Interesting situation

[Grdollaway]

I have been watching this forum for many months now and appreciate everyone's input. I feel I have gained a lot of knowledge from everyone's experiences and would like to thank everyone. I am only about 6 months with a CHl and like everyone else looking for as much info as possible. I had an interesting situation happen to me this evening.
So I was at Wally world with my wife and children and as we are leaving a hear a loud yell. I turn to see what it was and a man was quickly walking across the drive towards another person. I assumed they had known each other. I told my children who it had caught their attention also to get in the car. As I looked back to see the man was harassing another customer as they exited the building for money with a piece of paper in his hand. After I saw him grab the cart of a young lady and not allow her to pass as he made these loud noises at her I saw she was frightened. At that point I told my wife to be aware and call the police if this escalates and I walked over to the situation to allow the young lady to leave. I asked if everything was alright and the man turned to me aggressively and the woman quickly left. As the man closed the gab between me and him I signaled for my wife to make the call. So this aggressor who had about 50 pounds on me approaches me and got up to my face about 6 inches away and started yelling at me making noises. I believe he was hearing impaired but whatever he was saying was not very nice. At the same time another concerned gentleman approached and informed the man that he had been watching him harass customers for some time and that he needed to leave. At this point the irate belligerent person focuses his aggression towards the other person. The only threatening actions that this man had made so far was a little pushing and shoving towards us now that we had allowed the female to leave. The entire time I kept asessing the situation to see if this was going to escalate had my hand about an inch from 4oclock where I keep my 1911. I was just buying time until the Leo was to come. He finally walked away yelling and cussing to harass people in a different part of the parking lot chasing people into their cars and banging on their windows obviously frightening them. I distracted the man until security came by honking my horn and distracting his attention towards me at a safe distance . Looking back I feel I was able to assist in the situation,getting several frightened people removed from the situation without having to utilize my gun.
So in my opinion I used my head and no one was harmed so I feel this was a success but had the person escalated and put anyone in danger I would have been prepared. This was my first close experiance in a confrontation since I have my CHL. I carry everyday I can outside of work who does not allow it. My wife who teases me daily about carrying saying we live in one of the safest cities in America (Round Rock) now understands that maybe situations may arise where protection is needed.
So my question. Did I handle the situation correct in your opinion? Should I have kept a safer distance and just called without distracting the man? What would you have done in this situation? I approached the situation so if I did have to utilize would I have been in the wrong? I was not trying to play cop but saw someone in need of assistance. Please let me know your thoughts and sorry for the rambling.

[Oldgringo]

How long did it take the police to arrive after your wife's call?

[Grdollaway]

We were there 20 minutes and they still had not shown up but we finally got the security guards attention and had him watch the person until they came. My wife insisted we leave as the kids were getting very concerned. There was enough guys around to handle the situation. I work at a retail store in the same quadrant as this Wally World and the police are not quick at all as far as response time. We have let shoplifters go because if it takes longer than 1 1/2 hours to wait, it is our policy to release them. I work in north Austin, not Round Rock.

[Javier730]

handled it well. I too had a confrontation with an aggresive panhandler. Turns out he had 3 buddies in a suv at the gas pump. Long story short, nobody got hurt.

[EEllis]

The only real criticism I might have is how close you let him get to you when first confronting him. I would of kept him at arm length and not allowed him closer. Putting your arm out to stop him from getting closer would almost certainly be taken by the other guy as an aggressive move and wind him up a bit but it maintains needed space if you do have to defend yourself.

[Wodathunkit]

I think you did great!

[Dadtodabone]

I'd work at maintaining greater distance between yourself and the possible threat. Grab a shopping cart, stand beside a car, something that could provide a barrier in case of attack. While your assistance to the frightened shopper is laudable, don't forget your first responsibility is to your family. They need you healthy and whole.

[Vol Texan]

Looking back I feel I was able to assist in the situation,getting several frightened people removed from the situation without having to utilize my gun.

...

So in my opinion I used my head and no one was harmed so I feel this was a success ...

At US Army Airborne School in Fort Benning, GA, it seemed that we had hundreds of test parachute landing falls (PLFs) during ground week and tower week. I was so sore on my right hip from falling on the swing landing trainer that I had a huge brown bruise on it. Each time I landed incorrectly, they had me get up and do it again (but it hurt so much each time, I did it incorrectly again and again).

Then, we got to jump week. All the standards they'd used to judge our PLFs during the first two weeks suddenly changed. "If you can walk off the field under your own power, it was a good landing." was all they said.

The same thing applies here. You walked away, so therefore it was a good engagement.

[rbwhatever1]

All the way and then some! Being one of 11 Marines in my jump school class at Fort Benning I still have very fond memories of those lovely Black Hats...

[Grdollaway]

Thank you all for the advice. Looking back I agree I should have secured more space in between myself and the aggressor. It is amazing how fast these situations can happen. I look at it as a learning experiance and take from it what I can. Thanks again.

[C-dub]

Agree with the others that distance is your friend. Even an arms length is too close if you can avoid it.

I have only had to call the police once for an incident similar to yours. The choice of words you, or in this case your wife, uses can greatly speed up their response time. Simply telling them that there is a man harassing people asking for money in a Walmart parking lot is not going to be at or near the top of their priority list. However, throw in words like, "I have my concealed handgun license and would really rather not have to use it today" will speed things up a bit. I think an officer arrived within 2-3 minutes in my case and after another 4-5 minutes let me go with a "Have a nice day" and proceeded to tell the other man he could be arrested for stalking and what a bad idea it was to do what he had done.

[suthdj]

You will get a wide grouping of answers so I won't muddy the waters with advice, However I will say good job.

[texanjoker]

You did what you did and it worked out. I do not like panhandlers and definitely do not like aggressive ones. I also do not like people in my face. I'll bet the lady appreciated you stepping up.

I'll assume that is wally at the 35 / 45 toll? Not to far from here.

[SewTexas]

Agree with the others that distance is your friend. Even an arms length is too close if you can avoid it.

I have only had to call the police once for an incident similar to yours. The choice of words you, or in this case your wife, uses can greatly speed up their response time. Simply telling them that there is a man harassing people asking for money in a Walmart parking lot is not going to be at or near the top of their priority list. However, throw in words like, "I have my concealed handgun license and would really rather not have to use it today" will speed things up a bit. I think an officer arrived within 2-3 minutes in my case and after another 4-5 minutes let me go with a "Have a nice day" and proceeded to tell the other man he could be arrested for stalking and what a bad idea it was to do what he had done.

this is the key....

one time we witnessed a car accident in CO just across the highway from the river...the dispatcher asked if I could see any leaking fluids? ummm, yeh, you know I think I might...the cops were out there in 5 mins didn't seem to matter when I said it was a blind turn and they were blocking traffic, noooo, but once I said there might have been leaking fluids across from the river "OK, they will be right there!"

As for RR being the safest city in the US, tell her I've lived there...I know better, and that was a while ago, it's much more populated now, even G'town, what I sort of consider "home" wouldn't qualify for that designation anymore

[Texas_Blaze]

I will probably get bashed for this. If you didn't have a firearm, would you have still gotten involved? My answer is no, so I wouldn't get involved now that I do have a gun. I have a wife and children, I carry for them and me. My wife is doing the same. Let the rest carry for themselves. You risked your freedom potentially for those who don't want to protect themselves. My suggestion is get your wife and kids in the car with you, call the cops, and drive to a safe distance. Then talk to cops when they arrive. I would never go to the rescue.