Bad Situation - Gun = REAL BAD SITUATION

[21CG]

I had intended on writing this down the day of the incident but, as can be expected, its taken me a while to process everything….
I had just finished volunteering in an event put on by the Wounded Warriors Foundation; an annual bass fishing charity tournament in which volunteer anglers are paired with a soldier with a life-altering injury to compete against other teams. It was a very fulfilling experience to say the least and although the day was already memorable, it became one that I would never forget when I went to put my boat away for the evening.

To give some background, the immediate area in which I store my boat is not a bad one, as it is adjacent to a lake and relatively rural. However, it is no secret that the areas around it have some trouble with drugs and crime. This having been said, there have been a handful of incidents in which storage lockers have been broken into, resulting in boats and equipment being stolen by “meth-heads” looking for quick money to get a “fix”. I’ve been told these individuals are easy to spot; they stand out like a sore thumb against the usual crowd and will generally “creep” through the area looking for lockers that someone currently has open (to see what is being stored in it) and scope out their targets for later.

I had pulled into the area in which I store my boat; a series of several rows of garages suited for boat storage in a fully fenced-in area (I’m sure everyone that reads this has seen some sort of storage facility similar to this). I had opened the door to my locker and had just finished backing my boat the full extent of its way into the locker but had not yet un-hitched the boat from my suburban. At the time, I was sitting in the driver’s seat of my SUV, door closed, checking out something on my phone. I look up to see a grey Ford F250 pull past the gate and start heading up the alley of garages. At first I think nothing of it; after all, how many fishermen out there drive an F250? Then I see the occupants…

Driver: White male, mid-20’s, long hair, “wife-beater” undershirt, green and yellow hat.
Passenger: White male, mid-20’s, short hair, white t-shirt, blue and red flatbrim hat.
Rear Passenger: White female, early-20’s, long unkempt hair, tank-top, bags under the eyes, slack-jaw, eyes half open, strung-out on meth.

With all the windows down, the truck proceeds slowly up the ally and slows to a creep as it nears my open locker and suburban. The driver, who also appears to be a “user”, stares deliberately into my locker at my boat, locks eyes with me for several seconds, and then back again into my locker as the truck creeps by. The other two passengers, including the visibly strung-out female in the back seat, look only at me and nowhere else.

Condition Orange.

I start by grabbing a sharpie and writing down the license plate as the tailgate of my truck clears the front of my vehicle. I watch the trucks side-view mirrors to see if I can get a look at the driver and what he is doing. The truck nears the end of the garages where the alley makes a “T” and vehicles can turn either left or right and I can now see the drivers face by way of the trucks sideview mirrors. As I am looking, the driver locks eyes with me again via the sideview mirrors. The truck does not turn, but rather stops. The reverse lights come on.

Condition Red. Massive adrenaline spike.

At this point, the situation does not yet dictate drawing my firearm, but I am going through my “unlock codes”. I go to discreetly grasp my firearm, reaching to my 4:00 position for my USP Compact .40, only to feel nothing. No gun. It’s at home.

Heartbeat in the throat.

The truck is now almost right in front of my vehicle, windows down. The driver doesn’t move his eyes from mine. A locked-on stare.

***Remember, I am STILL attached to my boat, which is INSIDE a narrow garage…Speeding away is not an option.

Without a thought, I pull myself down underneath my steering wheel and cramp myself into the pedal area in an effort to get behind the engine block.

My only thought: There is going to be gunfire. Survive.

I wait there for probably 15 seconds, but for what seems like minutes. When I peek up and look out my passenger side window, I see that the truck has backed up and makes a three-point turn around and back out of the storage area.

I get right on my phone and call the owner of the storage area who happens to be a friend of mine, knowing that he has a security patrol on duty at all times. He picks up almost right away, I read him the license plate and tell him the situation. He says he’s calling security right now.

The MOMENT I HANG UP FROM A 30-SECOND PHONE CALL….here comes the truck again. Same approach, a near creep. I look inside the vehicle anticipating to visualize a threat….there are only two occupants now and the passenger is now driving.

My only thought: WHERE IS THE DRIVER?!?! Is he circling around behind me?!

The truck continues to creep by, the same way as before. The passenger (now driving) locks eyes with me yet again. The truck moves to the end of the alley, stops and parks. He now proceeds to do some sort of signaling with the brake lights. On and off in a “dot/dash” pattern. What it means or who it’s to, I don’t know and don’t care. All I know is that, at this point, I’m unarmed, I’m as helpless as a duck on a frozen pond and if I sit here any longer, it probably won’t turn out well for me. I’m sitting in the middle of a possible ambush. Get gone or get dead.

No other choice. I get out of the car as fast as possible. Un-hitch the trailer, pull down the door and lock the latch. Back in the car. Put it in drive. LEAVE!

My friend calls me back just as I make it on to the main road. He says security is pulling up as we speak and they’ve seen that truck with those plates before. I tell him that I’m just glad I made it the hell outta there and that I’m alright.

Despite my best efforts in typing out the happenings of the incident, I feel as though the above text does absolutely no justice to just how fast a situation like this happens, the amount of stress that you are under or to the physiological effects of an “adrenaline dump”. At the end of the day, I’m just thankful it didn’t turn out any worse than it could have. I can still feel my heart start to race just reliving the event while I typed it out.

