In rememberance

I was perusing JihadWatch this morning and came across a post that stirred me in a number of ways for the rest of the day.  So, here is sad news about the murder of a brave young man...

  

Philadelphia Police Officer John Pawlowski

John was brave because he did a job most people can't do.  I don't know how much PPD paid him but it wasn't enough.  No brave cop gets paid enough. He was murdered today by a young man who evidently took great pleasure in doing so.  Officer Pawlowski was a warrior in the eternal struggle of good against evil and today the good-guys lost what I'm sure was a good man. I pray God comfort his family and friends.

You are warriors in that same kind of battle ~ you can be if you so choose.  It's not as focused and constant as what John faced and what his brother and sister officers face every day, but it is most certainly a battle between good and evil.

Here's something we can learn from the incident, how it was handled on-scene. I'm not criticizing for the sake of putting down any of the officers who were there. But because something like this can happen any time and any place to any person, it's best to get the After Action Review done and out to those who might need it. 

You.

Situation: Three legally armed Unerschrocken are at the mall, minding their own business, when they see a fight between two young men who are dressed in gang colors. No weapons are visible on the gangsters so the three Unerschrocken move toward the tussle to try to settle it down a bit, since there are many innocent shoppers passing by and absolutely no cops in the vicinity.  And, of course, Security is nowhere to be seen.

As soon as the Unerschrocken tell them to break it up, the gangsters stop fighting each other and attack them. So the Unerschrocken defend themselves without drawing weapons and they're struggling on the floor but they forget to look for the second man ~ or the third man ~ or the fourth.  These are gangsters after all; they travel in packs.  So what happens is a homey of the guys wrestlin' on the floor with the Unerschrocken comes around the corner and sees this action, reaches into his coat pocket and gets real close, too close, and commences to fire on our buds.

Unerschrocken; based on the information available to us now, this is most likely what happened in Philly this morning.  The bad-guy walks up to three cops who are struggling with another bad-guy or two and caps one of the good-guys.

If you find yourself in a similar situation; you have choices as always:

• Turn and run away from the fight because you don't want to get hurt, not necessarily a wrong choice, morally or otherwise
• Stand and watch ~ muttering just loud enough for your girlfriend to hear: If he did that to me, I'd fuck him up ~ taking video on your cell-phone so you can post it later on YouTube and get your 15 minutes 
• Call the cops and hope they show up in time ~ and maybe give them a description of the killers, if you even bothered to pay attention
• Your suggestions? Anyone?

Maybe this is an option you'll want to consider if you're ever in that situation and your two friends are the ones struggling with the gangsters on the mall floor and you are legally armed with a concealed handgun:

• Position yourself so you can stay out of the fight, unless one of your friends is about to be seriously injured or killed and you choose to act in that case
• But be in a spot where you can feel how the fight is going at your feet, maybe reach down with your non-shooting hand to feel what's going on while still keeping your eyes searching for approaching threats
  • See Comments below for more detail
• Tell people ~ don't ask ~ to call the cops and EMTs
• And see and react to any approaching threat ~ with a reasonable amount of force, even legal deadly force if necessary

The proper reaction to bad-guy friends coming 'round the corner to save his homey? Consider this:

• You have a reasonable belief that they are about to inflict great bodily harm on you or kill you a/o your friends
• Loudly warn your friends of what's coming as you put your hand on your weapon and prepare to draw it
• As you're looking at the approaching, threatening bad-guys, loudly announce to them something like this: STOP STOP STOP!
• If they don't stop, draw your handgun to the low ready; toward them with the muzzle pointed at the floor about 5' in front of you, finger indexed, not on the trigger
• If seeing your gun doesn't make them stop, say loudly: HANDS UP HANDS UP HANDS UP!
• If they stop and put hands up, tell them loudly: GET ON THE GROUND GET ON THE GROUND GET ON THE GROUND! NOW NOW NOW!

The Low Ready Position

If they do as you command, tell them loudly to stay where they are because the police are on the way right now.  But be aware they may have more friends in the crowd who could try to interfere in some way. Be careful.

If they don't stop, won't put up their hands, and won't get on the ground and you still have a reasonable belief that they are going to hurt you seriously or kill you and/or your friends still wrestling there on the ground, well... I know what I'd do.  I'd put four in the chest of the closest bad-guy, then four in the chest of the second-closest guy and so on, with a combat reload in there if necessary. You do what you decide to at that time.

Any suggestions?

Remember: if you decide to shoot, you may face a judge or jury who was not there at the time and might not understand how scared you were, might not accept your version of reasonable.

Comments

[Undaunted]

Maybe I could have said it better.

It's not wrong to move your eyes back and forth between the pile and the crowd, but if there is reasonable concern a bad-guy in the crowd will hurt you, it's best to keep an eye on him all the time. That's when you need to stay in touch with the fighters, literally. Carefully.

The cover man needs to be set so he can feel what's going on when he can't see it, because he's looking for inbound trouble. So, he needs to have his foot under one of the struggling bodies, preferrably one of the good-guys, or his lower leg against the pile. This is if the struggle is low on the floor, fighters on their backs. If it's a bit higher because the fighters are on their knees, the cover guy can reach down and touch the fighters with his weak hand to get a feeling as to how the fight's going. If the bad-guy is on top, be careful not to touch him where he can grab you and pull you down.

You should also ask your struggling partner how he's doing in the fight. "You need any help, Mike?" should be the direct question. You need to identify who you're speaking to by name so the bad-guy doesn't think you're talking to him.

If Mike says he needs help, you need to decide how much help to give and how much cover is still needed and act accordingly.

If the bad-guy's on top, hurting your guy, it may be time to draw your weapon and, keeping it at hip-level so the bad-guy can't get to it, tell him to stop fighting and put his hands where you can see them. If the bad-guy can't see you have a gun, move to a spot where you can still eye the crowd and make sure you give him a good look at it, but not so close he can snatch it from you.

Remember that hair-holds are a good way to get a bad-guy off your good-guy. Grab a handful from the top/rear and pull hard and steady, taking the bad-guy's head to the floor. His body will follow. Then break contact and back away as you draw your weapon. At that point it might be best to flee, or begin ordering the bad-guy to do this or that in preparation for arrival of the police. I don't know, you decide there and then.

When the cops arrive, point your weapon at the ground, still keeping your eye on the bad-guy(s). Without turning to face them, no matter from which direction they may come, loudly tell the cops you are the good-guy and the fellas on the floor are the bad-guys, putting your non-gun hand in the air. Do not turn toward the cops. Stay facing the bad-guys with your weapon pointed down and do exactly what they say and when.

I had a friend who was in a situation like this once and when the cops told her to drop her gun she refused saying she'd put hers down when they aimed theirs at the bad-guy. They did and then she did. They later told her she did everything right.

As always; your decision.

[Northernsniper]

Question more vs a comment. In your bullet point "But be in a spot where you can feel how the fight is going at your feet, maybe reach down with your non-shooting hand to feel what's going on while still keeping your eyes searching for approaching threats" are you saying to move close enough to the fight as to break it up with your non-shooting hand?