Episode 23 with Robyn Street
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Introduction- Rob- Welcome to episode 23 of Self-Defense Gun Stories. I’m Rob Morse and I’m helped by firearms instructor Robyn Street.
Robyn- Hi, Rob. Hello new listeners, and welcome back for our regular listeners. Each week we report and analyze examples of civilian defense. Our first example took place last week in North Carolina
First story- Rob- A man walked into the Lumberton, North Carolina mini-mart at 11 pm. The customer then presented a gun and pointed it at the store clerk’s head. The thief demanded money. What the thief didn’t see was another store employee. This second employee saw a gun being pointed at the clerk’s head, and the employee presented a handgun of his own. He shot the thief. The thief ran. Neither store employees nor customers were injured. Police used a K-9 unit to find the thief a few blocks away hiding in some bushes. The thief is in the hospital with life threatening injuries.
Robyn- This one really points out the importance of training.
Rob- how so?
Robyn- First, for the clerk with the gun pointed at his head. Knowledge of pre attack indicators might have prevented the thief from getting so close with his gun out.
Often clerks are told to give the thief what they are asking for. The problem with that theory is that after you give the thief what he wants, you are still at his mercy. The thief gets to decide is he wants to go ahead and hurt you. Compliance does not guarantee safety.
The employee actually had the gun pointed at his head. The clerk could have benefitted from disarm training.
Rob- it is hard for clerks to keep customers away from them.
Robyn- Thank goodness for the second employee. He was prepared. He had his pistol with him. The thief had time to prepare and gather the tools that he was going to use in the robbery. The employees had to react and they only had the tools that they were carrying with them at that particular moment.
The second employee had a gun and the training to use it. He shot the thief but he did not injure the store employees or customers. He had to be aware of the violent criminal actor and all of the innocent people in the store. He obviously did a good job.
The final thing that they did right was to let the thief run away. They let the police find him and deal with him. When the threat of attack from the thief was no longer present they no longer had a reason for self-defense.
Rob- You mean they didn’t shoot at a running man or chase him outside the store?
Robyn- Our next story took place in Leitchfield, Kentucky at 9:30 in the evening.
Second Story- Rob- A woman had taken out a restraining order on her ex-boyfriend. Unfortunately, the boyfriend lived next door. The woman’s court order was ineffective when her ex-boyfriend started pounding on her windows and doors. The woman retrieved her pistol and called police. The ex-boyfriend broke down her front door and walked inside. The woman shot the intruder, and he ran. The woman said she feared for her life and the life of her 11-year-old son, who was in the home at the time. The ex-boyfriend’s criminal history includes burglary, rape, kidnapping and assault.
Robyn- When seconds are all that you have the police are still minutes away. It is not their fault. We have to call for them. They have to get dispatched and travel to our location. We are our own first responders. That is a very important mindset.
Rob- We are on our own.
Robyn- We are on our own until the police arrive. Domestic violence is such a problem. The victim obviously knew that her ex-boyfriend was potentially going to give her trouble. She did the right thing by documenting her fear and getting a restraining order. The problem with criminals and other bad guys is that they don’t respect the laws or restraining orders.
I am glad that she was prepared. Rather than going to retrieve her pistol, I would have preferred that she had it with her. You never know how long you will have to go get your self-defense tools. I am glad that it worked out for her.
She said the she was in fear for her life. Based on the fact that he was pounding on windows and broke down the front door and she knew about his criminal history of burglary, rape, kidnapping and assault. I don’t blame her for fearing for her life, but I gotta wonder what she saw in this man to begin with. Be careful of the company that you keep.
Rob- at least she can bring his history into evidence to explain her actions.
Robyn- I am glad the she called the police not only to get help on the way but to document the event. 911 calls are recorded and can be used as evidence if there is a trial. If you call to get help keep that line open to document what occurs. You can put the phone down if you have to but they are still recording.
Robyn- Our third story took place near Louisville, Kentucky.
Third story- Rob- A 65 year old man lived with an older man who owned the home. The 65 year old heard noises outside the home and went to investigate. He didn’t find anyone outside. As he walked inside, he found a 39 year old man fighting with the older homeowner. The 65 year old shot their younger attacker. The attacker is in stable but serious condition at a hospital.
Robyn- Don’t go looking for trouble.. Because you might find it. What item outside the house was worth risking his personal safety? When you hear noises secure yourself inside your home or whatever safe position is available. This is the time that you make final preparations for a potential attack. Call the police and let them investigate for you. It would have been great if he would have had motion sensor lights or manually turned on the exterior lights. Perhaps that might have helped persuade the attacker to leave.
Do whatever you can to make your home a hard target – lights, cameras, alarms etc. If he would have had exterior cameras set up, he could have investigated without leaving the safety of his home. Now is the time to make preparations like installing cameras and lights. Then use it to your advantage to provide safety for you and your loved ones.
Unfortunately that is not what this man decided to do. He left the relative safety of his home and unfortunately he did not secure his house when he went outside to investigate the noises. This allowed the much younger attacker to enter his home. He returned to a disparity of force situation. The older man would have every right to believe that the 39 year old attacker would be able to overpower them and hurt them.
The 65 year old man must have had his gun with him. But shooting at two men fighting is not an easy task. He had to make sure that he did not hurt the older man. There is a lot of movement and the potential to hurt his friend. I am glad that it worked out for him.
Rob- I’ve had some of that training, but it is too advanced for this show.
Robyn- It is important that our listeners know the training is out there.
We know that the attacker is in the hospital. That means either after being shot he decided to leave the residence or he was unable to get away and the gentlemen called for the police and an ambulance.
We have to be prepared to deal with the possibility that the attacker may be in your house until help arrives. How will you make sure that the attacker no longer poses a threat or that the attacker does not have accomplices in the area?
Now is the time to use stores like our self defense gun stories to help us mentally prepare for these situations. We can learn from what happened to other people. Going through these exercises helps us to determine and fix weaknesses in our own self defense plan and opens our eyes to possibilities that we may not have considered.
Thank you Rob for finding these stories each week and bringing them to our attention.
Exit- Rob- That wraps up this episode. Thank you for helping me today, Robyn. Where can our listeners learn more about you?
Robyn- I teach in Naples Florida, and our listeners can find me at Step by Step Gun Training.com and on Facebook. We design custom training as well as offer standard group classes.
Rob- Our listeners can leave us a message on the podcast facebook page.
I’m Rob Morse. Please join us next week for more Self-Defense Gun Stories.
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