The Retired Marine And The Robbers

[Bill Mattocks]

This particular event has been discussed here before, as a tangential part of a discussion involving armed citizens who defend themselves from criminals, but Massad Ayoob just wrote about it - and interviewed the Marine in question, for American Handgunner magazine, and I found it fascinating. As I had originally thought when I read about it in the news, this was a classic 'correct' use of deadly force and a firearm by a legally-armed citizen.

http://www.americanhandgunner.com/AyoobFiles.html

http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/FMGPublications/AmericanHandgunner/AHJA09/?page=62

Situation:
It wasn’t enough for the two armed robbers to take your money — now they’re herding you into the back of the restaurant, and telling you to get face down …

Lessons:
Fortunately, the armed citizen has options that go beyond trusting the merciless to be merciful.

When this armed citizen’s gunfight was over, almost everyone called him a hero. He had mixed feelings about that. He had retired after two honorable careers, the first as a United States Marine Corps aviator who among other duties had flown two US Presidents, and the second as a commercial airline pilot.

It has been said when you first enter USMC Recruit Training, you might describe yourself as a man or a woman, or even as a boy or a girl. But when you walk back out through those gates, if asked “what are you?” you will answer proudly, “I am a Marine!”
This one was, most assuredly, A Marine. He has never talked to the press about his experience, until now. He told me, “I believe it was Andy Warhol circa 1971 who is credited with creating the phrase, ‘Everyone gets 15 minutes of fame.’ I have no interest in 15 seconds of notoriety. There is already too much on the Internet as it is.” He requested I not use his name when I told his story.

I respect that. Accordingly, I will refer to him here simply as, “the Marine.”

 

[Sukerkin]

A most instructive event, thanks for taking us to where it was told in full by those who know what they're talking about.