Go Granny!

[dburkhead]

82-year-old fights off attacker | KVOA.com | Tucson, Arizona

SIERRA VISTA - An 82-year-old woman takes matters into her own hands after she's attacked in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Sierra Vista.

Police said the suspect Stephen Prickett beat the woman with her own cane until she grabbed her gun from her purse and started firing.

After a few days in the hospital, she's out and told News 4 all about it.

She didn't hit the attacker but the gunshots drew attention. And I'm kind of surprised at the Walmart employees running "to the sound of the guns" (to use an old allusion)--most people tend to run away from gunfire.

More at the source.

 

[glock2010]

lol the image of an 82 year old granny shooting a gun is funny . that being said u go granny ,to bad she didnt have better aim and hit the dirty rat....

 

[Que]

This is a great story. It's good to see an elderly woman defend herself against that thug.

 

[UltraRick]

Too bad this is not all over the news! If it had turned bad it would have been

 

[lovemachine]

That's awesome. Good for her. What kind of gun do you think it was? My guess is a .38

 

[00BlasterResto]

Yep, she's a touph granny. I cannot believe what kinda sickos are out there, who could attack an old lady with her cane, tellings her they are going to kill her....
Too bad she missed! if she woulda had that 38 instead of the p3at he probly wouldn't have gotten so lucky.
Bet he didn't imagine her haveing a gun.

 

[Mikeh82]

Cool story but..... There are stray bullets flying around in a Wal Mart parking lot.. How many of us take our kids to Wal Mart? Someone other than the attacker could have been killed here..

 

[00BlasterResto]

That's awesome. Good for her. What kind of gun do you think it was? My guess is a .38

If you watch the new story she shows a 4" 38 and a kel-tec P3AT .380, from the way they were showing it I am pretty sure it was the Kel-tec.

 

[00BlasterResto]

Cool story but..... There are stray bullets flying around in a Wal Mart parking lot.. How many of us take our kids to Wal Mart? Someone other than the attacker could have been killed here..

Well if it saves an old lady I think it's worth the risk, he talked about her dieing and was beating her with no one around!
I personally would not have a problem takeing a stray for the lady. I'd say take cover with the kids the best you can, but it's granny savein time.

 

[Archbishop]

Cool story but..... There are stray bullets flying around in a Wal Mart parking lot.. How many of us take our kids to Wal Mart? Someone other than the attacker could have been killed here..

We talk a lot about gun safety on this forum, including knowing what your backstop is, but in the real world it's not so cut and dry. When the BG attacks we may well not have a nice big backstop after the BG. We make the most of what we have and make a judgment call. If it's a school bus full of kids beyond the bad guy we probably pause. If it's a row of cars at Wal Mart we take our best aim and fire, because if you don't there's a good chance you'll be dead. The only reason why you should be firing at all is you or someone you care about is in grave danger. (Leaving the debate of good samaritan alone for a moment.) So I way the my life against the risk that I might shoot an innocent. As I said if its bus full of kids I pause. If its a row full of cars and there might be a kid crouched down tying his shoe that will stand up just as I fire, I'm sorry but that's a risk that I would take.

 

[Hustlehard]

We talk a lot about gun safety on this forum, including knowing what your backstop is, but in the real world it's not so cut and dry. When the BG attacks we may well not have a nice big backstop after the BG. We make the most of what we have and make a judgment call. If it's a school bus full of kids beyond the bad guy we probably pause. If it's a row of cars at Wal Mart we take our best aim and fire, because if you don't there's a good chance you'll be dead. The only reason why you should be firing at all is you or someone you care about is in grave danger. (Leaving the debate of good samaritan alone for a moment.) So I way the my life against the risk that I might shoot an innocent. As I said if its bus full of kids I pause. If its a row full of cars and there might be a kid crouched down tying his shoe that will stand up just as I fire, I'm sorry but that's a risk that I would take.

Archbishop is right. All living things share that one thing in common: the will to survive. So in that moment, your only thinking about self-preservation, its a dirty game I know, but we know its true, I say let "God" sort it out and do what you must to survive that moment.

