Last Christmas

[BrassBullets]

Just before Christmas, my family and I were confronted with a situation that escalated very quickly causing me to draw my pistol on what appeared to be a 15 year old. We were living in a low income area and not to nice of apartments, but hey it was cheep and close to the sick mother-in-law. Around 9:30 that night we hard glass breaking in the parking lot just out side of our patio. I told my 17 year old son to not rush out there, until I have my weapon on hand.

As soon as I concealed it, we proceeded out of the back area into the parking lot to see if the glass breaking had come from my car. This had given the burglars time to flee because I really didn’t want to get into it with them anyway. We noticed that the car two parking spots down was the one broke into and that my car was fine, so we proceeded back into the apartment where my wife was already on the phone with the police. As my son entered the patio gate, I noticed two people running at me from my right.

It was dark with a little light from the parking lights, but I could not see them very well traveling between the parked cars and the patio fence area. The first one saw me when they were about 2 cars from me and dove between the cars. The second then noticed me standing there and reached into his jacket. At this point I drew my weapon and yelled STOP. I noticed that I had taken aim at his lower section or leg area and was watching his hand very closely. I was confident that I had the upper hand and that my 1911 would have kept it for me. This kid looked all of 15 with big eyes as he turned and scampered away into the dark. I took this as my chance to leave the area to and went into my apartment.

I will have to say that as surprised as I was, the thing that shocked me the most was when the officer arrived and was mad at me for not shooting this person and that he had been hunting them for months. I did find out that the reason he reached in his jacket was because he had cut his hand on the glass and was trying to hide the bloody hand.

[LedJedi]

Glad you didn't have to shoot, but also glad you had your piece on you.

makes ya wonder why the kid was running at you in the first place though.

[bdickens]

...the thing that shocked me the most was when the officer arrived and was mad at me for not shooting this person and that he had been hunting them for months....

Gotta love Texas!

[DONT TREAD ON ME]

what I like the most is that you had the mindset to aim low to stop the threat and not to shoot kill. Good thing you waited to get your gun or this could have been bad. Even though the LEO wanted you to shoot you did the right thing by not. He may have justified you in the shooting but a prosecutor would not have. Great job.

[bdickens]

Um....

You seem to have forgotten that this is in the same state where Joe Horn got acquitted.

edited to add: Oops, I meant to say no-billed. Joe Horn was no-billed.

My bad, yo.

[Venus Pax]

what I like the most is that you had the mindset to aim low to stop the threat and not to shoot kill. Good thing you waited to get your gun or this could have been bad. Even though the LEO wanted you to shoot you did the right thing by not. He may have justified you in the shooting but a prosecutor would not have. Great job.

The individual reached in his jacket, which most of us would take to mean he was reaching for a weapon. (Yes, we know better long after the fact, but there is no way to know that in the middle of it all.)
He probably would have been fine (legally) had he shot the person; however, he saved himself some difficulty by not doing so.

[mr surveyor]

what I like the most is that you had the mindset to aim low to stop the threat and not to shoot kill. Good thing you waited to get your gun or this could have been bad. Even though the LEO wanted you to shoot you did the right thing by not. He may have justified you in the shooting but a prosecutor would not have. Great job.

uuummmmmmm....I really have to differ with that line of thinking. If you draw a weapon, and that action is justifiable, then the logical result of the use of that weapon is deadly force. I really don't think we should be considering the Star Trek procedure of setting our phasers to stun, as that in itsef would really open up a barrel of legal worms.


just my opinion

surv

[DoubleActionCHL]

what I like the most is that you had the mindset to aim low to stop the threat and not to shoot kill. Good thing you waited to get your gun or this could have been bad. Even though the LEO wanted you to shoot you did the right thing by not. He may have justified you in the shooting but a prosecutor would not have. Great job.

uuummmmmmm....I really have to differ with that line of thinking. If you draw a weapon, and that action is justifiable, then the logical result of the use of that weapon is deadly force. I really don't think we should be considering the Star Trek procedure of setting our phasers to stun, as that in itsef would really open up a barrel of legal worms.

I'm going to have to agree. Shooting to wound is a great way to end up losing a gunfight. While you don't necessarily shoot to kill, you do shoot to incapacitate your assailant as quickly and effectively as possible. Death is a frequent byproduct of this action.

[DONT TREAD ON ME]

your right we do not shoot to kill...we shoot to stop the threat. however it was a kid...a bad kid that needs some positive influence but a kid. lets say he did shoot the kid in the leg and the kid did still reach in his pocket...he is still aimed on him and can pop off another shot. I think he did the right thing.

[bryang]

I am glad that you did not have to shoot. The main thing you were ready and prepared to protect yourself. I can't help but wonder what they had in mind with trying to sneak up on you like that...I guess we will never know, but I think you did good. Especially, picking up your pistol on the way out.

-geo

[Excaliber]

what I like the most is that you had the mindset to aim low to stop the threat and not to shoot kill. Good thing you waited to get your gun or this could have been bad. Even though the LEO wanted you to shoot you did the right thing by not. He may have justified you in the shooting but a prosecutor would not have. Great job.

Don't kid yourself - there is no such thing as a shot that is guaranteed to just wound. Bullets do very strange things when they enter bodies, and their paths cannot be predicted ahead of time. They bounce off bones, follow bones and enter other body areas, tumble, deflect, and generally do lots of things you wouldn't expect.

A low shot may well hit the major blood vessels that go down both hips and into the legs. It is one of the targets some advanced law enforcement instructors advocate as shooting first because a pelvic fracture will almost always take a subject immediately off his feet, and a femoral artery hit will cause a person to exsanguinate (bleed to death) unless competent trauma care is administered within about the first two minutes.

Regardless of where on the body you aim, if you discharge a firearm, you are using deadly force that may very well result in the death of the person you fire on. You have no business firing at all unless death of the target is an acceptable and legally justifiable outcome.

The OP definitely acted wisely here by holding his fire, even when confronted with a "furtive movement" situation, which would have been legal quicksand in the aftermath.

[DONT TREAD ON ME]

i NEVER said that a low shot would NOT kill someone. I am very aware what a bullet can do and that any shot no matter where it is aimed can kill. I did say however I think he did a good job at aiming low. As it is LESS likely to cause death as opposed to a torso shot.

[BrassBullets]

I just wanted to say, thinking back on the situation; I was aiming low so that I could see if he was pulling a weapon out of his coat. If the pocket had been lower around his mid section, one that he could reach into and fire a gun from. He would have been dead before he got his hand in there. I was a Forward Observer in the Army and I feel my training was the only thing that kept that kid alive. If I had not been drilled on situations like this, I would have not felt confident and might have shot sooner. I will say one thing to people, if you find your self in a bad spot, watch their hands…