#fridayfundamentals

Active Self Protection recently made a good video about last December’s murder of a retired Chicargo firefighter during a carjacking.

Unfortunately it won’t embed because it’s Age Restricted. If you care to watch it, this is what to search for.

John made an important point in his video that bears reiteration and amplification.

Appropriate and effective use of cover is an important tactic in protecting ourselves.

John Correia

Things to keep in mind about using cover.

• Cover protects us from bullets and contact weapon attacks.
• Any cover can be defeated, either by adequate weaponry or by maneuver.

Here’s my initial video commentary about the situation. It wasn’t as simple as it looks at first glance.

Whether the second Carjacker would have shot LT Williams will never be known but it cannot be discounted as a possibility. There’s a good chance he was the leader of the crew and probably very dangerous. It wasn’t his first rodeo.

The incident provides a good example of the difficulties faced when dealing with multiple attackers. LT Williams was in a very difficult position as a result of this attack. We will never know if he even saw the second armed Carjacker and could have realized that he was vulnerable to being flanked. This was a well-rehearsed Carjacking crew with a good SOP. One comment on the YouTube video about the incident opined that this same crew had tried to Carjack him earlier and he had only escaped by luck.

Here’s the complete video of the incident on YouTube.

Disregard the TV station’s gauche and inappropriate invitation to Like and Subscribe at the end.

This was the funniest comment on the YouTube video. It’s unclear which person the comment is about.

Another of John’s points was that it’s important to keep in mind our mission. As Armed Citizens, we don’t need to get the bracelets on a criminal, we just need to force a Break In Contact and then go home.

My first LAPD Shootouts book is based on off-duty incidents at home. It provides a great deal more documentation and explanation of what Home Defense with a firearm really looks like than news reports. The lessons learned apply whether you’re a POlice officer or an Armed Citizen.