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gigag04 wrote:If something trips your spidey senses, distance and cover are your friend. Walk around the parked car, putting it between you and the poor guy in the "trench coat" (aka overcoat)...Just an example.

I think if someone started giving me verbal commands I'd laugh in their face.

radioflyer wrote:While at an IDPA meet, a fellow shooter (I don't remember his name so we'll call him John) described an instance that i couldn't come up with a solution to:

A suspicious individual with his hands in his overcoat approached John and his wife on the street. John assumed a defensive posture and ordered the man to stop. The individual did not stop until John reached for his weapon. At this point John was aware that the individual could have been concealing a weapon-in-hand under his coat. A routine command of "show me your hands" could have given him an excuse to draw a weapon turning the situation into a gunfight.

At this point, John told the individual to turn around slowly and put his hands to his sides. The individual refused resulting in a stalemate. At this point, the individual is only a possible threat showing no significant aggressive behavior (only a refusal to comply). John has minimal justification in drawing his weapon as it would escalate a situation to either a firefight or put him in a legal quandary of bring portrayed as the gunman if the individual is unarmed.

John told me he lucked out when the individual eventually walked off, and he and is wife waited until he was out of sight to get to their vehicle. Still not knowing weather the individual was an armed attacker, what would you do in this scenario?