Unfortunately, this is the second week in a row the What Would You Do is based on a story that has been shared with me first hand. It is NOT an exact recounting of the situation for the protection of the person who went through it. These things really do happen, itās best to be as prepared as possible for the unexpected. This mental training can definitely help you.
Youāve survived in a self-defense incident without injury. Youāve been through the immediate aftermath and have an attorney to help you with the legal portion to come. Youāre very glad to have your USCCA membership to assist you with the financial repercussions. (I added the USCCA Membership bit - or did I? )
Youāre at home scrolling your social media - not posting a thing about the incident because itās an ongoing case - when you see it. Your profile picture on a local groupās page with nasty things written all over your face in the picture. Threatening things. Thereās a false description of what happened in your self-defense incident and people are believing the falsehoods. People are calling for violence against you and your family.
Good scenario, @Dawn! This would be extremely upsetting. Iāve never thought about how I would react, but I imagine this could consume a person with fear and worry. Especially if they posted your address. Iāll have to think about this more. Right now, I think I would reach out to the authorities to see what could be done (Probably nothing unfortunately). I might even relocate for a week to protect my family.
I agree with @JTS about reaching out to authorities, especially if they have not charged you, or even better, are not going to charge you. The only thing i would say is that it is probably best to let your attorney make the initial contact with LE and any public statement should be made through your attorney.
And, most importantly, keep your head on a swivel!
Good example @Dawn.
Iāve never been in such situation, hopefully will never beā¦ I cannot imagine what I would do.
Iām trying to be prepared for everythingā¦ but what I see, in most situations I behave differently (there are so many other things around I cannot predict).
In this particular case - I agree with others - let the attorney take care of everything, stay out and even take a vacation time with your Family.
Yup, what @MikeBKY said. Have my attorney reach out to the local PD. Ours has a cyber crime division. They mainly handle online child pornography, by, they do handle other online crime as well. I would also reach out to the Social Media platform and report the post. They donāt want the possible liability of their platform being used to incite violence against others. Itās bad PR.
I would report it to Facebook and block them. By reporting it as spam. I will no longer see it. Also I will change my email account and password. Then call my Lawyer. They are just trying to get to you, So just LOL. PS: All the informant on my Facebook page is a lie.
I would want to be able to see what is being said. Look at profiles of anyone making threats. I want as much tactical advantage as I can have. Make all your profile setting private, so they canāt see any extra pictures or info about you and your loved ones.
I just said my Facebook page is a lie, do you think I would but anything online that is the truth. Itās all lies, so why change the it to private. Also it you change it to private you will lose your advantage because only your friends will see it. You just block your tactical advantage. Their is a lot of people that need to take a computer course.
First initial thought for me is to ignore what is being posted. There would be no need for me to ācaveā into their plan or threats. Keyboard warriors will post anything when they have not experienced something like this before. I am extremely observant person and I not going to take any action until they(threats) become immediate.
First screen shot everything from my smartphone, if you donāt know how I highly recommend you look up how to do it and then practice.
Second: upgrade my social media security settings (pretty sure iām already set to private and I donāt use my pic for my profile).
Third: visit the profiles of those calling for violence against me, if theyāre nowhere near me Iām not going to worry about it, people talk big on the internet.
Fourth: Heighten my vigilance for awhile and if anything presents itself I will go to Authorities with the screen shots.
Iām gonna let the attorney handle the phone calls as previously mentioned I would probably complicate the situation.
Most internet people are all talk. Theyāre cyber bullies because they canāt back it up. If weird stuff starting happening around my house Iām stepping up my home defense game.
As far as the trolls on the internet go. I could care less what anyone who has never met me before thinks of me. I have an good supportive inner circle anything outside of that is expendable in my opinion.
Use lawyer to inform LEO about it. Main reason being I am more concerned about swatting than anything else, really. Initially I got a bit paranoid, however over time realized the same as above; all hot air. Very few would actually do anything, darn few. Swatting however is very very real.
I forgot to mention: i would monitor that thread in case someone doxxed me.
If you donāt know what that means, itās where they find and post your personal information online. Your full name, address and where you work typically.
Save screenshots. Yes, but thatās a very time consuming process. Most social media platforms have a way where you can save conversations or threads, and if that one doesnāt, there may be an app to do that.
Iād be downloading the thread, pictures, the threatening images. And a home page detail view for anyone making threats.
Definitely would want to know if they were local or not.
Once Iād talked to my attorney and had all that info Iād downloaded preserved and presented to the Leoās, Iād take their advice on when to report them to FB or the platform and when to block. The LEO may want to view what is happening on the platform, but when thatās done, block.
It is NOT an exact recounting of the situation for the protection of the person who went through it. These things really do happen, itās best to be as prepared as possible for the unexpected. This mental training can definitely help you.
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