The guy could just as easily smile back, and then knife you as you pass.

And in your scenario, what would nationality have to do with anything?

 

I am not sure what a persons nationality has to do with it unless I was trying to figure out if he was a terrorist or something. What convinced me that he intended to attack me was the way he wouldn't take his eyes off of me. Like he had a purpose. Although I had a small amount of panic that I had failed to read the situation accurately from the start I knew I still had time to draw my weapon if needed. I will tell you that I was trying to make a very quick assessment of him and the situation.

 

If you watch you tube videos of the knockout game or prison stabbings, it happens so fast that it's hard to prepare. I've had a couple of situations that looked strange where I changed my route to avoid someone and they altered their route to intercept me. They were panhandlers, but it makes your hair stand up when you first notice them doing it.

 

My best walks were with my Doberman, she had senses that I did not, and she would fight to the death if someone attacked me.
A good dog makes a great walking buddy.

 

My daughter and I went hiking with a German Shepherd and a pit bull mix last weekend. Almost everyone made sure to walk WAY over on the other side of the trail when they passed. The dogs are really well behaved and pretty much ignore everyone.

We did have one run-in with four teenagers. They kept rushing up behind us to get the dogs to bark and then screaming at them to shut up. They quit when we turned around and started walking toward them.

 

I hate being in crowded places, try to avoid them but evil can rear it's ugly head in a setting with only a few people or even only one other. The best we can do is try and keep our SA as peaked as we can. I try and get my wife to be more aware of her surroundings. She tends to not be aware of whats going on around her :frown:

 

Here's the problem. If you see a gang of black kids walking toward you and you change sides of the street to avoid them, you're now a racist. If you don't alter your course, you're taking a risk.

 

This is why I always stand behind my wife.....she's only 5' 3" but that gives me about 83% coverage. :embarassed:

 

There are of course many different kinds of scenarios but this happened to me about a year ago. I walked out of a burger shop, it was dark outside perhaps 9 pm. A few cars in the parking lot. I was walking towards my car when I noticed a guy who had been walking perpendicular to me make a sharp right turn directly towards me. He looked to be in his 20's, (I'm 60) and was carrying a folded paper in his hand, and the fold wasn't very tight. I made another turn roughly 45 degrees turn towards my car and he adjusted course coming closer to me.

He was saying something to me as he was closing the gap but I really could not understand it.

I had my 9 in a shoulder harness and my pepper spray in my pocket on my key chain.

When he was something like 30 foot away I stopped and went into a sort of sideways combat stance, raised my left hand up and told him stop, don't come closer.

I'm a rightly... in case I needed to draw pepper or 9.

He seemed to pause for a second, then started walking towards me again still mumbling something. I again raised my left hand and this time belted out my best command order telling him to stop. He was perhaps 20' away and closing and I remember thinking if he continues to close I need to go for the pepper spray or my 9.

well, after my 2nd order to stop, he made a 90 degree turn and walked away. My friggin heart was pounding and I was pretty damn happy when my key opened my car door; I had been very obviously watching him walk away and he me.

I think I avoided something here, but I can't pat myself too much on the back because in the heat of the moment i was so fixated on him that i did not swivel to see if he had friends. Had he had friends I probably would have been toast. But since he was a loner, I am convinced that my actions caused him to think twice; he had to have known that anyone that stops, turns sideways in a combat stance and barks an order (I'm retired military) would likely have something to fall back on.

I posted this story on this site once before. I wanted to say that I knew what to do in this situation because I had watched a First Person defender video which I credit for teaching me how to deal with this precise scenario. It's worthy of watching by both men and women.

I have no connection with the First Person series other than being very thankful I had just watched this video before it actually happened to me.

 

^^ I posted on this parking lot abduction thing and they did it ALL WRONG.

The woman should have gone BACK inside and called 911, with her eye on the door so nobody followed here and had 911 clear the lot and her car.

It's monumentally stupid for these Tactical Instructors to try and train INDIVIDUALS to handle such threats. It won't work. I'm sure they're well-meaning folks but they need to get a clue. One person with one pistol is "nobody with nothing", (against an actual predator), to carry out the 'one is none, two is one' meme.

FWIW.

 

Of course if there is a way out that doesn't involve confrontation that's better. And the video is just a simulation. But the point is you may not have time to retreat and call 911. You may be lucky and have something like this happen feet away from a public entrance. Or, you can be in the middle of a mall parking lot at 9 pm at night, when retreat to a public place is just out of the question.

In my situation, the whole thing went down in seconds. Like Sully in the cockpit, there is a time gap where precious seconds are lost just trying to figure out what the hell is happening. Could I have high tailed it? Maybe. But that gets increasingly more difficult the older one gets and/or if physical limitations exist. I have a fraction of the stamina I once had.

We must prepare for all scenarios, and I stand by what I said about this video - because there isn't always time to run and retreat. I adopted what I saw in this video for me and it worked beautifully - this time. Next time.. we'll see.

 

In these situations at least you see them coming! The ones I most worry about are the attackers that you never see! As you pass a bush, tree, or the corner of a building someone steps out and hits you with a crowbar! Or the sucker punch from the smiling teen walking by! DR

 

Tough call . Would depend on what my 'Spidey Sense' told me . I've been blindly assaulted before so that sense is well developed .

