Amazing (to me) self-defense story

[old lady new shooter]

A woman in Las Vegas whose car was targeted by carjackers did an amazing (IMO) job of self-defense. One carjacker stayed in the car they drove up in to block the woman's car. The other pulled her out of the car and attempted to drive it away. However, he did not know how to make it start, which the story says requires pushing a button. Observing that he had placed his gun in his lap while attempting to start the car, she grabbed it and ran away. The carjacker jumped out of the car, ran after her and tackled her to the ground, at which point she was unable to escape, so she shot him with his own gun.

Thoughts?

Woman shoots, kills suspected carjacker in self defense, North Las Vegas police say (fox5vegas.com)

 

[Scrapiron45]

The woman did great to survive however I would hope she could look back and realize some situational awareness tactics that might have helped avoid the encounter altogether.

 

[9x56MS]

Give her a medal and put it on page one in then newspaper. Should drop the car jacking rate in that city for awhile.

 

[jmorris]

Keep it up and they will run out of car jackers…

She probably put herself in more danger than just running away though.

 

[FL-NC]

Impressive but a little reckless. Glad it worked out.

 

[Speedo66]

Sorry she had to experience that trauma, but good for her.

So much for helpless female.

 

[Glockpride]

She should bring her own CCW to the party now each and every time she heads out.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

"She told detectives once she heard sirens she came out and approached the police. The woman was put into handcuffs but later told she was not under arrest."

Be the first to talk to the police.
Self-defenders must realize the responding officers are not mindreaders.
They will treat you as a potential suspect until they get enough info to judge otherwise (as they did in this instance as reported).
They will demand you disarm. Don't argue. Expect to be handcuffed.
Don't act butt hurt because right off the bat they don't see you as the good guy you know you are.
All they may know, you are the first guy (or gal) with a gun they see while responding to a shooting call.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

"She should bring her own CCW to the party now each and every time she heads out."

And hopefully she'll never have to use a gun again outside a range.

 

[old lady new shooter]

Keep it up and they will run out of car jackers…

She probably put herself in more danger than just running away though.

I thought about that idea myself, concluded that she figured if she just ran away he might decide to shoot her, whereas if she took the gun she'd at least have a way to defend herself. Later in the story there was something mentioned about her having to clear a malfunction in the gun, so she is obviously at least somewhat gun-knowledgeable. I would love to see her interviewed.

 

[Blue Jays]

Thankful that everything has seemingly worked-out in her favor, thank goodness.

 

[lemaymiami]

The actual results of a violent encounter on the street are so unpredictable that the outcome can range from low comedy to tragedy - and that's the case for all of us... Glad to hear she survived and hope she's able to recover in good order... One thing no reality show can prepare you for is the situation where suddenly it's your life on the line - usually when you're least prepared for it... Those are the victims that first responders (police, fire, medical) see up close - and moments after the fact... In my case each incident left a memory that I still carry with me - all these years later.

How you'll react under sudden life threatening stress can't be predicted with any certainty - and that's the prime reason every armed citizen needs to train with whatever weapon they choose to carry - and then stay current with laws that do change over time...

 

[jmorris]

I thought about that idea myself, concluded that she figured if she just ran away he might decide to shoot her, whereas if she took the gun she'd at least have a way to defend herself. Later in the story there was something mentioned about her having to clear a malfunction in the gun, so she is obviously at least somewhat gun-knowledgeable. I would love to see her interviewed.

Yeah, there is a lot of information we don’t know but all of us make split second, life changing or ending decisions every day. I’d watch an interview too.

 

[9x56MS]

It helps if you shoot someone, make sure there is only your version of what happened to be told. I am glad she wasn’t injured.

 

[Kleanbore]

It helps if you shoot someone, make sure there is only your version of what happened to be told. I am glad she wasn’t injured.

That is naive and irresponsible.

 

[MedWheeler]

I'm glad, for her sake, that the gun was real, loaded, and operational. I'd never want to bet that a gun I'd taken from a bad guy is ready to be used to defend myself as anything other than an impact weapon.

 

[DeepSouth]

That is naive and irresponsible.

That’s putting it nice.
Also it’s impossible.
Cameras, witnesses, media folk with agendas. It’s not possible.

 

[shafter]

You can do everything wrong and still survive. I'm glad she made it but I wouldn't use it as an example of what to do.

 

[Steve51]

Robber seemed to have a habit of making poor choices.

 

[wayneinFL]

An old thread, but no one else mentioned it. There's a good lesson here about retention and and another lesson about chasing down someone who has taken your gun.

 

[Kleanbore]

I cannot imagine any prudent person who has the opportunity to escape taking the chance to try to take the gun.

Why?

 

[9x56MS]

Because when flight or fight kicks in and fight wins common sense goes out the window.