 

[Z-Glock23]

 

[Mikeh82]

i agree for the most part but if you cant hit someone at point blank range then you shouldnt be packing..

 

[dburkhead]

i agree for the most part but if you cant hit someone at point blank range then you shouldnt be packing..

Try it sometime when you're lying on the ground with someone as much stronger and faster than you are as that thug was to the granny beating on you with a stick and threatening your life, while you grab a gun from an enclosed bag and try to defend your life with it.

It's not like a nice, safe, shooting range.

 

[Mikeh82]

Been there, done that..

 

[dburkhead]

Been there, done that..

Maybe. And maybe you are a paragon who, in those kind of circumstances can shoot the fillings out of a bad guy's teeth. And maybe you were just lucky too.

Expecting that from most people, however, is, quite frankly unrealistic.

 

[Mikeh82]

If hitting the target requires luck then maybe you should just shoot blanks to scare the threat away.. I dont practice at the range all the time to get lucky when I shoot.

 

[dburkhead]

If hitting the target requires luck then maybe you should just shoot blanks to scare the threat away.. I dont practice at the range all the time to get lucky when I shoot.

It's statements like these that make me question the "been there, done that" claim. People in genuine fear for their life tend to lose things like coordination and fine motor skills. Someone who is physically being beaten on is being rather distracted from getting a correct sight picture, focusing on the front sight, taking a deep breath, letting it half out, then squeezing the trigger, gently like a <fill in the blank>.

Training helps but it does not make those issues go away.

Someone is beating on you with a stick. You know, you're going to react when that stick hits your body and that's going to throw off your aim--not just might, is going to, through involuntary muscle reactions if nothing else. Are you going to wait until he stops swinging, for a pause in the beating to take that carefully aimed shot or are you going to get off a shot in the general direction of the bad guy fast in the hope that it might stop the beating.

As for the earlier "been there, done that" are you really saying that someone was beating on you with a stick and you drew a gun and shot him? Otherwise you have not "been there, done that."

If so, there should be a police record of same. Perhaps you would care to provide a location and date so that it can be looked up? The incident report, at least, should be public record.

The lady did good. The armchair quarterbacking is, well, armchair quarterbacking.

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One of the reasons I don't give the police grief over a report of a shooting where X number of shots fired and Y hit the suspect where X >> Y. Shooting in real combat with real fear for ones life is not the same thing as punching holes in paper at the range. Paper targets don't shoot back. They aren't hitting you. They aren't grabbing you. They aren't throwing things at you. And you're not usually going through all the physiological changes of severe fear reaction

Acute stress reaction:

These catecholamine hormones facilitate immediate physical reactions associated with a preparation for violent muscular action. (Gleitman, et al., 2008) These include the following:

• Acceleration of heart and lung action
• Paling or flushing, or alternating between both
• Inhibition of stomach and upper-intestinal action (digestion slows down or stops)
• General effect on the sphincters of the body
• Constriction of blood vessels in many parts of the body
• Liberation of nutrients (particularly fat and glucose) for muscular action
• Dilation of blood vessels for muscles
• Inhibition of the lacrimal gland (responsible for tear production) and salivation
• Dilation of pupil (mydriasis)
• Relaxation of bladder
• Inhibition of erection
• Auditory exclusion (loss of hearing)
• Tunnel vision (loss of peripheral vision)
• Acceleration of instantaneous reflexes
• Shaking

Note particularly "Tunnel vision" and "Shaking", especially shaking. What effect do you think they'll have on ones nice, precision marksmanship?

 

[Mikeh82]

Really, your questioning me? Your a joke.. Do you think Im glad I shot someone? Do you think I should be bragging about taking a life? I dont have to prove anything to you, if you dont believe me then so be it... To answer your question... NO , I was not getting beat with a stick, I was getting stabbed by one person and kicked by another. Thats as far as im going with the story.. Having said all that the point blank shot was an easy one..

 

[ghitch75]

it's just a damn shame she didn't him!!!!.....+1 for granny