incident today - input needed

[evansvillethompsongunner]

Well, this solves my earlier dilemma as to whether to carry another mag. of frangible just in case - definitely so.

 

[draben]

Wow, INGO, you really know how to make a person feel welcome. Thanks so much for all the supportive replies, suggestions and analysis.

I've thought a bit about the comments that using a gun for intimidation is not the way to go. It makes sense I think. Once the gun is pointed at another person all cards are on the table. All it takes is a squeeze of the trigger. When I was first thinking of owning a gun, someone said that I shouldn't get it unless I was ready to use it to kill another person. I thought at the time that if I was faced with a life or death situation it shouldn't be a difficult choice. I see now that it is far from simple, and in the moment my mind was trying to come up with any alternative to having to use it. Now I see that intimidation with the gun is not a good alternative. Thank you.

Based on your replies, I feel like I did the right thing considering the circumstances. But I've thought a little about what I could have done differently.

My girlfriend was just getting out of the shower, but she hadn't heard anything yet. I could have given her the phone and told her to call 911. That might have taken more time to explain to her what was going on, but it would have left both my hands free and would have been one less distraction.

Also, I passed by the loaded XD45 which was next to the bed. The XD45 is much more manageable to shoot, but it wouldn't have hidden very well. I remember thinking the kahr could stay hidden in my pocket in case the gun wasn't needed. As it was, the gun never came out of my pocket, and it's small enough that it went unnoticed by everyone involved. I didn't see any reason to draw attention to it, plus my LTCH and my ID were still upstairs in the apartment.

I live near 13th and Illinois St. Used to be a nice quiet apartment building. Not so much since the once vacant building next door was turned into rental units. My car has been vandalized four times and robbed once since then. Hope to move next spring.

Again, thanks to everyone for the warm welcome and replies.

 

[k12lts]

It sounds like you did everything right. In Indiana you can use deadly force to defend another person if it meets all of the same requirements as defending yourself. I guess the question is, did you have a real and reasonable fear of great bodily injury or death for that woman? Also, would a jury find your actions of deadly force reasonable as well? I hope I would er on the side of saving a life. But these situations are tricky. You had better know the whole story before you start shooting.

There was a case in Ohio that I use in my class, where a man comes out of a grocery store and sees (right by his car) a large woman beating a small man with a pool cue. He is bloddy and keeps trying to get away but she is beating him silly. The man goes up and yells stop and the woman screams and turns her rage toward him. He produces a gun and she stops. Turns out the little fella was hitting on her in the bar/pool hall next door and she wanted nothing to do with him. She felt uncomfortable and snuck out of the bar but he followed her and began what would have been a sexual assault. She got ahold of her pool cue and beat him down but he kept trying to get up. Then the guy came up yelling at her and she freaked! Can you imagine if he had killed her?

I'm not saying this was what happened in your case. Like I said, I think you did the right thing. I just throw this story out there because if you don't know all of the facts you could find yourself in serious trouble. Nothing is ever black and white it seems. It's scary as hell to think about.

I commend you for calling 911 and caring enough about a stranger to want to help. So many people would have (and I'm sure did) look the other way! +1 and

Several good points here. The OP did the right things to help the unknown person. I would have taken a gun too but not pulled it unless MY life was in immediate danger.

You can hope a jury will find in your favor but do you have the $10-15,000 to pay attorney fees if the case gets that far?