The Closs case: what can we learn from it?

[Darkhorse]

This is kind of parallel to the Rural Defense thread, but more focused...

The abduction and escape of Jayme Closs give us a chance to review how that crime was accomplished, and how we can learn (or re-learn) information to prevent and defend against crimes to ourselves.

To me, the two main errors of the Closs family were:

1) the father making himself visible to the criminal through a window

2) the mother not having a gun with her while barricaded in the bathroom

What improvements can you suggest?

http://media.graytvinc.com/documents/Jake+Patterson+Criminal+Complaint.pdf

 

[edwardware]

I see three lessons:
1) Violent crime is pretty rare. That's why this is so remarkable.

2) Violent crime can be unspeakably violent, and violent in surprising ways that most of us just aren't mentally adapted to think about.

Mr. Closs's mental model of his front door certainly didn't include the fact that it was neither Concealment OR Cover. We can learn from that.

On the other hand, I would not be at all surprised if the next idiot to shoot a door-to-door salesman through the door, without looking, says that they did so because Mr. Closs was killed through a closed door.

3) Barricading is really a lousy plan. Plan to actively fight, preferably from Cover, until you win or die.

 

[Red October]

What edwardware said.
Especially #3.
Unless you have an exceptional 'safe room' - which almost no one really has - barricading is just cornering yourself for the bad guy(s).

 

[Kendahl]

Barricading is a good for several reasons, both tactical and legal, but it doesn't eliminate the need for an effective means of fighting off the intruder if he breaks through the barricade.

Too many people cannot understand that there are predators who do not operate by nor respond to reason. A locked door won't stop them. The only thing that does is brute force or, if they aren't too far gone, the credible threat of it.

 

[George Dickel]

Too many people live their lives thinking that bad things only happen to other people, never them, so consequently the thought of preparing for an eventuality such as this one never enters their mind. However this type of crime is a aberration, actually this is the first time I've heard of something like this. Yes, there are "home invasions" but the vast majority are drug related, criminals killing criminals.

As far as the door, a shotgun loaded with buck shot will penetrate just about any typical residential door even if it is windowless. A door offers concealment but not cover. Even if Mr. Closs had not opened the door and asked who was there the perpetrator could have shot through the door maybe not killing him but wounding him. Possibly wounding him seriously enough that it would have rendered him unable to defend himself. On many houses there aren't any windows that can allow you to peek out and see who is at the door so you don't know if it is the neighbor needing emergency assistance or trying to tell you they are seeing smoke coming from the roof of your house or in this instance, a lunatic with a gun. This low life didn't really need to get someone to come to the door as he could have shot the lock off like he did after shooting the victim and enter the house and kill everyone there. The only way this could have been prevented was to have a heavy steel door with a steel door frame.

So we install a steel front door but then there is the back door, and windows. I guess you could install a steel door at every entry point and iron bars on all the windows. A friend of mine has had to do this to his home because he has had so many burglaries over the years but never when he was at home.

As far as the wife not having a gun. I have guns all over the house, loaded and ready to shoot but my wife doesn't know how to load or shoot one plus she doesn't have the mindset to shoot a thug with the intent to commit violence. I have tried to get her to at least learn to shoot but she refuses. I have asked her what she would do if a scum bag overpowered or killed me but she has no answer. That could have been the case in this instance. Also there may not have been any guns in the home. A person doesn't have to be anti gun to not own a gun, some people have absolutely no interest in them and as in my first paragraph, they are good people who obey the law and bad things only happen to other people.

 

[Phaedrus/69]

We here are "gun nuts" or if you prefer, gun enthusiasts. As George points out, lots of folks aren't anti-gun nor pro-gun; guns just don't really enter into their lives. If you were born in an urban area and weren't raised in a household that hunts you may well not even give a thought to guns. Firearms are one of those things like a spare tire or health insurance that you can easily overlook until the moment you desperately need it.

There are plenty of things you can do to "harden" your perimeter. Cameras are getting so small and cheap that lots of folks have one built into the doorbell. Some of them are connected to "the Internet of Things" to allow you to speak to the FedEx guy ringing your doorbell even if you're at work. One could easily and cheaply rig up a small array of cameras to let you see what's going on outside the door.

But of course, most security measures are predicated on the notion of protecting you from "rational" threats. In a home invasion typically the criminals are looking for money, drugs, etc. It's a lot harder to protect against someone who's goal is simply to kill you. Typically a robber hopes you're not home, and even if he/they suspect you are they just want what you have. They might kill you but it's not the reason they kicked in your door.

It's hard to shock me anymore but this case it still someone shocking. I haven't read a lot about his motives but it seems that he intended to rape/keep her long term. The fact that she was only 13 or 14 makes it even more sickening than it already is.

 

[luzyfuerza]

That complaint is a chilling read. Thanks for posting it.

Suggestions:

1) Mas Ayoob did a video describing how he suggests dealing with an unknown at the door: back away from the door, talk with the person through the closed door, offer to call the police for him, but do not leave concealment, and don't even think about opening the door. Avoid the temptation to peek through a nearby window, too.



2) Door cameras could be a useful tool if you could access the images quickly. If a criminal's door approach doesn't work, additional cameras will allow you to track his movements without leaving concealment.

3) Something as flimsey as curtains helps preserve concealment (and privacy).