 

Hey....it was a dream. Why did you wake up? You should have stayed asleep and kicked his ass. :rofl:

 

But then you can't just warn everybody who walks towards you.

Why not ? Someone walks towards me, they need a reason .... LOL , and I'm really not kidding. If someone I don't know is approaching me, I have no qualms to tell them to go away and leave me alone. I'm not out in the general public for people to approach me for some unknown reason.... now, if just going the opposite direction as me, that's a different matter.

I've told people start approach me and told them go away when they were 40 ft from me..... with them saying "I just wanted to ask you something" .... and my response..... Leave .. and leave me alone, you have nothing to discuss with me. I'm not out trying to meet new people and make new friends. And 99% of the time that lame approach is another guy wanting to milk you of $$ , or some other unnecessary contact. go away !

 

Stare right back into their eyes showing them you see them and your not backing down. If he continues to advance towards me I would consider him hostile.

This also works with rude/nosy people. My wife is on oxygen a lot and she is young (30) so people will stare at her. She hates it so I told her to stare right back at them. They almost always get a guilty look on their face and look away quickly.

 

Don't care much for pocketbook carry....nor her walking with her hand locked in her purse. IMO, some might take it as she has money or carrying valuables in there...much prefer CC on her person like a IWB or similar....otherwise, some good points.

 

All good points, BadjerJ

 

I tried to determine what his nationality was by how he looked or the way he dressed.....

This part offended me, so I had to retreat to my safe space to avoid getting triggered.

 

I don't know why that offended you but if you are not sure about somebody you might want to notice what they wear. One guy who kept messing with me one time wore a hooded sweatshirt inside of a puffed out jacket -about like a carhart jacket- and I noticed that right away because it would be so easy for him have a weapon stuck inside - either the jacket pocket or the sweatshirt. That was before I started carrying and he wouldn't leave me alone until he came around and I was acting like I was giving the police a description of him on my cell phone. Then he walked away and never came back.

 

This was just a dream but I learned something from it and that was to try to make quicker decisions about what I observe. If somebody is walking towards you you have to not only determine what kind of threat they pose but you have to access your own situation very quickly. Do you have time to avoid any conflict. If possible you need to be able to tell if they are armed. About another half a dozen things that can race through your mind in a few seconds.

 

A lot of times dreams are just the brains way of dealing with issues that have you concerned. It's a way for the brain to classify information into familiar categories for storage or to work through problems that you faced during the day - even if they were only going on your subconscious. In a case like this, the issue was probably triggered by something you saw, did, or thought during the day and it's a good idea to use it to come up with a strategy to deal with it in the future.

I should know. I took a semester of psychology in Jr College.

 

Guy walking towards you--spidey senses go off--don't forget to quickly check your 6.

 

Most...."dream" threads on this forum usually don't end up having a whole ton of real world merit.
This one seems worthwhile.
I usually move most of them to Humor/Off Topic.
This one can stay here. :yup:

 

That "guy" could have been me. I don't smile at anyone.

 

Why not? What's wrong with a friendly demeanor?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

There's a fool born every minute...............

 

It could be someone like this.

 

If someone intends to attack you, they can and will. Most attacks are never seen coming. Some come at you from the front and rear while working as cohorts in their criminal business.

I have found that the best deterrent is the sight of a handgun on my side. Twice panhandlers have approached me before noticing the gun on my side and changing their course.

Attacks come in many forms. Defense options are few and vary widely. Being acutely aware of your surroundings and making mental notes of things puts the odds more in your favor.

Over the years, I have read many reports where both men and women were attacked in parking lots. It is easy for someone to crouch down beside a parked car and jump you as you walk past. Walking in the center of the drive aisle gives one a couple extra seconds to react.

 

...

Over the years, I have read many reports where both men and women were attacked in parking lots. It is easy for someone to crouch down beside a parked car and jump you as you walk past. Walking in the center of the drive aisle gives one a couple extra seconds to react.

There's a much simpler method. If you absolutely must go into a parking lot from a store at night, go find the store manager and ask him if he can spare an employee (or even himself) to help you bring your purchases to the car or simply walk you to your car.

Two people walking to the car, and someone being your 'wingman', will discourage all but the most determined who might try to mug you. In fact I'd say it just won't happen. Be sure to have them wait until you are safely IN your car and that the car is safe, and then help you back out of your space safely. It takes mere minutes. Do not be embarrassed to ask for help.

The most dangerous part of being out and about is getting out of or into your car in a parking lot, along with loading your purchases. Solve this at the lowest possible energy level (partnering/assistance), not the highest energy level (i.e., your only "solution" is to shoot someone to prevent it).

HTH

 

Can you imagine how many people Walmart would have to employ if just a third of their customers ask someone to walk to their car with them?

 

12.... at my Walmart 90% of the people are obese trolls riding around in those electric carts..........just sayin


What I am worried about is tranny's disguising themselves when they walk toward you to rob you...

 

Anyone know how much a ticket to Manila might cost me?

 

politeness goes out the window if I think someone is going to bother me.