{"id":2954,"date":"2025-01-29T21:39:54","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T21:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/?p=2954"},"modified":"2025-01-29T21:39:54","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T21:39:54","slug":"lessons-learned-facing-down-a-carjacking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/?p=2954","title":{"rendered":"Lessons Learned: Facing Down a Carjacking"},"content":{"rendered":"


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By Andy Grossman<\/a><\/p>\n

W<\/span>e train mentally and physically so that we are ready if we ever have to face a life-threatening situation. You can have all the great equipment in the world, but if you do not train properly, it will do you no good. Training \u2014 combined with that high-quality gear \u2014 is the one thing you can count on when you find yourself in a life-threatening situation.<\/p>\n

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A man prepares to defend himself during an attempted carjacking, Springfield Echelon<\/a> in hand. Training and situational awareness play a crucial role in personal protection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While I have done a great deal of training over the years to prepare for such a thing, I was still surprised when it came into play at a busy intersection. There I was, in the middle of the day in a well-populated area with my pistol drawn inside my truck, facing down a guy who was running towards me with the apparent intent to do me harm.<\/p>\n

Back to the Beginning<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s rewind to a few minutes earlier. I was following a beat-up old Toyota Camry going 15 mph under the speed limit. I began to notice that the two guys in that Toyota were acting very strangely, looking around erratically and just acting odd. At the next traffic light, I noticed the passenger put what I thought was a hood over his head while the driver kept looking in his mirrors at me and my truck. The two were acting strange enough that I was now on high alert.<\/p>\n

\"A\n<\/picture>
Dash cameras are essential tools for recording incidents like attempted carjackings, offering clarity and information after the fact when adrenaline can blur the memory.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We pulled up to the next light and I had some choices to make. The way the intersection was set up, I could pick one of four lanes. Left turn, straight, or two right turn lanes. I needed to go right but didn\u2019t want to be next to those guys in the Toyota, so I just kept a good distance behind them in the same lane they were in.<\/p>\n

My goal was to avoid getting boxed in so that if something happened, I could get out of the situation quickly. This was part of my training. You always want to have an escape point. Unfortunately, my plan completely backfired and I ended up completely boxed in by a semi-truck that pulled in behind me, as well as one next to me and another pickup truck on my right.<\/p>\n

\"A\n<\/picture>
A would-be carjacker approaches a vehicle, highlighting the importance of situational awareness and self-defense preparation. The author emphasizes the value of training and readiness.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I kept my eyes on the two guys in the car in front of me. They continued acting very strangely, looking around and seemingly arguing in the vehicle. The second I found myself boxed in with nowhere to go, I ensured I had access to my legal CCW handgun. These guys were acting strange enough that I was worried about my safety.<\/p>\n

Everything Happens All at Once<\/h2>\n

Then everything changed in a matter of seconds.<\/p>\n

The passenger door of their vehicle flung open, and out came a guy dressed all in black and wearing a ski mask and gloves. The hood I thought he put on was not a hood at all, but a full ski mask. He began running at me aggressively with one hand behind his back.<\/p>\n

\"A\n<\/picture>
Faced with an imminent threat, the driver in this image reacts swiftly, armed and ready to protect himself from an approaching attacker.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before I even realized what was happening, I had drawn my Springfield Echelon. I immediately got a firm grip on my pistol and yelled for them to stop approaching me, but my windows were up, so I didn\u2019t know if anyone could actually hear me yelling.<\/p>\n

The guy kept moving toward my truck. He was rounding the corner on the front of my vehicle at this point when he saw my pistol. Suddenly, the guy stopped dead in his tracks. He looked back at his buddy in the car, and looked at me. You could tell he was weighing his options.<\/p>\n

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The ball was in his court at this point. Thankfully, he jumped back in his car. They proceeded to run a red light and take off through traffic, nearly crashing multiple times. This all happened in a matter of seconds.<\/p>\n

Aftermath<\/h2>\n

This was like something out of a movie. I just kept thinking, \u201cthat didn\u2019t actually just happen to me, right? I must have imagined all this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A\n<\/picture>
If you are faced with no potential escape route, do you have the training to respond to a threat from inside your vehicle?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unfortunately, this entire situation was very real. No one yelled \u201ccut\u201d at the end of the scene because this was happening. I never in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen to me, and didn\u2019t expect it in such a populated area in the middle of a beautiful, sunny day.<\/p>\n

I kept thinking about my son. What if he was in the truck with me at the time? What the heck would I have done? Thankfully I was alone, but it still happened, and it taught me some very good lessons and opened up my eyes to a few things that need to change in my daily travels.<\/p>\n

\"A\n<\/picture>
In this image, the potential victim takes aim through the windshield, ready to defend against an advancing threat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I have been a firearms instructor and huge advocate of personal protection for nearly 20 years now. I train regularly at the range as well as train others and teach personal awareness and security with my company, Pew Pew Nation. I believe this training kept me calm and collected during this attempted carjacking, but I still was able to identify a few areas where I could improve my training.<\/p>\n

If I had been forced to shoot, loud would it have been inside a car? Am I prepared to fight when I have two blown-out ear drums and can\u2019t hear? I realized, during all my training, I have never fired a pistol inside a vehicle, especially with no hearing protection. I am currently looking for training facilities that offer training around fighting from inside a vehicle to better prepare myself for next time.<\/p>\n

\"A\n<\/picture>
The Springfield Armory Echelon is shown here, resting securely in a holster mounted inside a vehicle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I teach situational awareness all the time in my classes, but this event really put its importance into perspective for me. I personally always walk around very aware; some people even say I am a bit \u201cparanoid\u201d at times. Clearly, that paranoia paid off because I knew something was going on before it started.<\/p>\n

With that being said, I made a big mistake while thinking I was doing the right thing. Pulling up behind the Toyota instead of picking another lane was not the best choice. I could have gotten in that far right lane with just a curb next to me. My truck is more than capable of jumping a curb and taking off through the grass to get out of the situation, but because I chose the lane behind the potential threat, I ended up getting boxed in and stuck in a bad spot.<\/p>\n

\"A\n<\/picture>
The intensity of a life-threatening confrontation is captured as a man employs his Springfield Armory XD-M<\/a> pistol to defend himself.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another thing that I found out is that adrenaline sucks. I called the police to report the attack, but the problem was my adrenaline seemed to erase my memory. I was pretty sure it was a gold-colored Toyota Camry, but I wasn\u2019t 100% sure (even though I studied the car the entire time I was driving behind it). I also completely forgot the license plate number after also studying it at the light before. I could not come up with one number on their license plate. Afterward, I immediately invested in a good dash camera. The dash camera would have provided all the information and footage needed to find these guys.<\/p>\n

It took me a few days to really process what happened and why I was so rattled by this situation. I hope the lessons I learned during this event can others avoid this type of situation. Thank goodness I had the means to defend myself.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: Please be sure to check out The Armory Life Forum, where you can comment about our daily articles, as well as just talk guns and gear. Click the \u201cGo To Forum Thread\u201d link below to jump in and discuss this article and much more!<\/em><\/p>\n

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By Andy Grossman We train mentally and physically so that we are ready if we ever have to face a life-threatening situation. You can have all the great equipment in the world, but if you do not train properly, it will do you no good. Training \u2014 combined with that high-quality gear \u2014 is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}