I STOPPED A ROBBERY LAST NIGHT

[Neverpanic1]

Great job ! I read several stories on this already until i was sent a link to this. Appreciate you sharing publicly and many thanx for your quick thinking !

[Jumping Frog]

You just said it better (as always)

Actually, in my estimation, just the opposite is true! I always appreciate your sage insights.

Group Hug!

[ELB]

... I could say to everyone, be very vigilant. I let my guard down for a few seconds and that bad man got way too close to my wife than he should have.

This is not something to beat yourself up over either -- it is just not humanly possible to be 100% "on" all the time and live in a generally peaceful society. (And that guy could have looked perfectly mild right up until he got to the door and put on a bandana...) I'll wager if you ask AndyC or any other combat vet, it's probably hard to stay 100% switched-on all the time even in bandit country where one is really motivated to pay attention. It's one reason you have a gun and train with it - to cover the times when you can't otherwise avoid the threat. You done good.

[Scott]

I don't have much more to add, but I feel compelled to say that I'm glad you and your family are okay.

Scott

[berettadave]

Javier,

I am fairly new here and haven't posted much. I will say that it seems to me that you are a very level headed individual who did the best he could in a potentially very deadly situation. I played your scenario over and over in my head and I can't think of any way that it could have turned out better. Even though it seems like you would have been justified in shooting him, in my opinion, you did great. I would much rather it turn out the way it did and be left wondering why I didn't shoot rather than trying to justify to myself why I did shoot. I too worry about how I would react in your situation. I would like to think I would be able to shoot IF I absolutely had to but I hope I never have to find out. Doesn't seem like anything good can come of it, justified or not.

Dave

[Javier730]

Javier, how are you and your wife doing? I'm sure you're both pretty shaken up.

Thanks for asking, we are actually doing pretty good. Not as shaken up as I thought we would be. Its a real eye opener for my wife though. She never had a problem with firearms but she never felt the need to carry one. That has since changed. As for me, the situation doesnt have me shaken up, I am really just kind of second guessing what I did. I keep thinking about what happened and replaying the situation in my head over and over. I hate to sound like a bad person but thinking back, I feel like I should of shot him because I would hate to find out that he hurt someone in the future. I know that police officers are not lawyers, and that they do not have a full understanding of the law, but 2 officers said that I would have been justified had I shot, and that in doing so I could have prevented him from hurting someone in the future. Another officer said I should of shot, not because of the reasons I said, but for the fact that at the distance the bad guy was, he could got to me before I could react. The comments made I know were just there opinion but they made sense and everything they told me was something I was already thinking about. Im almost 100% sure I could of squeezed off at least once if he tried something when he first got up though. Not really a traumatizing experience but it sure is something I will never forget.

As I said before:

you'll likely also be second-guessing yourself with the "shoulda's". This is normal; learn from it but don't beat yourself up, either - you did just fine

In my case, you actually hit the nail on the head. Like I said before, the incident itself doesnt have me traumatized, what bothers me is thinking what else I could of or should have done. Thank you for your much needed support.

[Javier730]

... I could say to everyone, be very vigilant. I let my guard down for a few seconds and that bad man got way too close to my wife than he should have.

This is not something to beat yourself up over either -- it is just not humanly possible to be 100% "on" all the time and live in a generally peaceful society. (And that guy could have looked perfectly mild right up until he got to the door and put on a bandana...) I'll wager if you ask AndyC or any other combat vet, it's probably hard to stay 100% switched-on all the time even in bandit country where one is really motivated to pay attention. It's one reason you have a gun and train with it - to cover the times when you can't otherwise avoid the threat. You done good.

What you commented on is probably what really bothered me most. My wife said to me, "I thought you didnt see me. I thought you were not gonna come to me." That is really the worst part for me.

[LAYGO]

... I could say to everyone, be very vigilant. I let my guard down for a few seconds and that bad man got way too close to my wife than he should have.