4) While you're still in concealment, make the unknown make the next move. If he leaves, let him go. If he breaks in, respond appropriately. This being a gun board, use of firearms might be a good choice, depending on the laws where you live.

5) Do not assume. Mr. Closs apparently was challenging P by demanding "show me your badge". Closs' assumption turned out to be completely wrong. Learn from his error.

6) Evil people like P are not uncommon. One psychiatrist who I've read estimated that one in twenty humans are sociopaths (Martha Stout, "The Sociopath Next Door"). They have no conscience that tells them that killing, maiming, attacking, robbing, or kidnapping others is wrong. Do NOT assume that the sociopaths you come in contact with won't hurt you.

7) We cannot tell what will trigger one of the sociopaths around us. In this case, all it took was for Jayme Closs to step on a school bus one morning for this tragedy to be put in motion.

Never assume that it won't happen to you, or to yours.

 

[JohnKSa]

Good things:
This family was alert. They detected a potential threat before it was upon them.
They apparently had a plan. The mother and daughter knew what to do and did it.

Bad things:
They were slow to call for help. If someone feels that things have gotten bad enough that it's time to shelter in a bathroom behind a barricaded door, it's definitely already time to dial 911. 911 may not get there as soon as you'd like but that doesn't mean they can't provide some benefit. In this case the mother might have been able to provide at least some additional information to 911 before the phone went dead. Based on the statement given by Patterson, he just barely got out of the house (20 seconds) before he passed the police who were responding to the call. Had the call been placed 30 seconds earlier things might have turned out very differently.

Their plan was not effective against the type of threat they encountered. It's not possible to plan for every possible threat, but I have to wonder what kind of threat they were concerned about that would be effectively dealt with by hiding in the bathtub behind a lightly barricaded interior door. Have a plan that makes sense. Imagine yourself implementing your plan and then ask yourself what the attacker would do if faced with the obstacles placed in his way (e.g. a lightly barricaded interior door--typically very flimsy). Ask yourself what might go wrong in your plan, or how you might deal with contingencies like the attacker breaking through the barrier or bypassing obstacles you intend to stop him. Maybe even do a dry run. Based on the statement given by Patterson, he had to work for awhile to get the bathroom door open--he estimated 10-15 kicks/hits to break through it. Having a better barricade might have given the police time to get there. Having a gun would have almost certainly resulted in a different outcome.

 

[Jenrick]

As anthema as it is to most of us, running is not a bad option. In almost 15 years as a big city cop, I've never seen a home invasion crew setup a perimeter. If you have the time and distance to get out of the residence and flee it might not be a bad idea in a situation like this (no gun, no ability to fight back really). This would probably be my default plan for those who can't or won't fight for themselves, or who realize from the get go a fight is a losing proposition. Barring that, the willingness to go all out against an attacker with an improvised weapon would be the prefered option over barricading against a threat who shoots first. Having first hand experience with someone attacking you with a common kitchen knife, it's very hard to worry about much else at that moment, maybe buying others time to flee. Also it only takes one good stab (forget slashing in a SD context) with even a paring knife (let alone a chef's knife) to inflict mortal injury that is extremely quickly incapacitating.

Lastly if you do have a barricade location, have a weapon available to you. In a situation like this where the suspect has already killed one family member, and is trying to break down the door, I doubt there are too many jurors or DA's that are going to have an issue with you firing through the door. Heck, even if they do, better to be tried by 12, than have your child drug off.

 

[JeffG]

Too many people cannot understand that there are predators who do not operate by nor respond to reason.

There it is, right there. The ability to do extreme violence, even in one's own defense, requires training, and a huge mindset shift. People that have been in the military, and so assigned, and some that have been in police work, might be able to be able to engage in the skills and violence needed to save one's own life in the face of threat.

We watch movies like Texas Chainsaw, and Scream to scare ourselves for entertainment.... we convince ourselves that there really are no people in the world like that, so we can sleep at night. News flash: there are many people like that; they live in our cities, towns and neighborhoods. If they come to visit you, the only way you are going to stop them, is to kill them.

 

[lemaymiami]

With rare exception - civilization is built into all of us - and it's very hard to overcome.... The difference in response times between someone that's been fully blooded (been in a kill or be killed situation and survived...) and someone who's never faced that once in a lifetime moment is pretty noticeable (if there's anyone left around to consider it...). I know from personal experience that, on the one time it was me... I couldn't shoot at first - even though I could see a man in front of me with gun in hand... and I was armed and in uniform responding to a robbery in progress call...It was only a few moments later (and a city block away) that I did finally do what needed to be done. After that experience my reluctance was gone forever - fortunately that need to stop (or kill) an opponent never arose again in my case. To this day it left enough of an impression that I never want to be in that situation ever again...

In extreme circumstances you can't be certain exactly how you'll respond -some freeze up - others flee.. and a few will actively fight back. Knowing what you're facing and being able to make decisions when a nightmare has come to your door isn't easy -but it is why we train and plan and equip ourselves for the unimaginable... Having a plan in place for how to exit your home might be just as important as how to defend it.. Consider what you and your family would do if you awoke to find half your house on fire... facing an armed opponent without a weapon in hand isn't much different when you think about it... Having a rally point if you have to flee your house is not a bad idea at all.... but most of us live our lives under the assumption that such will never be needed... Pray that it's so.