Very good advice. However, what about his 4 year old son? The OP does not explicitly state where his son is during all of this, but it sounds like he was left in the car.jmra wrote:Situational awareness should always be the first line of defense. Especially given the presence of a young child, after the initial exchange I would have stayed in the store for several minutes to see if the car left. If it didn't, I would call the police and let them deal with the situation. As CHL holders we must be smarter than the criminals. Avoiding a second encounter and not needing to draw your firearm is a much cheaper and safer option.SC1903A3 wrote:I would never tell you what to do but, I would have drawn. Out numbered three to one I would have feared for my life. I'm a true believer with it comes to disparity of force. Google the term and you'll find plenty of articles on the subject. Massad Ayoob covers this and has testified in court concerning the subject.
Just to spit ball an idea here: how about going back into the store to tell the clerk about your concerns, dial 911 and while on the phone with the operator, activate the speaker phone function and your cell phone camera's video recorder (assuming you have a cell phone camera)? If they get out of their car and start heading towards your car, then return to your vehicle to secure your son and tell them that you are on the phone with 911 and that you are recording them. Would this approach be more likely to deescalate or aggravate the situation? It seems that with all this new communication technology around us that we should be able to use it to our advantage in a situation like this.