This happened to me in 1994

[TN_Mike]

Just 6 months out of the Navy, living in a small town in Mobile County Alabama, working as an armed guard for Wackenhut at the time although when this happened I was not at work.

My Mother in Law was working a second job as a clerk at a stop and rob gas station/convenience store and I would often go up to the store when my wife was at work. I like my Mother in Law and would often go up there to keep her company and I worried about her getting robber or assaulted there after dark. They had no partition to separate the clerk from the public so in a robbery she could be easily injured or killed by the bad guy.

At the time I was carrying a Taurus PT-99, 9mm with 15 round magazine and a spare 15 round magazine.

So, I had been there about an hour, drank one soda she bought for me (she appreciated me coming up there as she knew I carried) and went to the back to use the bathroom. To get to the bathroom (the one for employees) you went into the back room and walked behind the drink coolers. You could see the store from in there through the glass doors of the drink coolers.

After using the bathroom I came out into the back room and started past all the drink coolers and glanced out through them. I saw my Mother in Law standing at the counter but backed away from the register. There was a man standing there with a large fillet knife in his hand.
I came out from the back with my gun in my hand. I tried to be as quiet as possible but felt sure I was making all kinds of noise. As I rounded the isle of chips I pointed my gun at him and yelled for him to drop the knife. He realized that things had gone south on him when he looked at me and saw the gun.

My Mother in Law had hit the silent alarm button and he was frozen by the sight of the gun. But, he seemed to snap out of it and seemed to be trying to decide what to do next. I told him that if he moved at all I would kill him. I ordered him to put the knife on the counter and lie down on his stomach. Amazingly, he did what I told him to do and about 3 minutes later the first Sheriffs Deputy got there and took over.

In hind sight I wish I had told my Mother in Law to call 911 and at least tell the police that the bad guy was being held at gun point and describe me. I didn't get a gun pointed at me but I think it would have been much better for the Deputies to have known everything before they got there. In a similar situation today, I would do some things differently.

Had he made a move towards me or my Mother in Law I would have killed him. I knew that then and I am even more sure of it now. I didn't want to shoot him and to an extent, I will always be thankful that he did exactly what I told him to do so I did not have to hurt him in any way.

He was booked, scheduled to go on trial several months later but took a plea deal.
My Mother in Law stopped working there about a month after that. She still calls me her hero.

She also got her carry permit shortly after that incident.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[P95Carry]

Great outcome Mike .......... I think I would have also shared your emotions after the event - much relief !

Might have been better with a call in but hey - it went down just fine.

[BruceGibson]

Great story! Great outcome...whew! That one had me at the edge of my...desk chair. Very well done!

[Tom G]

Your mother in law was lucky to have some one who cared about her to look out for her welfare. It's criminal how the owners will put a lone employee to work the night shift with out the protection of bullet prof glass or a coworker.

[Blackeagle]

Sounds like you handled it well. Your Mother-in-law certainly learned the right lesson from the experience too.

[BIG E]

Nice story and a job well done.

Way to keep your head.

As far as doing things differently... I think you did fine. You had control of the situation and control of yourself. I can imagine your blood was pumping.

Thanks for sharing your story.

[TN_Mike]

I thought I did pretty well for a guy who was just 27 years old at the time. But, I did have the benefit of having some pretty decent training from the Wackenhut Corporation. They are a pretty good company as far as armed guards go.

I will say this, except for the combat experiences I had in the Persian Gulf in 1991, that was the most stressful experience I had had up to that point in my life.

[ccw9mm]

I told him that if he moved at all I would kill him. I ordered him to put the knife on the counter and lie down on his stomach. Amazingly, he did what I told him to do and about 3 minutes later the first Sheriffs Deputy got there and took over.

Amazing. A smart violent attacker. You were lucky. Kudos on keeping your head, and your "left" up.

[CharlieMike]

Excellent story! Good job!

[my2cents]

It's hard to have 20-20 foresight. It's always a hind-sight thing. I think you handled it really well. Congratulations!

[rocky]

Nice job.

[jofrdo]

As happens in a majority of cases of armed citizens encountering BG's, just drawing the gun stops the assault, without shots being fired.

I have to think that if he had had a gun pointed at her, I would have fired without any announcement or commands. But since he had a knife, and she had been able to back away out of immediate stabbing/cutting range, you did the right thing to issue commands for him to disarm. It kept you from having to shoot and it kept you from possibly years of legal entanglements.

[Sig 210]

Good job.

[Chooie]

As happens in a majority of cases of armed citizens encountering BG's, just drawing the gun stops the assault, without shots being fired.

I have to think that if he had had a gun pointed at her, I would have fired without any announcement or commands. But since he had a knife, and she had been able to back away out of immediate stabbing/cutting range, you did the right thing to issue commands for him to disarm. It kept you from having to shoot and it kept you from possibly years of legal entanglements.

That seems true in this situation, where she had a counter between herself and the BG... but if it was all open space, he might as well have been standing behind her with the knife to her throat. Not pleasant to think about, but something we must consider.

With that said, good job, Mike, and thanks for relating this story to us.

[TN_Mike]

I'm glad you guys found the story interesting and informative.

I had not related the story before now because I don't think about it too much but my Mother in Law called the other day (the anniversary of the incident) to say thanks as she does almost every year. Sometimes I get a card too. One year she bought me a bunch of ammo for the gun I used to stop the robbery. She's pretty cool and I couldn't ask for a better Mother in Law and Grandmother for my kids.

But you guys are right, had it been a gun in the scum bags hand or for that matter if there wasn't a fairly high counter (about 4 1/2 feet tall) between them, he would have been shot without a single word being uttered on my part.