"He came at me out of nowhere!"

I believe it's a fair bet that his statement is not unusual. No matter how stupid we like to imagine these thugs, they are predators and will take advantage of every opportunity they can.
Mentally I try to convince and steel myself to the realization that I may well have to survive the first strike.

No but he took the first serious contact, my point is that they will seek to put you at the disadvantage but he maintained composure throughout the attack to the point he recognized the bullet passing through his arm, holster and into his hip.
If the attacker had been swinging a bat or fist he probably would have been worse off initially.

This comment isn't about this situation, but in general. Generally, they will always "come out of nowhere". Why? Because if you were more alert, they would choose a different victim. So, a lot of one's practice should be geared to this reality.

Now, in this case sounds like the gun was in his face right when the door opened so other than internal mental alertness, there was nothing for him to observe as an indicator.

This is also why having some sort of striking skill is important. Everybody says something like "I don't need to know H2H. Ill just shoot them." Um, OK, not when the gun is already in your face and yours is in the holster under a shirt! If his "smack" to the gun was instead a fully committed claw to the eye or heel palm to the chin, this may have ended even better for him. Not critiquing though, he did well, reacted fast, stayed in the "fight" after shot, moved to cover and returned fire. Glad he'll be OK.

A know of a young corrections officer that stole a pizza off a driver and was convicted of strong arm robbery, along with his other fraternity friends.

I applaud the way he did not panic even when hit, he took logical action. In the interview he also seems to have a good head on his shoulders. Very happy he survived to tell the tale.

I delivered pizzas off and on for thirty years. Have been sent on more than a fair share of robbery setups. In all of them, I managed to "get the vibe" before anything actually went down, and self-extracted. Telltale signs at the scenes and the lack of any followup calls from customers usually confirmed my suspicions. I did get "strong-armed" by some drunks at a hotel bar on the way to a room once, though, but that was not a setup.

However, I've had several friends robbed at gunpoint, two of whom were pistol-whipped as well. It's a dangerous job, statistically more so than being a police officer (until recently, at least; I can't say if that has changed in the last year or two.)

Mentally I try to convince and steel myself to the realization that I may well have to survive the first strike.

Click to expand...

That's actually a pretty valid point to keep in mind. While it is totally aside from discussions of how to be situationally aware and to think strategically about the spaces you're moving through and from where threats may appear, becoming mentally tough and prepared for how to fight AFTER being injured is important.

I've a pal who's a very competent defensive instructor who has a little mantra he tries to instill in his students: "I WILL NOT ------- DIE!" The point being carry on the fight until you prevail or you fade to black. If you can put that mindset into effect when needed, prevailing becomes more likely.

Before I got my handicapped tag, I was totally surprised one night by a creep even though I had been checking around as I wheeled my stuff to the car. "Came out of nowhere." But I guess the "nowhere" was between two cars, and he must have been crouching out of sight. I told him I didn't have anything for him but had to repeat it and he went away. Later, I wondered what would have happened if I had put my hand in my pocket to get some change for him.

Darndest thing, total surprise even though I was looking out.

I wonder if waving a flashlight around as you return to your car would be an effective warning that you are prepared.

What are the stages of a potential assault? Observe, select, approach, interview, and whammo?

Somebody refresh my memory, please.

Terry

I delivered pizzas for a short time 20+ years ago after retiring from the Army. Had one delivery with instructions "Go around to the apartment on the back of the house." When the apartment door opened, Mr. Tattoos said, "How 'bout I just kick your ass and take the damn' pizza?" Since I wasn't up to getting my ass kicked, I pulled back the hammer on the little bitty Beretta 950BS that was under the pizza box. Mr. Tattoos demeanor changed, and I got a nice tip out of the deal. He never saw the pistol. I swung by the house on the way to the pizza place and changed out the little .25 for a .38 revolver. I then notified the manager that we weren't going to deliver pizzas to that address again.

Big tip and a better attitude. Just proves the old adage. An armed society is a polite society.

Mind set, tool set, skill set.

230RN said:

I wonder if waving a flashlight around as you return to your car would be an effective warning that you are prepared.

What are the stages of a potential assault? Observe, select, approach, interview, and whammo?

Somebody refresh my memory, please.

Terry

Click to expand...

I often get a grip on my light in my pocket while walking through "transitional" areas like parking lots (left hand, right free to draw).

Yeah, those are the stages, just different ways of expressing/labeling them, Col. Boyd's OODA Loop works as well. They are at "Act" when you are just starting to "Observe" and "Orient". The reason assaults are almost always a surprise to the victim is because the criminal goes through observe, select, and (usually) approach before the victim knows they are there. If it is an attack, they skip the "interview". As far as the interview goes, you only have a very short window to get the right answer and "fail" it. Elm Creek's story is a perfect failed interview example. So is yours actually.

An interesting side-note...don't expect an angry reaction to "fail" the interview. Criminals know emotional people aren't in control, doesn't matter the emotion. A calm "I'll take your head off" beats an angry one (bluster, bluff, fear) any day.

I often re-start FoF scenarios and have the student try their verbal commands again like they really mean them (after demonstrating how to do it). It also helps when I ask the role player if they believed the student would actually do what they were saying (at that point the student realizes they didn't believe it themselves so a criminal wouldn't!).

A very experienced FOF role player who's a pal of mine once told me that it is hard to answer the endless request for some kind of canned response that they could teach people that would dissuade predator types because two guys could rarely "sell it" the same way. One guy could look at an assailant and say a couple of words to make them completely convinced not to press their luck, and the next guy would just torque them off and get his butt handed to him with the same play.

It has to be "you.". Hard to learn.

Sam1911 said:

A very experienced FOF role player who's a pal of mine once told me that it is hard to answer the endless request for some kind of canned response that they could teach people that would dissuade predator types because two guys could rarely "sell it" the same way. One guy could look at an assailant and say a couple of words to make them completely convinced not to press their luck, and the next guy would just torque them off and get his butt handed to him with the same play.

It has to be "you.". Hard to learn.

Click to expand...

I once observed a situation where the person calmly but confidently stated his case, then escalated to "Back off" and finally "I'm being respectful", all in the same calm but confident tone, worked. The other guy who was trying to start up with him was pretty unhinged, but finally left.