[PHM]

Originally Posted by savagemaxx

BG Contact

Saturday night my daughter and I went to Wal-Mart late. It’s a 24 hour Wal-Mart, my daughter needed some stuff for a school project and my youngest had the flu, so the wife wanted some more kids fever reducer. So it’s about 11:20 when we pulled into the parking lot. I hopped out on my truck headed to the front entrance with my teenager in tow messing with her Ipod. As we enter the store I notice three young gentlemen (mid 20's) standing outside the store smoking. I really didn’t pay them much attention at first and honestly thought they were Wal-Mart employees taking a smoke break. We gathered up the stuff we needed, paid at the check out and head back out. As we leave the front of the store I see the three amigos are still there, and as we get about 15 feet in front of them they fall in step. Even my daughter notices it. She glances back at them and then shoots me a worried look. I calmly tell her "just get in on my side of the truck". As we get about 4 cars from my truck, I glance back and see that one of the gents has broken off and is setting himself up to come around the back side of the truck. As we get close I use the remote to unlock the driver’s door. I open the door quickly to let my daughter in. Since there was another car next to us, this made it difficult for the other two to see or do anything. I also reach under my coat and unsnapped the retention strap on my Galco paddle holster, but was careful not to expose my gun. Seeing my hand in my coat gave the other gent enough of a reason to back up, he stopped just at the rear bumper of my truck. This gave me a chance to get myself in. I can proudly say that my daughter had already begun to dial her cell phone as she scrambled in to the truck. Doors closed and locked I turned the truck on. The other two had already started to back off as well. We pulled out and drove to the front of the store. My daughter handed me the cell phone with the 911 dispatcher already on the line. We gave them a description of the three, who were making a run for their car. The dispatched said that this was not the first report of this scenario and that since the Wal-Mart was off of a highway it made it easy to get in and out quickly. I waited for LEO to show, as per the dispatcher request. I gave them my DL and my permit. They checked my ID as well as my permit, thanked me for the description, and sent me on my way. My daughter was REALLY REALLY shaken. I did ok till we got home and I sat down and thought about what could have happened.

LEO Contact

Sunday morning at 10:18 AM my phone rings, its my alarm company saying that they have a burglary alarm at my office. I asked that they dispatch the LEOs and I headed out. I reached my office in about 25 minutes to find a Sac Country Sheriff and a Rancho Cordova PD waiting outside. They had searched to office and found it secure as well as the warehouse, but the asked me to walk the premises with them. I handed them my ID and my permit. One officer (RCPD) ran my info while that other waited with me. After the RCPD officer gave the thumbs up to the Sac Sheriff, we inspected the entire building top to bottom and both came to the conclusion that my secretary needs to learn to lock the door and that the gusty winds probably was responsible for tripping the alarm.

In both cases showing the officers the permits up front seemed to change the way they treated me. They seemed a bit more at ease and were very polite. But in both cases I feel my training and this forum helped me react properly. Any suggestions would be welcome though. Did I handle this correctly.

SM

The scenario you just described happens on a daily basis in Los Angeles County and San Francisco County/City and the residents there have almost a 0% chance of legally having the right to defend themselves in a situation like this, it disgusts me that the system is so screwed up that regular everyday law abiding folks cannot do the same thing you did to defend themselves, even though you didn't have to actually use your weapon, I'm sure you were really glad you had that available to you in case you had to use it. I'm glad you and your daughter came out fine and nothing had to escalate anymore than it did.