Your Tactical Training Scenario- Brutal Attack on Senior Citizen

I was searching for an old email I had sent when I found a correspondence with Marcus Wynne from several years back. Marcus sent me the video embedded below.

Watch the short video. It’s short, but very violent. Don’t watch it if you have a weak stomach for extreme brutality. An elderly woman is savagely beaten by a robber.

The extreme level of violence that the robber uses makes this one an interesting video to dissect. Most “normal” people are completely uncomfortable with this type of savagery. If you can’t bear to even watch the video, how would you be able to successfully defend yourself if you were the robber’s next chosen victim?

Note the process...

1. Approach and verbally test the victim by asking questions. The criminal is assessing his likelihood to get rich, whether or not the victim will fight, and whether or not he will get caught by police or good Samaritans.
2. The movement patterns to isolate the victim and prevent her escape. He is maneuvering to reduce her escape options and/or shield his attack from public view as he continues to assess his victim’s response.
3. The violent attack intended to make her unconscious so that he can take what he wants without any chance of resistance.

This mugging could have been prevented at each of those stages. It’s up to you to properly time your resistance efforts and come up with a strategy that matches your skills and abilities. Here are the questions to ask yourself:

-What would you do in the testing stage? How do you “fail” the attacker’s interview?

-How about when the mugger begins his predatory movement patterns? At what point should you begin to to counter your attacker’s predatory movements and begin aggressively maneuvering on him or making an escape?

-What about if the attack has begun? Could you defend yourself physically? Could you access a weapon?

Most of you reading this article will ignore the first two questions and immediately jump to the third. I know a lot of you would say “I’d just shoot him”. I have no problem with that response. The problem happens in the decision making process. At what point will you recognize the fight is on and draw your gun? How are you going to get to it quickly so that he doesn’t foul your draw or take it away from you? Do you think you can still draw and shoot after a few of those kicks to the face?

What’s the solution? The solution isn’t cutting 2/10ths of a second off your draw speed. The solution isn’t spending a year in a boxing gym to learn to take a punch. Although both solutions are beneficial, the true solution hear is in recognizing the attack and preventing it. If you can avoid going toe to toe with someone like this robber, you’ve already won. Focus on answering questions one and two. Those will give you the greatest return for the amount of time you will invest.

Most people don’t get it. The average person expects that criminals will have the same sense of compassion and morals that “normal” people have. In my experience, that usually isn’t the case. This video shows an example of that. Violent criminals have made a choice to commit a crime. The criminals will destroy anyone or anything that interferes with their payoff once the attack begins. You have to stop the attack before it starts. As Musashi said: “Once the opponent moves, I move first.” This is good advice. Recognizing the pre-attack indicators and acting before the attack commences is the best way to win this game.

Don’t expect your attacker to have any mercy. Don’t expect help from any passersby. Study the problem. Do the work.