This is a story of dramatic violence which happened to last week while on travel in Cleveland, OH. It also did not happen to me because I was a block or two away from the main event. I should have been there, but wasn’t. In the aftermath I was asked repeatedly “What would you have done if you were there?”
Here is some back story. Cleveland, OH has about 360,000 residents. The poverty rate hovers about 30% according to some internet records. That is a lot of poor people. You see them everywhere. (I tried to pick out old bullet scars on a lot of them in sleeveless tops at a Walmart.) Violent crime in Ohio draws a D- rating , one poll says violent crime is 16 per 1000 and another says 30 per 1000. Cleveland is in the top 25% of violent cities in the U.S.
A fairly surprising form of transportation around Cleveland are electric bikes and scooters. I say surprising because I saw tons of young adults on these blue pained scooters whizzing around town, even women in dresses and high heels. When you are done I guess you just drop them and walk away. I saw them tipped over and scattered all over town and on the roadways. Somebody probably tracks and finds them later.
I travelled with a women’s senior division sports team to Cleveland a week back for the Pan American Games, an international event and it was the first time it has been held in the United States. It is a huge multi week event and the city put tons of effort into hosting and promoting the games at several venues. The team I travelled with rented a large 100 year old VBO style house 2 miles west of the downtown venue about a block and a half from Lake Erie. The lake draws a lot of beach activities and events. The wide avenues are lined with well kept 100 year old houses. The streets are heavily travelled.
One evening just about dusk, three of the female athletes asked if I would like to walk down to the beach front with them. My first thought was I should go along for the exercise and to take my CCW. However I declined as my Adventure Wife was ailing and I said I should stay put to help her and fetch anything which could make her more comfortable. What would you do?
A couple of minutes went by and I ran outside to give the ladies my Pro Tech rechargeable Tac Light to take with them. However, they were already out of sight. I always travel with a strong tac style light and I resides on the night stand near my pistol. This particular light is only pocket size- about 3″ long, but kicks out over 1000 lumens in high, low and strobe.
About 40 minutes later the ladies had not returned. What would you do? I went out and waited at the sidewalk for about 15 minutes where I could see about 1/4 mile in two directions. I finally got tired of swatting mosquitos and went back inside.
Another 10 or 15 minutes later the ladies returned and they reported to me they had been up close to some rather dramatic and upsetting violence just a couple of blocks from the house. They related the event and I kicked myself the whole time for not walking with them in an unknown neighborhood at dusk.
Turns out they saw four males and a female, all about 20 years of age come into the area on those electric scooters. One of the ladies said “Hello” to get them to see her as a person as they had the appearance of a pack of wild dogs and of course in any big city- they reeked of weed. The ladies saw the young female pick up one of the electric scooters and was chased by one of the males who caught her and knocked her to the ground. What would you do?
The male then proceeded to bash the girl’s head into the asphalt, kick her in the ribs and punch her in the face. The witnesses were horrified and shocked but did not say anything for fear of inviting the violence their way. What would you do?
As the attacking male bent over, a pistol fell out of his waistband and skittered on the asphalt. What would you do now?
To finish it off, the male retrieved the gun and fired it into the air, apparently not directly at the prone victim. The female ran to a vehicle, got inside and either drove or was driven out of the area. What would you do?
The ladies related all of this to me when they got back to the rental house, and all wanted to know “What would you have done if you were there?” They were sure the female victim had a concussion and probably broken ribs in the encounter. They wanted to yell “Hey stop that!” but didn’t. There were apparently a couple of other people in the area at the time too. No one did or said anything. 911 was not called. What would you do?
Two of the ladies said after the gunshot they heard a helicopter approaching and they hoped it was a police chopper coming to the gunshot. I did not laugh aloud, but pointedly remembered one time fervently hoping bad guys heard a LAPD chopper in bound and it would keep them still. At that time I was in the middle of Watts, CA holding 9 Crips on their knees outside a crack house with my 6 shot revolver while my two LAPD Crash (Gang Unit) ride alongs ran into the crack house raiding it by themselves. Yes I was well aware of the 6 bullets in my gun and 9 down Crips and that helicopter sound. I knew it was not for me, but I could use the sound to bolster my own position. “Ya hear that!”
My immediate response to the ladies telling me about their event was “I was not there and I think I know my responses, but I don’t know everything about it.” What would you do?
The equipment I travel with was perfect for a dusk event. In addition to the bright pocket flash, I travelled that day with a Sig P365 XL 9mm pistol. The XL is a slightly longer length than the stock P365. I think it fits my hand better and I like a tad longer barrel for accuracy. It has a stock Sig Sauer factory trigger and loaded with a 12 round magazine of high quality hollow point self defense ammunition and I always have a 15 round back up magazine on my belt. The P365 XL also has Wilson Combat Grips on it and a Holosun shake awake Green Dot sight.
The Green Dot would have been perfect for that time of day. Even in daylight the Green Dot is more visible than a Red Dot.
Ohio recognizes Illinois Concealed Carry Permits. What would you do?
Pretty astounding to me, the ladies all concluded “It was good you were not there.” They were sure I would have interceded and more shooting may have resulted. I assured them at a minimum there would have been a lot of paperwork involved.
I made sure to tell the ladies my first duty would be to protect them. I don’t want to see anyone abuse a woman in front of me, but I am a retired law officer and can’t enforce laws. My duty to the ladies and first decision when we saw the beating begin, would be to move them out of the way and to cover. Cover, not concealment. Large trees and large houses were plentiful in the area. After that I would be a good witness and be calling 911.
I think I would have intervened by shouting or using the light from cover if any was available to try and get the aggressor from beating the woman I did not know. What would you do? There were at least 3 to 4 young males there at the scene. I don’t know who they are or their histories. I damn sure would not have been thinking “what if the bad guy who is winning pulls a gun?” What would you do?
If I, or you, rushed up to help a female in distress would you have worried about a gun or knife? Probably not- and we should. There can be a tendency to get caught up in doing what you think is “right” which can give you tunnel vision and prevent you from acknowledging lowlifes on drugs beating a woman may not be new to this sort of thing and may have guns and knives and certainly no qualms about using them.
When the gun arrived on the ground it was a surprise to everyone-especially the gun owner. It also ratchets up the danger everyone is in. The idiot’s decision to fire it off in the air to show his anger and power is evidence he is not an elaborate thinker type. What would you do?
The gun did not get pointed at anyone in particular. Could you engage them with your CCW? Are you creating a self defense situation that did not exist before you pulled your gun? Crafty lawyers are attached to each and every bullet. What would you do?
If you were pointed at or shot at do you return fire? If you stop the threat do you try and do first aid? Do you approach a downed gunman? Can you control 3 or 4 other males if you leave cover? Will you get arrested? Where can you get a lawyer in Cleveland on a Sunday night? Are the jails nice there? Will you get sued?
These are all things to work out in your own head as best you can-ahead of time. The middle of a gunfight is a terrible place to learn new skills. Hopefully your CCW class did some scenario training or at least in depth conversations about things to consider, do, and not do around a deadly force incident.
I thought I’d put this incident into print as it was a good reminder to me to consider many more issues on the street than “I’m the good guy.” I spent 30 years as an officer and more than that as a firearms trainer and being this close to an incident still makes me think and evaluate and try to critique even my own “Non-performance.”
Let me know. What would you do?
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