Not what I would have done...

[pbwalker]

http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.as ... 3841c4bb14

Man Chases, Fires Back At Thieves on Highway

Way too many ways this could go wrong. I wonder what was in the briefcase

[seamusTX]

The driver of the truck had a permit to carry the gun he used to return fire on the thieves and is not expected to face any charges.

I read this to mean that he has a CHL.

It's pretty rare to see documented self-defense case involving a CHL holder.

- Jim

[G.C.Montgomery]

I generally would agree with you but, every case is different. The shooter's livelihood may very well have been in that case and the contents unrecoverable by any other means. If that's the case, his actions may be considered justifiable even if it wasn't the smartest move in the world.

[seamusTX]

The defender didn't shoot until the criminals shot at him, so his actions were completely justified.

There are many kinds of documents that could be irreplaceable: original legal documents, bonds, rare old papers. Or it could have been jewelry. You could have millions of dollars worth of jewelry in a brief case.

- Jim

[pbwalker]

Oh, I have no doubt he was justified in his shooting, but my concern was with the fact that there was a movie-style shootout on the freeway. Too many ways a bullet can travel and hit an innocent bystander.

[seamusTX]

I agree that shooting at a moving vehicle is a bad idea for a number of reasons, but in this case no one was hurt.

We don't know what kind of backdrop the defender had.

- Jim

[agbullet2k1]

I have enough trouble drinking coffee on the highway, much less aiming. Legal != prudent.

[pbwalker]

I agree that shooting at a moving vehicle is a bad idea for a number of reasons, but in this case no one was hurt.

We don't know what kind of backdrop the defender had.

- Jim

True...fortunately, no one was hurt.

As for the backdrop, the first 1.5 miles of I-10 (where they were on and going) is high concrete walls as this is near the intersection of Loop 410. The last mile or so is full of businesses on each side. It is 5 lanes each side.

I happen to work up one block from this Denny's and travel this route daily. It's a large highway complex.

I don't think they mention the exact time this happened though.

[Rex B]

I bet the investigating officers expressed their negative thoughts about civilians having running gunfights on public highways.
The guy must have watched Lethal Weapon last night.

[ghostrider]

My first thought when I saw this thread was that I'd be concerned if the briefcase contained nothing but my name and address. Money can be replaced, material things can be replaced, but I wouldn't want the BG to decide to come to my house later to finish the job.

For the same reason I don't leave anything in my vehicle with my name and address and when using valet parking I give them only the vehicle key.

[KD5NRH]

My first thought when I saw this thread was that I'd be concerned if the briefcase contained nothing but my name and address. Money can be replaced, material things can be replaced, but I wouldn't want the BG to decide to come to my house later to finish the job.

My thoughts exactly; not everbody uses encryption, and some people even carry around sensitive data in hard copy. I keep quite a bit of heavily encrypted data on various USB drives and backup CDs, some offsite, including scanned bank statements and home inventory with serial numbers. If that data were unencrypted, I'd fight pretty hard to protect it, since it would not only tell the BGs where to go for their next burglary, but what they'll get and how much some of it is worth. If someone had that, I'd be hard pressed to get any sleep until they were caught or I could move to a new address.