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?
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?