This is not something to beat yourself up over either -- it is just not humanly possible to be 100% "on" all the time and live in a generally peaceful society. (And that guy could have looked perfectly mild right up until he got to the door and put on a bandana...) I'll wager if you ask AndyC or any other combat vet, it's probably hard to stay 100% switched-on all the time even in bandit country where one is really motivated to pay attention. It's one reason you have a gun and train with it - to cover the times when you can't otherwise avoid the threat. You done good.

What you commented on is probably what really bothered me most. My wife said to me, "I thought you didnt see me. I thought you were not gonna come to me." That is really the worst part for me.

Aww man, that hurts me thinking about it. :( You did EVERYTHING right. Everyone came out with the same number of holes they went in with and you & yours are fine.

Keep your chin up.

[Keith B]

... I could say to everyone, be very vigilant. I let my guard down for a few seconds and that bad man got way too close to my wife than he should have.

This is not something to beat yourself up over either -- it is just not humanly possible to be 100% "on" all the time and live in a generally peaceful society. (And that guy could have looked perfectly mild right up until he got to the door and put on a bandana...) I'll wager if you ask AndyC or any other combat vet, it's probably hard to stay 100% switched-on all the time even in bandit country where one is really motivated to pay attention. It's one reason you have a gun and train with it - to cover the times when you can't otherwise avoid the threat. You done good.

What you commented on is probably what really bothered me most. My wife said to me, "I thought you didnt see me. I thought you were not gonna come to me." That is really the worst part for me.

Don't think you were not aware. Situational awareness is tough, even for those who have had extensive training. You were in condition yellow and had no reason to move to orange or red. You momentarily focused on your son, but quickly realized there was an issue when your wife was coming back and went to condition orange. Upon her report you then went to condition red and handled the situation by foiling the robbery and keeping everyone in the store safe.

the only thing I will say to learn from this is that if your wife and even son learn to be situationally aware, then there are three heads on a swivel watching for any thing out of the ordinary, not just one trying to cover three individuals. When you are in combat, you learn to feed off of each other, and cover each other's backs. Working as a team is key to making sure a threat isn't overlooked and a response can be made rapidly and appropriately.

As I said before, 'You done good sir!'

[Jim Beaux]

A point I overlooked. The thug was quite possibly a member of the Crips. They wear blue bandanas.

you did catch that this happened in San Antonio, yes? we might have MS13, but I've never heard of the crips here.

Youre right.

[mojo84]

Just heard on the radio that 600 gang members were recently rounded up in San Antonio. Wondering if this dude is a member of one of the gangs.

[olafpfj]

I've been thinking about the part where the guy asked "Are you a cop?".

The OP answered "No" which seems to be what emboldened him to get back up.

Are there any legal issues if the OP or anyone else in that situation had answered "Yes"?

[EEllis]

I've been thinking about the part where the guy asked "Are you a cop?".

The OP answered "No" which seems to be what emboldened him to get back up.

Are there any legal issues if the OP or anyone else in that situation had answered "Yes"?

Others may have a better insight than I do but my understanding is that calling yourself a cop is generally ignored unless you use that to try and do something or get away with something. Basically you can walk around with a hot or a shirt saying your police but it doesn't get you arrested till you actually do something. In a case like this it would be way down my list of concerns but I wouldn't answer anything the bad guys ask. They don't get to ask anything. It's them trying to find a way to regain some control and you don't want to allow that. I'm the guy pointing a gun at them and that's all they need to know.

[The Annoyed Man]

Javier730, well done. I have one question, and a comment or two.....

The question.....
Has your wife considered getting a CHL after this event? She was fortunate to have you with her at the time, but has she considered what might have happened if you had not been there?

The comments....
I think you probably handled this about as well as could be expected. The only two things I might have done differently are:

First — and let me be clear that this is a criticism of me, not you — is that I think I might have been frightened enough to shoot him when he started to get up, because for me, letting him get up is to let things spiral further out of control. He's damned lucky you had a cooler head.

Second — I would not have answered his question about you being a cop with anything more than, "if you don't stay down, I will shoot". That's all he needs to know.

But other than that, you did a fine job. Glad everyone is OK.