of escape. I parked so that I could be easily blocked in with no way to drive off. That is not always an option, many times you cannot choose a wide open spot and I probably could not that night. The problem is I really did not look for one so who knows...
I do not want people to think I live in fear. Police see far more than I have in my life and would you say that every off duty officer lives in fear? They know what is out there and live their lives. So do I. People live in one of three conditions.
White - No threats and oblivious. Not paying significant attention to your surroundings or concern about your enviorment. No perception of danger, nor expectation of it. This is the condition most people live in.
Amber (yellow) - No Identified Threat. Paying active attention to those around you. Dress and demeanor of those in close proximity is taken into account. Active attempts to identify anything as out of the ordinary. Tactical attention paid to surroundings and structures. Sitting down in a restaurant so you can see the most area and doors, stopping yuor car on the street with enough room to move around the car infront of you. Insuring your doors are locked. Most importantly acknowledging that bad things can happen although they will probably not happen today. Accepting the situation can change and being at least partially prepared to deal with the most likely problems. This is what real street cops cannot help but live in.
Red - Threat Identified. Fight or Flee as appropriate. Going from White to Red will almost certainly result in confusion and hessitation. Making the proper decision is much more difficult and takes longer. Imagine sky diving without insuring your reserve chute is packed properly or practicing its deployement. If the main fails you need to use it in a hurry but are not preparred to activate it as quickly as you should and may not even have it packed properly. That is going from White to Red. Someone in Amber though has taken the time to practice deploying the spare, accepts that it may be needed and has most likely insured it is packed properly.
I live day to day in amber. This includes actually paying attention to where emergency exits are in theaters, airplanes and stores. Knowing some basic first aid. Watching those people around me for innapropriate dress and behaviour. Wearing my seatbelt, leaving space between cars, changing smoke detector batteries twice a year. Having an emergency window ladder for escape from our home in the event of a fire. Installing high powerred motion lights aroudn the outside of my home and insuring the windows and doors are locked. Keeping fire extinguishers on all three floors of the home. These are all normal parts of my life. Carrying a gun is just one more way of being preparred for a situation that is all too likely in the world. Perhaps I use it, perhaps I do not but having the ablility to make that decsion should be mine and nobody elses.