Tonight after work I picked up my g/f & we headed over the local mall to watch a movie (contagion).
We pulled into the parking lot & I came around a corner & parked.
As I climbed out of my Jeep & turned around I saw a group of guys beating a guy that was laying on the pavement.
Something clicked... next thing I know I am screaming louder than I ever knew I could "BACK THE **** UP!" over & over as I am running towards the group holding my m26c with both hands, safety off, laser directly in the faces of the attackers...
There were 3 guys that I personally saw actively involved in punching/kicking the guy as I ran forward, & a group of their friends, another 6 or so that were within 15 feet of the beating.
The guy on the ground was a security guard wearing a white uniform & there was another security guard that was in the fray attempting to protect his buddy without much luck. There were also a few bystanders that were trying to stop the attack but with mostly non physical efforts.
The guard on the ground was bloodied up but not seriously injured that I could tell.
As the group backed up another security guard showed up (all completely without any self defense tools whatsoever) & at this point I am on the line with ECPD dispatch.
Apparently my g/f who had been getting out of the Jeep at the same time had been on the line with 911 the second she saw my m26c out of the holster & me running.
The group of attackers seemed to have come in mostly two different vehicles, one white car & one dark truck.
The main attackers jumped into the white car that was essentially right next to where the attack had been taking place & left, at this point I was on the line with dispatch giving them plate numbers & descriptions.
The white car leaves & half of the group remaining is circling back over to their truck getting ready to leave.
I had yelled to my g/f to grab my flipcam from the Jeep & this is right around when the recording starts.
The guys circling back to the truck are leaving & a guard goes to get their plate number & you can see one of the guys stand in front to block the plate.
Shortly after the truck starts exiting the parking lot the first cop shows up & we tell him to get the truck, he takes off after the truck.
The injured guard is very shaken & is trying to tell everyone what had happened.
To sum it up it sounds like the group of guys had been causing problems in the mall for several hours & having problems with the security staff. The security staff either kicked them out or followed them out, at one point the injured guard states that he was trying to get their plate number & that was when the attack began.
The cops were pretty cool with everyone and myself. No doubt it helped that the guard kept repeating to them that "the guy with the gun saved my life, the guy with the gun saved me!, thank you so much!"
The cops had several people fill out written statements, they gave me no problems whatsoever about my openly carried taser which was back in the holster before they showed up. While I was speaking with dispatch I requested that they notify the responding units that I was there with a taser openly visible in a holster that appears like a firearm.
One of the cops asked if I always carried it & I told him I had started about 6 months or so ago because I had wanted to get a ccw & you can't get one in San Diego, so I looked into open carrying & realized I spend all day within one school zone or another, so I ended up with this... He actually said that with the way the open carry law is that taser might even be better in some aspects since there is no downtime of loading a magazine, even though that wouldn't have been an issue in this case.
The adrenaline took over an hour to wear off, I am just happy they backed off & no one charged me requiring a trigger pull... No doubt a lawsuit would come from some dirtbags parents after their A+ student lost half their front teeth from facepalming into the pavement as the taser was deployed...
It's very weird as I think about what happened, I know there is no way I could point out the main attackers faces if I had to, the guys are just a complete blur in my mind, more than anything I really wish I had had a camera attachment on the m26c, I will be looking into that tomorrow...
craziness,
& we missed our movie...
(I have deleted the image of the contact info paper from the PD as per advice from several PM's)
We pulled into the parking lot & I came around a corner & parked.
As I climbed out of my Jeep & turned around I saw a group of guys beating a guy that was laying on the pavement.
Something clicked... next thing I know I am screaming louder than I ever knew I could "BACK THE **** UP!" over & over as I am running towards the group holding my m26c with both hands, safety off, laser directly in the faces of the attackers...
There were 3 guys that I personally saw actively involved in punching/kicking the guy as I ran forward, & a group of their friends, another 6 or so that were within 15 feet of the beating.
The guy on the ground was a security guard wearing a white uniform & there was another security guard that was in the fray attempting to protect his buddy without much luck. There were also a few bystanders that were trying to stop the attack but with mostly non physical efforts.
The guard on the ground was bloodied up but not seriously injured that I could tell.
As the group backed up another security guard showed up (all completely without any self defense tools whatsoever) & at this point I am on the line with ECPD dispatch.
Apparently my g/f who had been getting out of the Jeep at the same time had been on the line with 911 the second she saw my m26c out of the holster & me running.
The group of attackers seemed to have come in mostly two different vehicles, one white car & one dark truck.
The main attackers jumped into the white car that was essentially right next to where the attack had been taking place & left, at this point I was on the line with dispatch giving them plate numbers & descriptions.
The white car leaves & half of the group remaining is circling back over to their truck getting ready to leave.
I had yelled to my g/f to grab my flipcam from the Jeep & this is right around when the recording starts.
The guys circling back to the truck are leaving & a guard goes to get their plate number & you can see one of the guys stand in front to block the plate.
Shortly after the truck starts exiting the parking lot the first cop shows up & we tell him to get the truck, he takes off after the truck.
The injured guard is very shaken & is trying to tell everyone what had happened.
To sum it up it sounds like the group of guys had been causing problems in the mall for several hours & having problems with the security staff. The security staff either kicked them out or followed them out, at one point the injured guard states that he was trying to get their plate number & that was when the attack began.
The cops were pretty cool with everyone and myself. No doubt it helped that the guard kept repeating to them that "the guy with the gun saved my life, the guy with the gun saved me!, thank you so much!"
The cops had several people fill out written statements, they gave me no problems whatsoever about my openly carried taser which was back in the holster before they showed up. While I was speaking with dispatch I requested that they notify the responding units that I was there with a taser openly visible in a holster that appears like a firearm.
One of the cops asked if I always carried it & I told him I had started about 6 months or so ago because I had wanted to get a ccw & you can't get one in San Diego, so I looked into open carrying & realized I spend all day within one school zone or another, so I ended up with this... He actually said that with the way the open carry law is that taser might even be better in some aspects since there is no downtime of loading a magazine, even though that wouldn't have been an issue in this case.
The adrenaline took over an hour to wear off, I am just happy they backed off & no one charged me requiring a trigger pull... No doubt a lawsuit would come from some dirtbags parents after their A+ student lost half their front teeth from facepalming into the pavement as the taser was deployed...
It's very weird as I think about what happened, I know there is no way I could point out the main attackers faces if I had to, the guys are just a complete blur in my mind, more than anything I really wish I had had a camera attachment on the m26c, I will be looking into that tomorrow...
craziness,
& we missed our movie...
(I have deleted the image of the contact info paper from the PD as per advice from several PM's)
