One second you're sitting in the drive-thru, the next second you're being shot at...

[xstayfrostyx]

"A Jacksonville woman waiting in a Compass Bank drive-through to drop off a money bag found herself ambushed, robbed and shot at in broad daylight."
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/...ing_robbery_in_jacksonville_bank_drive_throug

I think about this scenario constantly when I'm out and about. I find myself wondering "what would I do if (fill in the blank) happened right now?" "How would I react?" Not that everyone should be walking around in condition RED every minute of every day, but I think just the simple act of asking yourself obvious questions and forcing your brain to work through the various possibilities could potentially be the difference in surviving a situation like the one above, or ending up a casualty.

When I lived in Phoenix, AZ several years ago, there was an incident on the news one day about a shooting much like this one at a Wendy's drive-thru. The victim was an engineer just grabbing a burger on his lunch break, when he was approached and shot dead while sitting in his car waiting for his order. That has always stuck with me for whatever reason, and I try to remind myself of the fact that things like this happen all the time indiscriminately.

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[servingu]

so true... it is tuff when you ccw and you are in a car with your seatbelt on. how do you get it if you need it? i found that the best thing to do is after the door is closed and before my seatbelt is on i tuck my ccw under my left leg. it works for me.

 

[BigDave]

Thus the armed public!

 

[SquatchWorks]

The best thing you can do, is lock your doors, keep your gun handy, dont let your vehicle get "stuck" (pull too close to the car head at stop light) Your best weapon IS your car!

 

[tallshipsgo]

The best thing you can do, is lock your doors, keep your gun handy, dont let your vehicle get "stuck" (pull too close to the car head at stop light) Your best weapon IS your car!

Expound a tad: never pull close enough to the car in front of you that you cannot see its rear tire. If you can see the rear tire you can get out from behind it quickly with few, or no, impediments.

 

[nonsense]

I suppose the things I wouldn't do are: 1) Live in Jacksonville, FL. 2) Drive up to a bank drop-off with a bag full of money and wait in line. I especially wouldn't do this at the same time and on the same day every week.

I think prevention goes a long way in these cases. How did he just happen to know that this person had the bag full of money?

 

[BlvdKing]

Situational Awareness is your most important tool to carry with you always. Most (not all) bad situations can be prevented if you are always aware of what is going on around you and look that way to others.

 

[clearconscience]

so true... it is tuff when you ccw and you are in a car with your seatbelt on. how do you get it if you need it? i found that the best thing to do is after the door is closed and before my seatbelt is on i tuck my ccw under my left leg. it works for me.

I do the same thing. Mostly when I'm in a sketchy area. If I'm on a drive I put it in the pocket behind my passenger seat for easy reach.

 

[glockguy]

The second I get in my car I take my gun and put it between my drivers and Center Console. Easy access and still hidden

 

[jdub75]

Condition 'yellow' is what we folks 'in the know' are in at all times, right? Just be aware and ready, not paranoid & stressed.

 

[M.Link]

I've been keeping my gun between the drivers seat and center console too, holds it tightly and easy toget to. I just say be aware and think about things and what's going on around you.

 

[doobee8]

Why not just go inside? More people, more witnesses? I guess we have to drive thru for everything don't we? Drive through robbery is just as convenient for crooks!

 

[Riot]

"A Jacksonville woman waiting in a Compass Bank drive-through to drop off a money bag found herself ambushed, robbed and shot at in broad daylight."
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/...ing_robbery_in_jacksonville_bank_drive_throug

I think about this scenario constantly when I'm out and about. I find myself wondering "what would I do if (fill in the blank) happened right now?" "How would I react?" Not that everyone should be walking around in condition RED every minute of every day, but I think just the simple act of asking yourself obvious questions and forcing your brain to work through the various possibilities could potentially be the difference in surviving a situation like the one above, or ending up a casualty.

When I lived in Phoenix, AZ several years ago, there was an incident on the news one day about a shooting much like this one at a Wendy's drive-thru. The victim was an engineer just grabbing a burger on his lunch break, when he was approached and shot dead while sitting in his car waiting for his order. That has always stuck with me for whatever reason, and I try to remind myself of the fact that things like this happen all the time indiscriminately.

"What if..." scenarios keep you prepared so that you can transition to RED at any moment. Although you can never be fully prepared for EVERY scenario, you will still be more prepared than the next guy when violence does come your way.

Also one thing we should kick out of our heads is that this isn't random. Random is a psychopath that picks a random person to victimize. These criminals methodically pick targets of opportunity and plan out their advance against you...the only thing random about it is that you may have come across their target at the time that they chose to attack.

What I mean is that a victim at that location from those individuals was imminent due to their intent...so, what can YOU do to prevent from being a victim? Well lots, actually.

The tough part about this story is WHEN it happened. The criminals decided to do this durring the day with plenty of people around and when people least suspect it. We all expect these things to happen during the night and in some dark alley...well the sad fact of the mater is that the criminals are getting more desperate and are adapting to their targets.

Be safe, watch your six, be alert and realize that banks, ATMs, and various Chenk-into-Cash places are high value targets for criminals. With that said all I can advise is to be alert and if your "Spidy Senses" happen to tingle, then go somewhere else or come back later.

Make yourself a hard target to your attackers...make yourself less desirable to your enemy.

