Store Owner Shoots Armed Robbers -- A Short Range Match Scenario

In the video linked below a store owner reacts to three thugs attempting a robbery. The thugs enter the store and immediately threaten the owner and customers with firearms. The thugs are committing aggravated robbery and threatening the use of unlawful deadly force—both acts are serious felonies. (see video)

At one point the store owner has retreated and a thug is on the counter threatening him with a pistol. The store owner cooperates until he has the opportunity to retrieve his pistol. We next see the store owner after he has returned to the front and grabbed a pistol from under the counter. He opens fire on the three thugs and at least one returns fire as they scramble to escape out the front door. 

The thugs then exit the store and the owner pursues. Pursuing the thugs is a bad decision as this creates a second event distinct from the earlier aggravated robbery. The owner is now using deadly force against the thugs who arguably no longer pose the threat of unlawful deadly force. As of this writing, there is no indication that the store owner has been charged. 

The store owner’s pursuit of the thugs however, does provide a prosecutor the opportunity to charge the store owner with aggravated assault. If he had not pursued the robbers into the street, the prosecution would have faced an almost impossible burden in attempting to disprove any claim of self-defense or defense of other innocents (there were at least three customers in the store). This would have made the store owner extremely hard to convict and prosecutors do not like taking cases to trial that are hard to convict. Do not chase escaping thugs. 

We used this incident as a basis for a Short Range Match stage. The Short Range Match safely replicates real-life incidents on the range which then allows competitors to solve the problem. All threat targets have a visible weapon or full mask distinguishing them from the non-threats who have no visible weapon and their face is not covered. In this particular stage, we had the competitors fire the stage three times (strings of fire) beginning from three different start positions: hand on pistol, hands at sides, and hand in surrender with wrists above shoulder. 

Eric Shooting the Short Range Stage

The stage is set with two non-threats in front of the threat targets and one threat standing on the counter as you will see in the video. My string for the stage shown in the video is with me using a P365 (I am an IDPA Master with the Back Up Gun) and starting with my hand on the pistol. My draw time measured from the instant I initially moved at the start signal until I fired the first shot was 0.63 seconds. This measurement does not include my reaction to the buzzer. As a point of interest, the buzzer’s “beep” lasts 0.30 seconds and I reacted to the onset of the beep in 0.20 seconds. My draw from concealment starting from hands at sides was 1.77 seconds and my draw from surrender was 1.67 seconds. 

Another IDPA Master shooter using a Carry Optic measured in the same manner resulted in a 1.10 second draw with hand on pistol, from hands at sides was 1.30 seconds, and his draw from surrender was 1.60 seconds. 

I’ve collected data on literally thousands of runs comparing these starting positions and (depending upon the shooter’s skill) starting with the hand on the pistol saves 0.50 – 1.75 seconds or more over starting with your hand on the pistol versus starting with the hands in another position. Clearly, if you see a potentially unlawful deadly force incident developing, placing your hand on your pistol can save significant time on your draw.

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Massad Ayoob Group MAG 40 After Class Review

We completed the Massad Ayoob Group MAG 20 live fire and MAG 20 Classroom in March 2023. It was a great class with learning all around.

I instructed the live fire portion and Massad Ayoob taught the classroom portion. Together, these courses constitute the MAG 40 and provide the student with the tools to effectively use their pistol to defend themselves; to interact with suspects, witnesses, and responding police officers; to develop a solid mindset, recognize threats, and manage the social, psychological, and legal aftermath after having been forced to use deadly force in defense of themselves or other innocents.

We had ten students for the live fire portion and the class average for the qualification was an impressive 293 points out of a possible 300.

Students in the MAG 20 live fire shoot the Standard Speed Qualification course of fire as follows: 

From the four yard line: 

-- Starting with the pistol aimed at the bottom of the target: Six rounds with your support hand in 8 seconds 

-- Starting with the pistol holstered, hand on pistol: Six rounds with your primary hand in 8 seconds 

From the seven yard line:

-- Starting with the pistol holstered, hands at sides, using your preferred stance: Six rounds, reload, six rounds in 25 seconds

From the ten yard line: 

-- Starting with the pistol aimed at the bottom of the target: Six rounds using the cover crouch, reload, six rounds from high kneeling, reload, six rounds from low kneeling in 75 seconds. 

From the fifteen yard line: 

-- Starting with the pistol holstered, hands at sides: Six rounds using the Weaver Stance, reload, six rounds using the Chapman Modified Stance, reload, six rounds using the Isosceles Stance in 90 seconds.

The MAG tradition is that if a student or staff member ties or beats Massad’s qualification score Mas signs a one dollar or five dollar bill indicating that you have beaten him at his own game. I have eight signed five dollar bills and hope to accumulate enough of them to buy a good bottle of bourbon.

I shot my P365 for the qualification and used factory equivalent reloads. I shot a 300 and  managed a 3-1/4 inch group which was 1/8" larger than my record group of 3-1/8 inches.  Its always that one shot that causes issues and in this case that one shot added 1-1/8 inches to my group size. I would have been very happy with a 2-1/8" group.  Sigh.

This is my 10th year as a Massad Ayoob Group Staff Instructor. The MAG 20 Live Fire program continues to provide outstanding instruction in the use of the handgun under stress and the MAG 20 classroom provides the absolute best instruction on the armed citizen’s rules of engagement that you can find anywhere in the United States.

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My Performance on a Police Use of Force Training Simulator Pt 2

Virta Simulator File Photo

This article is the second in a series discussing my experiences training on a sophisticated police use of force training simulator or PTS.  During the training session, I completed several law enforcement-themed scenarios including domestic disturbances, drug-related incidents, a robbery at a convenience store, and several active killer incidents.  It was an interesting experience and I was satisfied with my performance overall since I did not get shot in any of the scenarios.  However, in some of the scenarios I did not act quickly enough to stop the perpetrator from other harming others.

