Potential confrontation with crazy shooter

[Ruark]

Had a near-miss with a lunatic the other day.

We live about 20 miles out of San Antonio, just off of I10. I10 is a major interstate highway that goes clear across the country. Our house backs up to the freeway, separated by about 100-150 feet of thick cedar and oak brush.

In nearby Boerne, police responded to a call about some guy chasing another guy with a shotgun. When they arrived, he jumped into his car and took off down I10 with a dozen cops and state troopers after him.

After a few miles, the guy pulled over on the shoulder and jumped out of his car, BUT..... instead of running into the thick trees about 50 feet away, he started firing his shotgun towards the police! Like they say, criminals aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer. Outnumbering him by about 20 to 1, the police promptly perforated him, hitting him at least 8 times. He's still in ICU, last I heard. He was some 50 year old guy from a nearby small town.

The thing is, IF he had run into those trees, like 99% of them would have, he would have run right into our back yard. I was 20 miles away at the time; my wife was in the house alone and called me when she heard all the gunfire. She was scared to death and had locked the house up. He could have run into our back yard and crashed through some big plate glass windows and taken her as a hostage.... all kinds of possible scenarios. So it was a close call; we were lucky that he chose to attempt to commit suicide-by-cop instead of running away.

Here's the local newspaper writeup:

https://www.boernestar.com/article/news ... g-incident

[Flightmare]

Glad that the situation did not turn bad for you and your family. Does your wife know how to operate any of the firearms in the house?

[The Annoyed Man]

This prompted another discussion with my wife about "what would you do?"

She’s SO focused on being Nanna, that her mind really isn’t on "where’s my gun?" or what she would do if someone kicked in the door. She has a pistol, and an AR15, but she doesn’t make it a point to keep her handgun easily accessible when she takes it out of her purse. Fortunately, I’m retired and I’m home most of the time, and I do think like that.

I’m not saying that my wife is in any way "less" than I am, but there is no doubt that the nurturer runs very strongly in her, and the protector in me.....and I think that is one of the fundamental differences between most men compared to most women.

[philip964]

Wow, glad everything is ok. Whew.

[Paladin]

Glad ya'll are ok and no one but the perp was badly injured!

[ELB]

Searching the web a man with the same name and age has had previous legal encounters with the police in the San Antonio area, including terroristic threats, terroristic threats against a public servant (I think), assault with bodily injury, and more recently (Dec 2019) arrest for what appears to be warrants from New Mexico for driving while intoxicated and failure to give aid.

Your wife dodged a bullet, there, perhaps literally.

Keep the doors locked and the firearm handy.

[johncanfield]

We're in the Kerrville area, about 60 miles west of you (also off I-10). Saw the video on the San Antonio news, very weird. Glad it turned okay for your bride.

[Ruark]

Glad that the situation did not turn bad for you and your family. Does your wife know how to operate any of the firearms in the house?

Yeah, but she's not really a gun person. Like, she can point it at the target and pull the trigger, but hasn't done so in a couple of years.

[Ruark]

I’m not saying that my wife is in any way "less" than I am, but there is no doubt that the nurturer runs very strongly in her, and the protector in me.....and I think that is one of the fundamental differences between most men compared to most women.

Same here - it's just not her nature to automatically think, "where's the gun... which one should I use... is it loaded.... is there one in the chamber..." and so on, whereas I think of such things as naturally as breathing.

[Setxjeff]

My wife is a great shot ( tri state champion in her teens) has her carry license, but has never been good a keeeping a gun handy. After several discussions it seems she had the mindset all the guns were mine and she just borrowed them. We went to a gun shop ,she picked out HER gun ,paid for it and keeps up with it wonderfully. She never liked my semi- autos or my larger revolvers. Her gun of choice was a ruger lcr 38 special. I bought her a holster she will wear ,some self defense ammo and some feral hog ammo for when horseback riding. We have been married for 43 years.