Lessons learned:
1) Live your life in CONDITION YELLOW……I was coming home from a fun day of tournament fishing and was in an area I was familiar with and had been 1,000 times in the past. A SD situation can happen ANYWHERE and you need to be ALERT!

2) Situational Awareness SAVES LIVES - Had I not been aware of what was going on, I could very well not be sitting here typing this if the situation had gone any further south.

3) If you are going to carry…CARRY! – What good does it do you if you don’t? Ever since I’ve had my gun and been waiting on my plastic, I’ve carried in my house and in my car very regularly. After this incident, you can bet that once my plastic comes, I won’t be unarmed for another second in my life.

Be vigilant out there, guys. Live life in Condition Yellow.

[joe817]

Phew! Ultra scary story TXBassGuide! Glad it worked out for you. But I'm surprised you didn't call 911. I understand why you called the manager/owner of the facility, as he has on site security there.

Thanks for sharing your thought processes. Good visualizations! And kudos to you in your situational awareness. I think you did everything right, except for calling 911 AND leaving the gun at home!

Like the American Express commercial: don't leave home without it.

[Lefty Writer]

Wow......just, wow!

I'm glad everything turned out OK for you.

[Excaliber]

I'm glad you emerged from that encounter with only lessons learned and no extra holes.

Bad guys know that being observed before they're in striking distance is not healthy because it gives the potential victim too much time to come up with painful surprises. Your immediate recognition of developing danger and your eye contact and visual tracking of the subjects may well have given them concern that you might be prepared and able to respond effectively. It sounds like they either concluded you were too risky a target, or they were still arguing about it and couldn't come to a go / no go decision before you eliminated the "go" option by your departure.

Another point worth noting is that Indiana Jones moment of reaching for your gun and not finding one where it should be, while certainly memorable, is not nearly as amusing in real life as it is in the movies.

The next worst thing is reaching for your gun in a situation like the one you described with 3 potentially dangerous opponents up close in an F250 and finding one of those really light, easy to carry / easy to conceal .25's or .380's in your holster while that heavy old uncomfortable 1911 sits uselessly back in the home gun safe.

There is wisdom in: "Carry 24/7 or guess right."

A corollary is: "Carry something you'd feel confident engaging multiple determined opponents with."

The life you save may be your own.

[WildBill]

Pretty scary situation. Maybe it's a good thing that they were "meth-heads" rather than just theives. They probably spent all their money on drugs rather than guns.

Seriously, meth addicts become mentally ill and very paranoid. They can be very very dangerous. It sounds your encounter scared you enough that you will change your carry habits.

[Charles L. Cotton]

. . . The next worst thing is reaching for your gun in a situation like the one you described with 3 potentially dangerous opponents up close in an F250 and finding one of those really light, easy to carry / easy to conceal .25's or .380's in your holster while that heavy old uncomfortable 1911 sits uselessly back in the home gun safe.

Amen! One of my sons got that lesson in spades. Having a PPK instead of his Colt Commander sure ran the pucker factor off the scale.

Chas.

[budroux2w]

wow! scary story indeed. Glad you're safe.

[Fangs]

They might have thought you were reaching for a gun when you tucked behind the engine block.

I had high school friends who ended up in the category of the people you encountered, they moved to a similar area too (off 620 in Lakeway). While they mostly stuck to destroying/stealing stuff from unoccupied property, I heard later that so-and-so got arrested for trying to rob someone at knife point.

Glad you made it through ok. Keep your little friend with you.

[Justin Franklin]

Thanks for sharing!

There have been a few comments on another thread about not carrying after what happened to Erik Scott in Vegas...I hope your story changes their mind!

[Grammy]

Glad it turned out all right for you, could have very well gone the other way. Always 24/7 if possible.
Jim

[gigag04]

Maybe they thought you looked strange and were stealing a boat. I definitely all that ducking and hiding would make you look shady - especially while hitched up to a boat.

All in all glad it was nothing...but what did they do other than look like "users"?

I have probably fit that description after a long day on the lake in the sun. And I drive a grey f250....

[RiverRat]

Glad it all came out all right. Remember that truck you are driving is working weapon if you had needed one, too. I'll take a pickup over a pistol most days. Be safe.

[karder]

Scary. The inability to drive away sure maximizes the problem. Maybe keeping a shotgun in your truck would be a good idea. Odds are that they were armed too and if you are able to get behind that suburban with a 12 gauge, it would help even out the odds. Glad your ok.

[The Annoyed Man]

This reminds me to put my 640 .357 in the console and keep it there with a speed loader on the odd chance that I might develop half-heimers and leave home without my regular carry weapon.

[dewayneward]

[quote]The next worst thing is reaching for your gun in a situation like the one you described with 3 potentially dangerous opponents up close in an F250 and finding one of those really light, easy to carry / easy to conceal .25's or .380's in your holster while that heavy old uncomfortable 1911 sits uselessly back in the home gun safe. [/quote

I laughed out loud when I read this because I own a 1911 and a .25. There are days where I just "run out" and grab the .25 because I am ALWAYS armed. When I grab the .25 I always think (this will be the day that something happens and I'll have THIS pea shooter). in all fairness, the 1911 is on me 99% of the time.