Be careful in Houston grocery stores!

[bullseye10x]

Saw this local report today. Imagine you are at your favorite grocery store when at least 3 heavily armed robbers storm in and take control of the kiosk bank:

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/myfox/pa...Y&pageId=1.1.1

If you are close enough to witness this, then you're close enough to react. But what do you do? Personally, I'm not sure I'd want to engage with so many friendlies around unless it was absolutely necessary (i.e. they are obviously about to kill someone). What say the rest of you?

I have a feeling these clowns aren't going to stop until they're caught!

[Keith B]

Looks like the link changed to http://www.myfoxhouston.com/myfox/pages ... geId=3.2.1

With this many armed BG's and lots of innocents around, I would not want to start a gun battle unless they started shooting first.

[LarryH]

This has been going on for at least a few weeks.

I know that having a branch bank in your local Krogers is convenient, but it sure makes a soft target for bad guys.

[Texasdoc]

I would sit back and make the best Witness, until they started the gun fight and then I would be in a place of good cover and defend myself.

Lets hope no one has to do this .


Doc

[LedJedi]

can't say i would charge into a 3-1 situation, especially when someone has a rifle. No amount of cover that I can think of available in a grocery store will protect me from a rifle.

So long as it doesn't look like anyone would get shot it's probably in everyone's best interest to lay low and play the sheep.

now they start shooting people or look like they will shoot someone, I can't say I'd lay there and let that happen.

[AggieMM]

I would sit back and make the best Witness, until they started the gun fight and then I would be in a place of good cover and defend myself.

+1 My goal would be to make it home that night......


Ryan

[Kalrog]

I would sit back and make the best Witness, until they started the gun fight and then I would be in a place of good cover and defend myself.

+1 My goal would be to make it home that night......


Ryan

Dial 911 on the cell phone by touch. Get ready to act, but try to be invisible until that is needed.

[Lucky45]

No amount of cover that I can think of available in a grocery store will protect me from a rifle.

Are you kidding me?? Have you bought bananas from Kroger lately? Those things are hard and green.

But seriously, I think you have to broaden the picture and always remember that stores have AN EMERGENCY EXIT. You should start memorizing where it is at your favorite store. I would be hitting that door very quickly at the back of the store (faster than a speeding bullet). I don't think that they would have that much time to round up everyone. So laying on the ground is not always the only option.

[HighVelocity]

I would be hitting that door very quickly at the back of the store (faster than a speeding bullet

You may want to rethink that strategy. Those doors are solid and you have no way of knowing what's on the other side until you open it. Who says the BG's that actually enter the store are all there is?

[phddan]

I would be hitting that door very quickly at the back of the store (faster than a speeding bullet

You may want to rethink that strategy. Those doors are solid and you have no way of knowing what's on the other side until you open it. Who says the BG's that actually enter the store are all there is?

Actually most emergency exit doors now have a delayed lock release and loud buzzer to keep people from grabbing stuff and slipping out without much attention. I've installed hundreds of them.

Dan

[KD5NRH]

can't say i would charge into a 3-1 situation, especially when someone has a rifle. No amount of cover that I can think of available in a grocery store will protect me from a rifle.

Depends on the rifle, of course; 30 inches of cream cheese will stop some .22WMR, and possibly less would stop some of the low-penetration .223 loads out there. 48 inches in small (3lb, the size and shape of the old government cheese bricks) blocks will expand a .30-06 JSP pretty impressively, but not stop it since the cheese fountains out rather than staying in place. Solid 30 & 50lb bulk blocks will stop a lot more, but I never got to test them with the '06 before I quit the job that was getting me expired bulk cheese at $0.10/lb.

FWIW, even .45ACP JHPs will penetrate a single room-temperature 3lb block end to end, though they make nowhere near the mess of the rifle rounds.

I'd look for long cover; even a .50BMG would likely be hard pressed to shoot through the full length of the canned goods rack.

[seamusTX]

If you're alone and really stuck in a dead end, go into the bathroom and stand up on the toilet. You have a defensible position and a bad guy in a hurry is not likely to be looking that closely. (At least that's how it is in the movies.)

Big stores have a trash compactor, which is not the worse place to hide; but you would have to find it on short notice.

- Jim

[mctowalot]

If you're alone and really stuck in a dead end, go into the bathroom and stand up on the toilet. You have a defensible position and a bad guy in a hurry is not likely to be looking that closely. (At least that's how it is in the movies.)

Big stores have a trash compactor, which is not the worse place to hide; but you would have to find it on short notice.

- Jim

Honestly if I were standing in line and three armed bad guys came barging in like like, I probably would go to the bathroom, but I think I would still be standing in line!

[mctowalot]

Ok. My wife who at 7am does not find me nearly as funny as I do read my last post and educated me to fact that these monsters were pointing rifles an infants head (or they have in the past at least). This makes me so sick. So for the sake of argument/disussion I would like to ask what do you think would happen if when these guys turned to leave an armed citizen opened fire on them? It looks like that might be what it takes to stop them. I realize the answer is in the penal code, but I'd like to here from y'all. Personally, if it were my baby I think I would shoot them as soon as the opportunity presented itself. What if they were done and running away? Would I still be within my rights?

[JLaw]

I would be hitting that door very quickly at the back of the store (faster than a speeding bullet

You may want to rethink that strategy. Those doors are solid and you have no way of knowing what's on the other side until you open it. Who says the BG's that actually enter the store are all there is?

Actually most emergency exit doors now have a delayed lock release and loud buzzer to keep people from grabbing stuff and slipping out without much attention. I've installed hundreds of them.

Dan

If you decide to run, try running into the backroom of a store. Just run and get lost back there, you'll quickly find a good hiding spot. There are many options (avoid the trash compactor! ) like behind stacked pallets, the forementioned bathroom trick, offices or conference rooms in the rear of the store, Kroger's backrooms have stairs that lead to refrigeration motor rooms and generator rooms, there's often ladders set up near walk-in coolers that one could get up on top of a walk-in cooler and dissapear, etc. There's more hiding spots in a grocery store than one might think.

JLaw