Went Condition Orange today

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WardenWolf

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I'm stopped at a light, in the left lane. I see someone crossing from the right who looked kind of shady, so I lock my doors. Suddenly as he gets towards the center of the road, he starts diverging from the crosswalk towards the median and my driver's side door, which is set a good 10 feet back from the crosswalk. That raised an immediate red flag, as I'm always on the alert for someone approaching my door; it's a sign of a potential carjack attempt. My left hand immediately went to the handle of my carry piece. He couldn't see it, as it was hidden by the door and I have a tall vehicle.

Fortunately, he had just decided, for whatever reason, to go to the median before continuing on through the crosswalk. No apparent reason why. But it definitely put me on alert.
 
Movement inside your cockpit while looking in his general direction is a tipoff that less observant marks may be coming by later.

Leave this guy alone, . . . :eek:

At least that would be my guess.

May God bless,
Dwight
 
see someone crossing from the right who looked kind of shady, so I lock my doors
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All doors locked at all times when not in immediate use.

Glad it worked out.

When you're in your car, sadly, you're a sitting duck. Situational awareness and defensive measures and a loaded handgun are among your only weapons.

You had great alertness and didn't have your eyes buried in a gadget. That might have saved your life or yourself from a carjacking.

It's wise to also keep distance between you and other cars so you can maneuver from a stop to get out of a dangerous situation... could be anything.

Carjacking, car accident, random highway shooting, or something unusual and dangerous. This video from Youtube shows a propane truck following too closely. Thankfully the driver filming gave plenty of space. But can you imagine being in tight traffic and being 5 feet behind this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PCMOHtayEs
 
When you're in your car, sadly, you're a sitting duck. Situational awareness and defensive measures and a loaded handgun are among your only weapons.
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You mean other than the car? The massive weapon that can strike your assialaint or... and this is the crazy bit; allow a rapid retreat from danger?

So other than the ability fight or take flight... complete sitting duck :D

I mean the above to be taken 50% toungue in cheek. But my 2 month old daughter is currently waging holy war against sleep, So if my humor is off, its not my intent.
 
He never actually looked towards me. Though if I were going to do something like that, I wouldn't, either. I wouldn't want to give anyone any hint of what I planned until I was already at their door. But I saw him coming and reached for my P-64. I had a Ruger P90 in a pouch on the floor, too, but didn't have time to get to that. I was in pole position, so I could have run the light if I had to. Carjackers only go after a car in front so they can make a quick getaway after doing their deed. It would be pretty stupid to do one back in the stack and then be boxed in.
 
Glad it worked out, and that you're okay. Sounds like you did all the right things. And let's keep in mind that the other guy didn't do anything wrong, he just reversed direction for no reason that was clear to you.

I agree with LC, I feel more vulnerable in my car than I do on foot. If you get boxed in by traffic you're in trouble- yet still a target sitting in a box. I know my car, I'm a really good driver. But I know much more about what my body can do.
 
The good thing is that you were aware of your surroundings and what's going on. And you reacted to the potential threat and prepared yourself. Well done.
 
Fortunately he had no ill intentions, just poor judgment in how he chose to cross the street. But if he had gone for my door he'd have found a pistol pointed at him from the other side of the glass.
 
Good situational awareness – good work.

Had a similar incident many years ago.
Saw the perp approaching and when he pulled a .380 out he found himself facing a snubby 44mag.
He changed his mind real fast and did the 100 yard dash in about 3 seconds.
 
Fortunately, he had just decided, for whatever reason, to go to the median before continuing on through the crosswalk. No apparent reason why. But it definitely put me on alert.
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Real or imagined? glad you didnt shoot the guy, sometimes, guys ask for spare change in this fashion, please dont shoot one, it wont go good for you. Be carefull.
 
So, a "shady" guy was crossing the street, never looked at you and stopped on the median.
Maybe he couldn't see over your high vehicle and stopped at the median to check traffic.

What you're saying is... nothing happened.

Hey, same thing didn't happen to me today also.:rolleyes:
 
Jo6pak, you missed the part where the median and the stop bar were set 10 feet BACK from the crosswalk. He had to go out of his way a huge distance to get to where I was. When someone takes an obvious detour towards me, for no apparent reason, yes, it's going to put me on alert.

He didn't look like a homeless person or a beggar; he didn't look like an outright street thug either. But he looked rough enough that I took notice of him.
 
When someone takes an obvious detour towards me, for no apparent reason, yes, it's going to put me on alert.
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I suspect he was watching the lights cycle, and decided he couldn't make it all the way before the lights changed.
 
But if he had gone for my door he'd have found a pistol pointed at him from the other side of the glass.
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Don't get on the defensive to what I am about to say, just mull it over in your head:

You are parked in your vehicle, at a gas station/convenience store. A customer walks out at a brisk pace and heads straight for your driver side door to open it. He has a peeved off look on his face. You draw your pistol and take aim as he is trying to open your locked door.
A look of bewilderment is on his face as he looks inside the window at you, and then he looks around and sees his own vehicle, which is similar to your own.
You just drew a gun on someone who had no weapon in his hands, made no statement to you about intent to do you bodily harm, nor to give him your vehicle. Were you truly justified?

I have had this or very similar to it happen to me several times, but in none of them did I feel I needed to display my defensive weapon.

Its not the exact same scenario you told us about. And dont get me wrong, I am a firm believer in trusting ones instincts. If someone, like the guy you encountered, is making your spidey senses go crazy, by all means have your guard up. Maybe you could stand to have more than one defensive option at your disposal?
 
Snyper, nope. He continued a moment later, after a pause. No traffic had come through in that time.

spacemanspiff, that's a different situation. In a parking lot, you EXPECT people to be walking around all over the place. In that situation I'd have my piece hidden and pointed in a safe direction until I was sure of his intentions. People go for the wrong car all the time in parking lots. Had this guy at the light actually had ill intentions, I'd have used the car and anything else I had at my disposal to ensure I escaped safely.
 
WardenWolf, my attempt was to use a bit of humor to suggest that there are about 1000 things he could have been doing.

10 feet is not a "huge distance," it only a few steps.
You note that he continued on after a pause
Seems to me that he was getting to a safe place to assess the traffic situation.

This is not an attempt to second-guess your reaction. Obviously, I wasn't there.
It's possible that he was up to mischief, noticed you watching him and turned away. I think it's more than likely though, that he was just some dude walking to the store.

Heck, he may be on another forum complaining that some guy in a truck was eyeballing him when he was crossing the street the other day.:cool:
 
So, a "shady" guy was crossing the street, never looked at you and stopped on the median.
Maybe he couldn't see over your high vehicle and stopped at the median to check traffic.

What you're saying is... nothing happened.

Hey, same thing didn't happen to me today also.
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Lol. Today on the way home from work a person actually passed within 3 feet of me, then another. Then one actually looked up at me. Then on the subway I had like 3 people touching up against me and a homeless guy snoozing off not more than 5 feet away. Boy I'm sure lucky I made it home alive. :p

I understand keeping an eye about you, and not to second guess the OP since I was not there. But it seems that alot of people here in general just need to chill out a bit. Some of you guys would probably have a pretty hard time even walking down the block in any big city with all the "possible threats"
 
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