 

One scenario involved a dispute between two neighbors who lived in different houses across the street from me.  Since these scenarios were LEO-focused, even though I was at home, I was acting in the role of a police officer.  When the scenario begins, I hear loud yelling coming from across the street and go to investigate.  As I step around the blind corner of a garage leading to an area between two houses I see a man holding a shotgun at his waist and pointed at a woman.  Both individuals are loudly arguing about something.

 

I draw my pistol, point it at the man, and command him to drop the shotgun.  He immediately complies and places the shotgun on the ground, steps back, and raises his hands.  I lower my pistol to low ready and that was the extent of my actions in that moment.  The woman continues loudly yelling at the man and he becomes more agitated.  Thirty seconds or so pass and suddenly he lunges for the shotgun, picks it up, aims at the woman, and shoots her in the chest. A soon as he aims it toward the woman, I shoot him—he goes down; however, I was not fast enough to prevent him from killing the woman.

 

As I completed several scenarios, I did not hesitate when the threat was directed at me.  However, when I was not immediately threatened, I experienced an instant of hesitation deciding whether I should act. My hesitation resulted in several people being “killed.”  As I reviewed my performance after the training, I realized I was approaching the scenarios with a private citizen mindset and not the mindset of a police officer. The last time I wore a police uniform was 1983–almost 40 years ago—so in retrospect I guess this is not surprising. Over the years I have given careful thought to what situations I will and will not get involved in and in all but extremely rare occasions, stay out of other people’s business. 

 

Practicing reactions to deadly force scenarios or other emergencies increases our confidence, and increased confidence lowers the stress response of our bodies when we actually face dangerous situations. Our field of vision is not as narrow as it might be otherwise, and our tendency to fixate on a "fear object" or other distraction diminishes. Because our brain is in a more relaxed state, it is more able to dedicate resources to creatively addressing new challenges (for example, incoming gunfire from an unexpected direction).

 

My Performance on a Police Use of Force Training Simulator Pt 1

I recently had the opportunity to train on a sophisticated police use of force training simulator and completed several law enforcement-themed scenarios. The scenarios included domestic disturbances, drug-related incidents, a robbery at a convenience store, and several active killer incidents. It was an interesting experience and I was satisfied with my performance overall since I did not get shot in any of the scenarios. However, in some of the scenarios I did not act quickly enough to stop the perpetrator from other harming others.

Police electronic training simulators or ETSs help prepare law enforcement officers for real-life incidents using realistic scenarios that demand critical decisions in tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving situations. The training scenarios in the simulations had real actors and extensive branching options that reacted to the participant’s verbal commands, decisions, movement, or other actions. The branches allowed the incident to unfold based on the instructor’s or the participant’s decisions. The ETS detected where the participant was pointing their pistol’s muzzle and required precise marksmanship.

I experienced tunnel vision in one scenario. The scenario had me walking around a blind corner toward the entrance to a convenience store. Suddenly a young man runs from the convenience store straight toward me. When he sees me, he immediately raises his empty hands in a surrender position and lays down on the ground without any command from me (since it was an LEO scenario, I presume I was in a “virtual” police uniform and that explained his actions).

An instant later another man in street clothes runs from the store with a pistol in hand pointed at the ground. I draw and challenge the individual to drop his gun whereupon the individual produces a badge and identifies himself as a police officer. As I am staring at the badge, I do not see the individual on the ground roll over and produce a pistol. It wasn’t until he pointed it at the plain clothes police officer that I first became aware of this individual’s actions—I was too late, he fired at the officer. As the individual on the ground turned his pistol to shoot me, I shot him in the head ending the scenario.

During this scenario I experienced a form of inattentional blindness — a temporary loss of peripheral vision also referred to as tunnel vision. Tunnel vision can result from a variety of factors including high adrenaline levels in the body from stress or anger. Although I was not experiencing high adrenaline levels in the scenario, I was stressed since I wanted to do well. Tunnel vision can also result from a hyper focus on something such as the badge in my case.

I do not know how long I was focused on the badge and failed to ask during the after action review; however, I do not believe it was more than a second or two. Clearly it was long enough for the perpetrator to shoot the officer. When I saw the perpetrator shoot the officer, I turned my attention to him and reacted appropriately to the deadly threat against me.

So how do we prevent tunnel vision? The first step in dealing with narrowing attention is understanding that it can happen as your stress level rises and your body does an adrenaline dump in response. Being able to control your stress is one of the best ways to combat the ill effects of the hormonal chemical dump that changes your psychological, cognitive, and physical performance. Breathing techniques can be effective if you have time.

If you find you are fixating on one sound or one task, make a conscious effort to unlock your senses from it and force yourself to scan your environment. During the scenario, the police officer and I were both focused on each other and not on the perpetrator (the officer did not defend himself either). Obviously my best response upon seeing the badge would have been immediately turning my attention on the perpetrator and commanding him not to move. Would the perpetrator have acted anyway? I do not know; however, I would have been better prepared for his attack and may have been able to prevent him from shooting the officer.

Practicing reactions to deadly force scenarios or other emergencies increases our confidence and increased confidence lowers our body's stress response when we actually face dangerous situations. Our field of vision is not as narrow as it might be otherwise, and our tendency to fixate on a "fear object" or other distraction diminishes. Because our brain is in a more relaxed state, it is more able to dedicate resources to creatively addressing new challenges (for example, incoming gunfire from an unexpected direction).

If you enjoy these please subscribe. The link is on the upper right side of the page. All that will happen is that you will receive an e-mail when I post an article. Your information will never be distributed.