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This happened a couple of months ago, but I haven't been around here to post this because my wife recently had our 4th child( another girl). So I thought that I would take the time to share it now.

My pregnant wife , kids(3 girls) and I were in Odessa to do some shopping. My wife needed to go get a couple of items from Target. I told her that the girls and I would stay in the truck because one of the girls was asleep. I left the truck running and locked the doors. I leaned my seat back and started search for ammo on the web using my phone. We had been there about 10 minutes when I heard my door handle being pulled. I leaned forward in my seat to see someone standing there trying to open my door. I immediately draw my weapon and ask what this person was doing. The girl seemed to be stoned out of her minded but quickly noticed that I had my pistol in hand ready to use it. She wanted me to roll my window down to talk to her. I told her that I could hear fine and I didn't need to roll it down. She proceeded to then ask me if I would give her some money. I told her that she was not getting any money and needed to leave immediately. As soon as she left, I called my wife in the store to check on her and tell her to watch out because I could not see where this girl had gone. My wife was checking out and I met her at the front door with truck. As we are leaving the parking lot, my oldest daughter (8yrs old) saw this person again and said "dad she's at someone else's car".
I drove down the road and saw an officer fueling up not far from the parking lot. I pulled in and told him what had just happened and gave him a description of this person. As I am giving him the description. As I got back in the truck after talking with the officer, my oldest daughter tells me" dad why didn't you tell him her hair was red you just said sandy blonde?" I told her that I could not remember what color it was exactly just a darker color but not brown. She then tells me, " dad my hair is sandy blonde her's was definitely red, but you were right about what she was wearing."
As a dad, I was so please to see how observant my daughter was. I was also shocked at myself for not paying closer attention to detail on her description. I was so pleased with how my girls reacted. They all saw me draw and new there was a threat. After everything was over and we were headed home, they told me that they were ready to put their heads down and cover their ears if I had held "stop" to the person at the window. I have trained them that if something arises while in the truck and you hear me say certain words then the time has come to put your head down and cover you ears.
I have taught them this for several reasons. if I shoot from inside the cab of the truck:
1) I want their eyes protected from flying glass
2) I want their ears protected from the muzzle blast
3) I don't want them to see my shoot anyone if it is avoidable


Lessons learned:
1) I no longer will lean my seat back while waiting for someone in a store parking lot.
2) It is difficult to draw left-handed from the driver's seat of your truck with an iwb holster at 8 o'clock position
3) Focus more on a person's details when something occurs.


Thanks.

Stay safe and God Bless.

KS

you also learned she's a very observant little girl! wow! and incredibly calm!

Good lessons. Thanks for sharing!

Glad you didn't have to shoot.

If I stay in the vehicle and wait for someone I have gotten into the practice of parking away from other vehicles so I have a clear 360 degree view of anyone approaching. I instruct whomever I'm waiting on to call me as they are headed for the exit so I can pick them up at the door.

RoyGBiv wrote:Good lessons. Thanks for sharing!

Glad you didn't have to shoot.

X2

very good job.

I do as others have said I park far away from any other vehicles and wait for a call or sometimes I won't park at all and I just canvas the parking lot until my wife lets me know.

You'd be surprised how many people are totally unaware of their surroundings.

Be careful with the lot lizards asking for gas money.

My wife was on vacation in the motor home 2 yrs ago. She was approached in the parking lot of a Walmarts in Bastrop by a female asking for "gas money". The woman was carrying an aluminum cane (though it seemed that she walked very well without it) and was acting strange. The gal kept lifting the cane near the window of the motor home.

Wife opened the wing window and the gal started talking fast and friendly with several "God loves you and Jesus does too". Wife gave the gal $5.00 to go away but the woman wouldnt leave and kept asking personal questions such as name, home base, etc. She also kept trying to touch my wife's hand and finally my wife told her not to touch and move on. The gal walked away and was picked up by a car.

I believe it was that evening when wife got a phone call from the credit card company stating that her card had been used at an Austin jewelry store for the purchase of a $7K bracelet. When wife travels she only carries one card & she still had this particular credit card; but Bastrop is about 45 mins from Austin! What gives? Coincidence?

The credit card company canceled the card and told wife that she would not be liable for this charge. They wouldnt share details about how this could have happened. After googling we found that many of the major credit card companies had a major problem with the RFIDs.

At the Shmoocon hacker conference, Paget aimed to indisputably prove what hackers have long known and the payment card industry has repeatedly downplayed and denied: That RFID-enabled credit card data can be easily, cheaply, and undetectably stolen and used for fraudulent transactions. With a Vivotech RFID credit card reader she bought on eBay for $50, Paget wirelessly read a volunteer’s credit card onstage and obtained the card’s number and expiration date, along with the one-time CVV number used by contactless cards to authenticate payments. A second later, she used a $300 card-magnetizing tool to encode that data onto a blank card.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenbe ... d-wallets/

We have no clue as to how her credit card was compromised, but we suspect this gal had a scanner and it just may have been in the aluminum walking cane.

Jim Beaux wrote:http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenbe ... d-wallets/

We have no clue as to how her credit card was compromised, but we suspect this gal had a scanner and it just may have been in the aluminum walking cane.

The cane was not the scanner, but more than likely an antenna or 'wand' to read the RFID chip in any card equipped with one. RFID scanning is a big deal as they can easily be hacked remotely.

Paul's Shield wrote:very good job.

I do as others have said I park far away from any other vehicles and wait for a call or sometimes I won't park at all and I just canvas the parking lot until my wife lets me know.

You'd be surprised how many people are totally unaware of their surroundings.

I sometimes sit in the parking lot waiting for the wife. One of my favorite pastimes is watching the clueless stumbling around clicking their keyless fobs trying to find where they parked their vehicle! One day Im gonna ask if they are doing "some kinda water witching!

SewTexas wrote:you also learned she's a very observant little girl! wow! and incredibly calm!

You are absolutely correct. I was very proud of here.

You did very well. In a truly emergency situation it is difficult to be very descript about a suspect. Your body focuses on what it has to so that you stay alive. Hair color isn't part of that equation. Try and focus on details when the situation has de-escalated to below "In your face, right now" kind of danger. For example, when the girl was walking away from you at that point get a read on dress, height, hair color(and length), etc.

Dont mentally try and shift your focus from the imperative to get a description. Again, you did very well.

Many lessons to be learned in this experience. Thanks for sharing.