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My bad situation at Walmart,what would you have done?

13K views 56 replies 46 participants last post by  MadMac 
#1 ·
Yesterday afternoon about 3 p.m, I decided to go to Walmart to pick up a couple smalll items and mostly just to get out of the house for a while.
I was in the grocery section picking up a few snacks and decided to walk over to electronics and see the new laptops, as my daughter will be needing one for school soon.
Just about the time I reach the electronics department I hear someone yelling very, very loudly "turn left!","turn right!","keep going!"
I thought... what the heck?
I step out of the main isle about the time the person doing the yelling shot past me.
He was about 6'2 or so maybe 220 pounds, tan dress pants, & a red polo shirt.
Overall he was clean-cut, short, & w/ straight brown hair.
At this point its clear he's on meth or something. He runs past me at full speed, the store is packed, he's charging straight toward several small children (maybe 3 years old) who are walking next to their mothers side.
And also some elderly people who are using canes and barely able to move.
Now the guy doing the running, jumping and yelling is running into displays, shoving people out of hiis way, and seems totally oblivious to anything going on around him.
He's still yelling at the top of his lungs & at this point about 15 to 20 people have seen him and were frozen in place not knowing what to do.
He was on a collision course with the group of kids who he could have easily injured or killed along with their parents.
I'm still watching him from behind a display & wondering what I shoud do.
After a few seconds I realize maybe I should get my phone and start video recording all of this in case someone is injured by him.
But, I'm not as skilled as some at finding certain functions on my phone in a split second.
Why I decided to do what I did when i couldnt get to video record on my phone is beyond me but, I decided to follow him
Why,? I really couldn't tell you.
Maybe I was concerned for the other peoples safety.
Also knowing that I had my gun with me at the time and could defend myself or someone else if this guy decided to use a weapon.
Now he runs down an isle with fishing tackle (missing the kids thankfully) and through a set of metal doors.
I'm guessing into the store's stock room or break room and he doesnt return.
I'm expecting Walmart Security to respond but nobody shows up.
A couple minutes later I see about 3 or 4 Walmart employees walking among the crowd.
I'm not sure if they were just trying to manage the large crowd or were actually investigating what this guy did.
Other Walmart employees saw this happen but didn't do anything except watch.
Now I'm wondering what should I have done?
My state allows for the defense of another person, but he did not appear to have a weapon. So what were my options?
I'm only about 5'7" this guy had a good 7 or more inches on me in addition to about 40 pounds.
There was no way that I could have restrained him physically and he had as much legal right to be in the store as i did.
Walmart didn't send anyone to deal with him.
What would you all have done or done differently?
 
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#5 ·
Agreed with the others; Not your problem and not justifiable reason to use _any_ force regardless of what your oh this or that could happen imaginations might be.

I do find it interesting that you thought to video tape this person of all things.
What was your thought process here as in the way of reasoning...When dialing 911 is much quicker and potentially beneficial for everyone, who is not connected to YouTube?

One thing you could have done though is go outside, hop into your truck and wait for dude to exit to which you then could ram his car with hope to 'stop' him...After the fact tht nobody is being harmed or in danger by him.
That latter part I kid. : p

- Janq would have done nothing because walking fast/running through WalMart talking out loudly to ones self is not unlawful in MA, yet
 
#6 ·
If I had been in there alone, I would have probably tried to be a decent witness; had I been in there with kids I'd found the quickest exit and got them out and away.

Every so often I get out my cell phone and challenge myself to put it in camcorder mode as quick as I can.
 
#9 ·
Honestly, not to much you can do. I guess just keep a eye on him, who knows, he might have been from some type of home that houses people who are slow and he got away. Theres a number of things that could have happend.
 
#10 ·
I agree with the above posts, not a level of activity to justify intervention.

A couple added points. I keep my cell phone so one touch allows proceeding with photo or video activity. In situations of violence, such as an active shooter, if an exit is close it is a good option. If not, put family in a restroom and guard the approach. They usually have nitches and alcoves leading to same that compliment such activity.
 
#24 ·
In situations of violence, such as an active shooter, if an exit is close it is a good option. If not, put family in a restroom and guard the approach. They usually have nitches and alcoves leading to same that compliment such activity.

ex Navy Seal gave me the exact same restroom advice.
 
#11 ·
I didnt dial 911 because often it takes our officers several minutes to respond as the PD is across town from the store,and I was halfway expecting walmart security to do something any second.
 
#32 ·
I didnt dial 911 because often it takes our officers several minutes to respond as the PD is across town from the store,and I was halfway expecting walmart security to do something any second.
What is this security of which you speak?

It's pretty obvious to me what was happening. The guy you saw was a Walmart Assistant Manager. They had a customer that was wanting to purchase a HD wide scree tv and home theatre system. He was talking on his blue tooth headset to the stock clerk in the back. Obviously he was giving directions to the location in the stockroom where the TV's are kept. The customer must have been in a huge hurry and threatened to leave and go to Best Buy if they didn't get the TV out to him in the next two minutes.
It's a good thing you didn't tackle this guy and cost Walmart the sale. There may be a state law concerning interfering with the sale of HD TV's.

I now return you to your normally sane station.
 
#14 ·
I used to work with mentally disabled adults. Sometimes, if they got excited or upset, they would act out in various ways. The "turn right", "turn left" reminds me of how many of those folks would respond to stressful situations. I wouldn't assume meth, or any other kind of drug thing, if I saw behavior like that. I think you did the right thing by doing nothing.
 
#16 ·
for some strange reason I was unusally calm through this whole event. It didnt shake me or make me nervous hardly at all. Maybe constantly carrying has conditioned me to be calm knowing I've always got a gun if things get ugly. Or maybe it was because the guy was going the opposite direction as me. :smile:
 
#19 ·
mostly a guess,but since its really,really prevelant where I live especially among young people,However I could be wrong,like someone else mentioned he could be mental pateint,and that's a real possibilty too.
 
#20 ·
I'd move away and keep my hand's free. If you drop your camera to shoot somebody it could be used against you. Are you hiding evidence? BS but possible. I say get you and yours out of the way. Innocent kids in the line of fire count. But if they're next to mom or dad than that's their job to make their choices.
 
#41 ·
Yup. The only walmart employees who have any kind of authorization (from the company) to do anything are salaried managers and loss prevention/security folks. Besides, whose going to risk their own lives at an $8/hour job. I sure as hell wouldn't. Never seen a walmart associate with "Clark Kent" on the name badge.
 
#28 ·
People do strange stuff in WalMart all the time. Unless it involves threatening me personally, it's NOT MY PROBLEM.

Why record a video? WalMart has more security cameras than anybody :rolleyes:
 
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