It’s not often we have to use our training in real world, thankfully! A little less often we’re able to be thankful for our training and tonight, as I sit here, I’m oh so thankful. My daughter snuck out. I woke up just after she snuck out naturally and went down stairs because it happened to be the second night of a still active man hunt for a guy who stabbed his x in front of her kids then escaped jail after sentencing. Woke up on that couch several hours later to my bushes out side the windows rustling, drew my gun from where I had it, relatively calm because the window was still closed. Could be a squirrel, could be a killer. I open my blinds and it’s a human. Instant jolt. Thing is, she really wasn’t in any danger ever because when I told myself to be careful, it could be a squirrel, it was a direct result of being trained to identify the target. It’s step one. Just less of instant, I realized it was her and was all sorts of emotions. I told her she almost got shot, even though she really hadn’t, and sent her to bed. Any of you have a moment like this. When your like, thank fn GOD for training! Without it, I doubt that situation would have been as predictable as it was. In real world applications? God bless you, and God, please Bless America??
Yes, Thank FN God, training is 99.9% of what is needed when owning a firearm.
I must bring up a point though, you went to the window and moved the shades to look out. What if it were a criminal with a firearm and you surprised him/her and they fired at you through the window.
I’ve trained not to search/clear the house, go to your safe place with your self defense firearm and dial 911, let officers do the search. If said person (family member or criminal) were to enter the house I call out a warning of police are on the way. If it’s a family member they call out our secret password to be recognized.
From there, a good talking to for sneaking out, especially if there were a dangerous person on the loss in the area.
Personally, I don’t think it was a mistake to peek out the curtains and look outside before doing anything else. True, somebody could shoot through the window, but it’s more likely, assuming the room is dark and the curtains move a little bit, any one who’s out there who shouldn’t be would probably run off and not shoot through the window. Again, it’s possible, but probably ain’t gonna happen.
I think that would depend on whether or not you are dealing with a burglar looking to avoid conflict or a home invader planning to use force to gain control over the people inside.
All of the rustles and bumps in the night so far at our house have been wildlife or neighbors pets so we have not had to do the retreat to our safe area yet. But I do prefer to use my ears from a safe location when possible to verify that it is wildlife as apposed to visibly exposing myself to an unknown threat.
I appreciate and understand how you would come up with that plan. It’s from a place of fear of law fair. I get it. Stay safe stay alive. You and I probably don’t train the same.
I train from a place of strength and confidence in the second amendment and what it affords me. I trust God will guide my prepared mind to the correct decision and understand He has a plan that I trust in. That might sound crazy to some people but running, hiding, and relying on someone else first sounds crazy to me. The basics remain the same. Identify the target.
It has long been a part of military and LEO tactics and training to not expose yourself to the enemy. Especially when you don’t know the enemy’s strength and position.
Exposing oneself to unnecessary risk with only your strength and confidence to protect you doesn’t sound like sound strategy to me. I prefer to limit my risks in order to increase the odds that I’ll still be around and in a position to protect my family.
Not FEAR. Everyone uses there own JUDGMENT. Comes down to every situation, even at your own home, might be different.
What I posted would work for me & mine because to get to our safe place in the house, the perpetrator,(s) would have to come into a funnel (hallway) to reach us. At that point a hailstorm of bullets would come upon the perpetrator,(s).
Oh by the way, our security system and cameras and cencor lights setup around every inch of the house outdoors would make it very difficult to surprise us. A plus I should admit.
We had a guy walk by the window of our condo at like 1:00am. We live on an upper floor so there is extremely limited access to the roof outside of our window. I picked up my firearm, told R get your tool and get to the safe space. I walked into the living room to look out the window, to see where the person had gone, I didn’t see him so I walked back into the bedroom to look out the window. Out of the corner of my eye down the hallway I see a figure walk across the room. It was R, but at that second I realized, that’s how family members get injured in these situations. She had grabbed her defense tool and was heading to the safe space, she had gone behind me, I was so focused on what was going on outside that I hadn’t noticed her go out of the Bedroom and down the hall.
The training is centered around staying safe and staying legal not the person. I didn’t mean to insult, it’s just a different philosophy. Fear is something we all deal with no matter what anyway. Some Forget Everything And Run. Others Face Everything And Rise!
Hope they get the guy on the loose pretty soon. Sounds like you and I aren’t too far apart geographically. I’ve been following this story and we used to frequent the area he’s been hiding out in.
I feel we can both agree that we can be thankful we still live in a country that we can freely make choices.
Hey man, ya! It actually brings up another great topic. With the community being legally forced to rely on the corruption and incompetence that created the problem, to solve the problem, the inevitable result will be vigilant behavior. I was around an area just today where the guy had been spotted and the Wawa lady told me she was shocked how many locals where in their camouflage getting ready to go find this guy. There was a time when the sheriffs office would put the call out and the call would be answered. Now, because of liabilities and law fair, they say aggressively to not approach and to call. So far since we’ve heard this line it’s been many days, burglaries, and grand theft auto. Another reason the call for help isn’t heard is obvious whoever is running the show isn’t the best at it. So you bring in a bunch of civilian experts and they may start second guessing and making their own, better suggestions? Well, now this guys in their back yards and they don’t play out there. They know their rights and they have and keep their rights ready, at ALL times. Not to mention a 20 thousand dollar reward that could go a long way for a small business or farm. Look out cause now you got officials and citizens messing around in the same areas at the same time but separately. Sounds dangerous. I say swallow pride, sign waivers or something, and put out that call so we can all work together as designed. And let’s get this punk off the dam streets before he catches someone slipping and kills them for whatever they might have.
This very true but at the same time the crooks learned that if they stood and fought inflicting death and damage to the posse 90% of them would turn around and give up the hunt. Leaving law enforcement to do the job themselves. They had families of their own to care for and if the father died the farm would be lost. Can’t say that I blame them too much either.
I was on my way home Friday night after those storms came through here. There was a tree down in the road. Every car stopped and the men were out moving it off of the road.
I would like to believe that there is still a spirit of help and cooperation among some folks–especially among the rural population.
I think in the area in which this guy has been hiding out, there is a lot of that spirit left. I agree that many would come forward and be happy to help.
@William191 does make a good point about people running off when things get tough. But I hope there are still some robust examples of masculinity around that would step up to the challenge and run towards the danger. I suspect that most on this forum are of that stripe.
@Elitesless Be safe. All the best to you and your family-especially your daughter who is sneaking out.
Man on the loose is now armed with a .22 rifle (edited because I somehow initial typed .12).
Be safe out there.
Either this guy is really good at stealth or the law enforcement people are really bad at finding people.
I would say a combination of both.
Don’t know this guy’s intentions but a 22LR is great for hunting small game and isn’t very loud.
One very good reason to keep firearms locked up when no one is home.
Hopefully this guy isn’t very good with a gun. Sounds like most of his killings have been with a knife.
Unless it’s a Liberty safe 
Not sure if you know the whole story here, forgive me if I’m not providing any new info. He’s a Brazilian National who killed someone there. He went into the jungle (I assume Amazon) to escape capture, then got to Puerto Rico somehow and then to the states. So I’m guessing he has a bit of experience evading capture.
There have been as many as 400 people looking for him. The police referenced underground pipes/culverts/tunnels or something which they state are very difficult to secure completely.
He was caught on a trail camera inside Longwood Gardens-a botanical garden handed down from the DuPont family. It’s a large place and not completely fenced in. Parts of it are kind of like wilderness. Other parts are like a high class museum.
They have dogs, etc after him. I’m not making any kind of assessment on either him or the police. Just sharing what context I know.