 

[elsullo]

From a decade in an urban combat environment I have developed a low-stress constant observation for potential threats. I scan, I see, and evaluate.

But I got SURPRISED! I was calmly sitting in my junky pickup at the back of Carl's Junior, at the driveup window about to make my order, my window down. Nobody was near. Suddenly a very angry young thug pops out of the rear emergency exit, glares at me and approaches with hunched shoulders in an agressive posture, and shouts, "You gotta Dollah!" Apparently this tactic works for him because he was confused when I did not get startled and show fear of him. I just calmly said, "Not for you." I also had a pistol in my pocket and had already undone my seat belt, plus another easy-grab hidden pistol on my dashboard, all of which gave me a strange "confidence." Something in my attitude gave the thug pause. Or maybe it was the LEAA sticker in the corner of my windshield?

Yet the situation degraded as five more angry thug-buddies boiled out of that back door and converged on my window, to yell profane, sarcastic joke orders into the microphone. One put his hand on my truck, but thankfully nobody went near the door handle. Oddly, it was the first thug who shooed them all away, to go look for trouble elsewhere across the street at the 7-11 store. When I finally picked up my order the manager explained that he had just kicked them out for hanging around and not buying anything, while badgering other customers for money. Apparently, many fast-food outlets on 82nd Ave. have this experience. As I drove away, they had already been kicked out of the 7-11 store and were yelling at a TriMet bus driver to give them free rides. I didn't shoot anybody.

The moral of my story is that driveup windows are indeed a vulnerable place, and sudden surprises can occur! The vehicle is usually out of gear and the window is down and the money is out. Even having a gun in a pocket presents a draw that could be too slow to help. Alas, I am too fat to carry cross-draw! So I now always wear a very wicked-but-small "ceremonial" sheath knife at eleven-o'clock, for an INSTANT "get-off-me" vehicle window response. It has inlaid brass four-leaf clovers, to venerate my Celtic ancestors, don'cha know. It's too pretty to scare the public, but anyone who leaned into my vehicle window would sincerely regret it......................elsullo

 

[Redcap]

From a decade in an urban combat environment I have developed a low-stress constant observation for potential threats. I scan, I see, and evaluate.

But I got SURPRISED! I was calmly sitting in my junky pickup at the back of Carl's Junior, at the driveup window about to make my order, my window down. Nobody was near. Suddenly a very angry young thug pops out of the rear emergency exit, glares at me and approaches with hunched shoulders in an agressive posture, and shouts, "You gotta Dollah!" Apparently this tactic works for him because he was confused when I did not get startled and show fear of him. I just calmly said, "Not for you." I also had a pistol in my pocket and had already undone my seat belt, plus another easy-grab hidden pistol on my dashboard, all of which gave me a strange "confidence." Something in my attitude gave the thug pause. Or maybe it was the LEAA sticker in the corner of my windshield?

Yet the situation degraded as five more angry thug-buddies boiled out of that back door and converged on my window, to yell profane, sarcastic joke orders into the microphone. One put his hand on my truck, but thankfully nobody went near the door handle. Oddly, it was the first thug who shooed them all away, to go look for trouble elsewhere across the street at the 7-11 store. When I finally picked up my order the manager explained that he had just kicked them out for hanging around and not buying anything, while badgering other customers for money. Apparently, many fast-food outlets on 82nd Ave. have this experience. As I drove away, they had already been kicked out of the 7-11 store and were yelling at a TriMet bus driver to give them free rides. I didn't shoot anybody.

The moral of my story is that driveup windows are indeed a vulnerable place, and sudden surprises can occur! The vehicle is usually out of gear and the window is down and the money is out. Even having a gun in a pocket presents a draw that could be too slow to help. Alas, I am too fat to carry cross-draw! So I now always wear a very wicked-but-small "ceremonial" sheath knife at eleven-o'clock, for an INSTANT "get-off-me" vehicle window response. It has inlaid brass four-leaf clovers, to venerate my Celtic ancestors, don'cha know. It's too pretty to scare the public, but anyone who leaned into my vehicle window would sincerely regret it......................elsullo

If you had, you'd have done the locals a favor.

 

[strongtower6114]

On a long drive, I carry in a shoulder holster or crossdraw, usually I will just put the gun under my left leg. Nice and easy to reholster if you have to get out and way easier than drawing from most holsters.

 

[Guilty]

Situational awareness prevents me from using drive thru windows. It has been so long that I cannot remember the last time I used a drive thru window, not even at the bank, I always go inside.

 

[Gunner3456]

My, how this world has changed. Many years ago I worked for a small bank in Rogue River, OR. Every week we had to draw down the amount of cash we had in the vault, and maybe also buy some change. We knew from the books (and random counts) how much was in the vault, so two of us would go in there and fill a canvas bank coin bag or two with cash. It averaged about $100k. I would then carry it outside, toss it on the back floor of my car, and drive it into Grants Pass to US Bank, walk into the bank with it, and deposit it into our bank's account with the vault teller. I would get whatever change we needed (usually $1's and coins) and go back to Rogue River.

I did that every week for at least two years, and I wasn't armed.

It's a sad commentary, but I'm sure today we would hire Loomis Armored to do that for us.

Today I can't believe we did that, without a worry in the world.