Witnessed a shooting, Froze in place

how can you avoid the freeze and its potentially deadly outcome?
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You can't. Even well-trained and experienced persons have been known to suffer the frozen in place problem. The difference is that they are much less likely to experience it, as they are prepared for more. That is the key, IMO. the more you have trained, the more you have experienced, the less likely you are to get caught that way. Interestingly, research tends to support the idea that the experience can be through visualization as well as actual. So train as much as you can, mentally rehearse, visualize potential scenarios, etc. You want you rbrain to encounter a situation and go "OK, I know what do with something like this" instead of "OK, let's just freeze everything for a minute while I check my options and decide what to do."
 
dude

Cops freeze, soldiers freeze, even medics and such freeze. Check out this book: On Combat by Lt. Col Dave Grossman. It's all about the mindset of combat in military.police, and civilian life.
 
You may not have felt threatened, just in shock. Shock and fear can feal the same, but when push comes to shove... if you feel threatend, your instincts may not be frozen.
 
And don't discount the aftereffects of the root canal. I've had a couple, and between the drugs and the overall stress, I wanted to go crawl in a hole until it all wore off.
 
I'm sure though that when you saw the person fall to the ground, you didn't know he was shot, and it wasn't until you saw the gun that you realized what just happened. Therefore, it wasn't witnessing a shooting that caused any 'freezing', it was the simple shock of seeing it unfold.

That shock can make you do weird things. I've posted before about having shots fired in my direction, and as soon as I realized what was happening, my instinct was to find cover. Unfortunately, the cover I sought was a 6 inch wide light pole, not very good cover!

You lived to see another day tplumeri, thats all that matters.
 
Don't feel too bad, that is a normal reaction. I've had a gun pointed at me before with the will to shoot (I believe) and my reaction was compete shock. I froze up and did exactly what I was told. I wasn't hurt and lost a little, it took me at least day to get over what had happened. That was years a ago but it's affected my life ever since.
 
I am with others in questioning whether he really "froze," at all. To me that implies inaction when action is required. By his own telling, he never saw the weapon being presented - he merely observed the attacker straighten up and then "fall back away from the vehicle" - and then only later understood that the assailant had been shot by the driver.

Sounds like OP acted quite appropriately, given his knowledge of events. And it sounds like nothing he discerned after the fact would have changed his behavior one iota.
 
It seems to be passed up, but someone mentioned time compression. Maybe what he experienced was that. What felt like a minute was really less then a second, there is evidence that your perception of time is distorted in a sd situation.

I have only been in one situation where i had to draw my weapon for fear of my well being. I do a side job at night as a rural newpaper delivery guy, not flashy but it helps with bills and such. I was at a very isolated area of my route and was about to put a paper in the box, when out of the corner of my eye, i saw something move, It was black and brown and looked to be rougly the size of a medium sized rott.(cant spell the full name, you know which dog im talking about) It was charging at me, and growling and carrying on. Now im seated in my car, but it is in park. My first reaction was to draw my g17 as fast as i could and get it on this dog. I even managed to get my sights lined up.(i remember trying repeating to my self to get the sights lined up)

Im not sure how long it was between the time when i first noticed the dog to the time that i drew and lined up the sights but it felt like at least a minute. But in reality i bet it was more like less then a few seconds.

Now I bet your wondering if i shot that dog, well i didnt. That dog did something strange, when i got the gun leveled at its head, it stopped in its tracks. It just stood there, I Kept my gun on him, but put the paper in the box and drove off. The damn thing then started chasing the car down the road and after a half mile gave up.

Now the time from when i saw it out of the corner of my eye, to the time right up to the moment of the draw, felt like a bout a min, but i dont think it was. What i found interesting, was that the time it took me to draw my gun and get the sights lined up, felt really really fast. Faster then anything i have ever been able to do in practice. I drew so fast that i broke the retention on my bianchi accumold. It has a button your thinger hits during the draw stroke. I managed to draw through that. I dont know if my draw was realy realy fast, or if it infact was a nother byproduct of time compression, i guess ill never beable to find out not til it happens again.
 
That reminds me of a time I was fishing and a water moccasin came swimming up to the boat and started to get in. I flipped ham back wit a paddle and he came back trying to get in. I flipped him back again and he came swilling back a third time. I reached in and pulled out my 357 and pointed it directly at the snake. :cool: I swear the snake looked at it and dove under water never to be seen again. May have been coincidence but it was funny as heck.:p
 
thanks, i needed that!

many thanks to all who replied and their kind words.
also thanks for the links, very helpful.
just to tie it all up;
i never felt threatened by the shooter. i would heve felt more threatened by the other guy if i was in the shooters situation.
the "victim" lived, thru and thru left chest with hemothorax.
the family of the "victim" already has an attorney making motions.
please dont harass me about the term "victim" i think he got what he deserved.
thanks again for all the help.
ill post now and then to keep you all updated.
tom
 
I agree with others that from what you have posted, you didn't feel threatened and your actions were therefore understandable considering what you were witnessing. I wouldn't beat myself up if I were you. Critique the situation and determine if there is anything you did or did not do that you would change if confronted with similar scenario in the future. You might decide that what you did was the right answer.
 
many thanks to all who replied and their kind words.
also thanks for the links, very helpful.
just to tie it all up;
i never felt threatened by the shooter. i would heve felt more threatened by the other guy if i was in the shooters situation.
the "victim" lived, thru and thru left chest with hemothorax.
the family of the "victim" already has an attorney making motions.
please dont harass me about the term "victim" i think he got what he deserved.
thanks again for all the help.
ill post now and then to keep you all updated.
tom
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cant speak for anyone else,but i wasnt trying to "harass".

just didnt think it was a very fitting description.

it actually confused me a little at first and i had to...re-read.
 
You really should be easy on yourself. You just had a root canal and there is no way you were expecting trouble. What would you have done differently? By the way guys, does this qualify as a 1 shot stop? If so, +1 to the .40
 
Evan1293

Thank you so much for posting that Boyd OODA link! It has totally changed how I think about combat situations!!!!!
 
Do more scenario work and mental blue printing in your training. Actually pitcture scenarious, visualize yourself taking the preferred response. When it happens for real the mind has a stored reaction to refer to. You get beond the "this can't be happening" stage faster, and into action.

Of course the fact that you just had a root canal may have screwed you up a tad.
 
I'm not going anywhere near that 9<40<45...my carry guns are all Connecticut or Massuchusets made .38's and one swiss .380. I just thought this qualifies as a one shot stop with the story presented. If you ever watch "First 48" on A&E, it is amazing the folks that die with mousegun wounds
 
Doesn't sound like the "shooter" was the criminal here

definately not the criminal. i only chose the terms "shooter" and "victim" for ease of description. guess i could've used "guy number1" and "guy number 2" instead, but inevidently some would would ask "which one was guy #1?" :)
 
If you ever watch "First 48" on A&E, it is amazing the folks that die with mousegun wounds
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Not really. Caliber is probably the least important factor in a defensive shooting, and the "mouseguns" have a fairly decent record behind them of success. Most folks aren't real dedicated opponents in the first place, and thus aren't in that "monster" stage where they soak up lots of big bullets without much visible effect.
 
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