06Oct04

From an LEO friend in Capetown, SA:

"An local couple, both in their sixties, pulled into their driveway last week. They were there confronted by two armed men just as the man turned o ff the car's engine. At gunpoint, the criminal pair demanded the car keys.

The man quickly handed over the keys and both he and his wife stepped clear

of the car, giving the men easy access. The robbers, however, suddenly grabb ed the woman and began forcing her into the back seat. The man then drew his

concealed 9mm CZ75 and opened fire at the kidnappers. He was untrained and

panicked. His CZ was not carried with a round chambered, so he had to take

the time to chamber a round. By the time he did get his pistol running, he was in 'spray & pray' mode. His rounds (all thirteen of them) i mpacted on the car, a nearby tree, the driveway, and the lawn, everywhere, in fact, except

on the robbery suspects!

Happily, the two suspects also panicked and fled the scene immediately. They may have fired a single round. We're not sure. The woman was grazed by one bullet, and it is not clear whose bullet it was. In any event, she was

transported to the local hospital, treated, and released. Neither she nor her husband suffered serious injury. The best evidence suggests neither suspec t was hit either. No arrests have been made, nor are any likely.

Since our local media has a policy of never presenting a story depicting th e successful use of firearms in personal defense (much like yours), this incident went unreported in the evening news."

Lessons: A precipitous, unexpected counterattack will nearly always deflect

the focus of criminals while disrupting their plan. Plans that have been thus rudely interrupted, unless they have been worked out in detail and rehearsed, customarily disintegrate straightaway, as was the case here.

In this instance, even a poorly trained shooter was able to save his wife 's life and probably his own, because he acted, albeit clumsily, at the critica l moment. However, competent training would have surely reduced collateral damage.

/John