Unjust criminal aggressors sometimes act like story tellers. As if we we’re a little child, they tell us a story. Of course the story is a half truth, a lie. They show no interest in you at all, and they adopt a line that appears as if it will come close to you and yours, but not actually intersect. So we’ll call it a near pass.
A convicted felon was recently arrested and charged with the attempted murder, in the ambush shooting of two Los Angeles deputies in Compton. Check out my YouTube channel where I made a video explaining this ambush. Here is a link if you’d like to check out that video.
Following the ambush the Sheriff’s Office held a press conference. LA Sheriff’s Homicide Captain Kent Wegener said this:
“Two deputies from our transit services bureau were parked adjacent to 101 east Palmer in the city of Compton… The suspect approached them from behind as the deputies were facing southbound in their patrol vehicle. The suspect came from the north. He walked along the passenger side of the car. He acted as if he were going to walk past the car. And then he made a left turn directly toward the car, raised a pistol and fired several rounds inside of the vehicle striking both of the sheriff’s deputies. The suspect then fled on foot northbound from the shooting scene and out of view.”
Captain Kent Wegener said the ambush predator “acted as if he were going to walk past the car.” What might that look like? It might look exactly like this:
The ambush predator does not dare glance at his intended target. He seems thoroughly disinterested. Things are not always what they seem. The line he adopts is designed to appear as if he’s passing by with nothing more than a near pass. Think of how we view meteorites passing by the earth. Unlike a meteorite an ambush predator has free will to change directions radically. The ambush predator patiently maintains his course until he reaches that apex point. The apex point is that sweet spot where he has the best tactical opportunity to turn 90° and be within milliseconds or perhaps just two seconds of simultaneously drawing and dominating his intended victim(s), by threat of force or actual force.
The angle of approach isn’t that important. It’s the disinterested near pass that facilitates the opportunity. Those viewing the potential problem might be a little lazy thinking things will probably work out. Until – they – don’t.
What’s a counter ambush tactic to this? Especially for a citizen the best tactic is to just put the car in gear and take a little roll around the parking lot, neighborhood, or wherever you find yourself. ‘But I don’t want to lose this spot!’ Okay, that’s your free will decision. In my opinion it does matter where you are. Probabilities do matter. In a high crime area I’m giving up that spot and taking a little Sunday cruise, as it were.
Another counter ambush tactic for those who may have a responsibility to be parked there monitoring something (like a police officer), is to get out of the vehicle. Vehicles can be like a tomb. We have no real mobility seated in that vehicle. As a police officer I was taught to get out of the vehicle and meet your potential problem on your feet. Why? Mobility gives you the capacity to move – to strafe left or right in relation to any potential threats you may be facing. As seen in the image below the officers could exit and face their potential ambush predator’s left flank. The officers can orient in a kind of a line as seen below or an “L,” shaped positioning, ensuring neither officer is in front of the other as they face the potential threat. This will require a little reconfiguration on the officers part, as the potential threat passes by. That reconfiguration is as easy as walking up to maintain the integrity of that line.
Think about these things.