Welcome to Aftermath, a portion of our First Line email newsletter where Attorney Anthony L. DeWitt walks you through a real-life self-defense incident and shares his key takeaways.
Two masked men confronted the owner of a jewelry store at his Stockton Flea Market booth. When the would-be-robbers walked in pointing a gun, the owner hit the ground. His son, who was behind him, opened fire. Both assailants were killed, and a woman unrelated to the event suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Of note, the ownerâs father had been killed in a robbery there in 2012.
In a crowded public setting, what additional risks should armed citizens consider before engaging a deadly threat? What training have you undertaken to prepare to respond effectively while minimizing danger to bystanders?
This happened in my neck of the woods. Stockton is Oakland Lite.
PREPARATION: Owner and his son possibly played this scenario more than once the way it transpired. They had a plan to defend themselves and not end up like the ownerâs father who was a victim years before.
Situational awareness includes seeing whatâs beyond threat if you miss or your bullets go thru the target. The military trained me, in suburban warfare and house to house. I realize all that is not exactly the same as self defense with innocent bystanders included, But alota of that training applies. A simple yelled loudly, command of, âget downâ, does help some times. Maybe itâs wiser to seek cover instead of engaging immediately.
We practice the 45 degree drill. Take a 45 degree angle from any thing behind your target. That said, point a gun at me or mine and start shooting the people behind the perp better just duckâŠ
One of things which also comes to mind is it can happen so fast, we might not know what is correctly going on.
Remember that video clip of the good Samaritan who saw a man pointing his gun in a big box store, good Samaritan getting shot by the assailantâs accomplice hidden in plain sight behind him.
Couple years ago, I was CCW carrying, I drove to a sandwich shop, got out my car in the lot, 20â from me a man starts shooting another man. I froze, then ducked behind a car.
The shooter walked away. I went in the shop, called 911, sat down, ate my sandwich. The cops were pretty cool.
Later, a friend who is from inner city said, ânext time, hit the ground manâ. I found out the fellah who got shot survived, but I never learned, âwhyâ the shooting occurred.
Do you have any recommendations on what to do when someone abruptly has a gun pointed at you with apparent intent to use it, but itâs a dynamic real world situation and you cannot 100% guarantee a safe backstop?
Iâve watched a lot of self defense firearm use videos (Thank you ASP) and itâs pretty rare that there is something like a double thick brick wall with no windows behind the bad guy/attacker
Fortunately, we at least do know that historically armed citizens virtually never hit innocent bystanders when acting in self defense. Always a concern, every bullet has two lawyers attached to it as they say (criminal, civil), rule 2 and 4 always applyâŠbut how do you truly get a safe backstop in a dynamic real world situation? How many walls behind an attacker do we know will stop all bullets event? And if youâre outsideâŠ?
Would still have to penetrate enough though, so far nothing that penetrates people enough to reliably stop an attacker is stopped by weak walls, like drywall/sheetrock
Iâm absolutely sure if I shot my AR or my 9mm for that matter in my condo the round would go at least 2 neighbors down the hall. Scary â â â â for sure.
Welp⊠for me personally? I roll with the idea of Sit. Awareness on before I open my Garage doors. )or take out the trash cans, check my mailbox, feed my Gatorâs . I TRAIN UP weekly so I am sharp. I AM NOT DISTRACTED BY MY PHONE, If the situation goes sideways Iâve done what I can to minimize the damage. We canât possibly KNOW the intentions of the Bad Guys but if yer paying attention you can catch a âLookâ and respond appropriately. That Not all there Crazed look, that boiling anger some have, even their body language can alert you to danger ahead of time. Street takeovers, MOB Insanity doesnât happen (yet) out here in Suburbiaâthereâs nothing out here to âProtestâ and these Anarchists may find a stray shot @ them if they are being persnickety!
And this is for me only I say thisâIF someone gets the drop on me and I see Iâm not able to retreat I will draw my weapon (Iâll empty the mag till the threat is neutralized). I am not going to meet St. Peter with a hole in my head and I DID NOTHING!. Along time ago I was caught off guard by BGâs I try not to repeat my mistakes. One of my (9) lives was used that day I believe I am down to about 3 lives in my tool boxâŠ
Maybe not here but that does raise the discussion, what to do when the scum bag actually uses the background as cover, âYou canât shot me, I have innocent civilians behind me, and I donât care if I injure the civilians behind youâŠâ.
. I TRAIN UP weekly so I am sharp. I AM NOT DISTRACTED BY MY PHONE, If the situation goes sideways Iâve done what I can to minimize the damage. We canât possibly KNOW the intentions of the Bad Guys but if yer paying attention you can catch a âLookâ and respond appropriately. That Not all there Crazed look, that boiling anger some have, even their body language can alert you to danger ahead of time. Street takeovers, MOB Insanity doesnât happen (yet) out here in Suburbiaâthereâs nothing out here to âProtestâ and these Anarchists may find a stray shot @ them if they are being persnickety!