Being followed......helped me decide to carry!

I work swing shifts for a local security agency as an armed guard all around the valley. It is company policy to be unholstered and the gun secured and unloaded when off the clock. On my way home from work (about 1am) Friday night a group of teenage hooligans in a white Nissan Sentra cut me off on Bangerter Highway and slammed on their brakes. I signaled, changed lanes, and went around them. They proceeded to follow me turn for turn on the 22 mile ride to my apartment near the U. I pulled in front of my home, parked, and shut off the lights on my truck. In the rough 20 seconds after i had parked, I pulled my Glock 17 out of the box, loaded it, and set it in my lap. Just as i set it in my lap a set of headlights came around the corner, and parked about 3 spaces behind me. Their lights shut off and in my mirror I see an individual step out of the driver's side rear door, and slowly start proceeding towards the rear of my truck. I stepped out of my truck when the individual was about 20 ft. short of my truck with gun in hand, and grabbed my bag with my other hand. He must have seen my gun because he only took 2 more steps before deciding to head back to the car. The car whipped around in the street and left in a frenzy. I set my stuff on the tonneau cover and I began to shake uncontrollably. I don't usually have my gun with me unless I am working (wife is a little gun shy), but i'm glad i did last night. From now on i will have it on or near me just in case something like this happens again. I have had 12 hours to recover, but i'm still pretty shook up.

First of all, welcome to the forum. :dude:

Secondly, I appreciate your sharing the highlights of this disturbing episode with our forum.

In the society in which we now live, one must be mentally and physically prepared for just about anything.

This could have certainly turned out a lot worse for you, but I'm glad that it didn't.

Sounds like that could have gone a lot worse. It's too bad we'll never know their intentions. But good for you for taking responsibility for your own protection. Just to be safe I would get my own gun to keep in the truck, that way you can't get in trouble with your job.

btw, did you double back any (make four turns to go in a circle) to be 100% sure? I think after 20 miles I would be as nervous as you proabably were, but would want to try a move like that to make 100% sure they were following me.

Oh after so long of them following I took the most ridiculous, go in circles drive that even I was annoyed. I thought I had lost their interest or shaken them, so I went home. Unfortunately, I hadn't.

you shouldnt go "home" in a situation where you're being followed. go to a public place, police dept., etc. if they wanna be humps later, they know where you live. take them to anyplace but home, and see what happens, when you get out. i know home feels "safest", but in reality, letting someone who has a beef with you, and might really be annoyed with the display of a firearm, know where you live isnt the best bet. just my .02 cents. DAMHIK.

Golden-Arm said:

you shouldnt go "home" in a situation where you're being followed. go to a public place, police dept., etc. if they wanna be humps later, they know where you live. take them to anyplace but home, and see what happens, when you get out. i know home feels "safest", but in reality, letting someone who has a beef with you, and might really be annoyed with the display of a firearm, know where you live isnt the best bet. just my .02 cents. DAMHIK.

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+1, going home gives them the opportunity to come back later either with more people or armed themselves. I would recommend calling the police from your cell phone once you are sure you are being followed. This way if you are attacked before the police arrive and you have to defend yourself, you will have a record of the event.

Some assumptions from your post....

Since you ARE employed as an ARMED Security you are legally allowed to possess, carry, own a firearm. Your EMPLOYER's restrictions have NO BEARING in law about carry to or from work.
In Utah it is fully legal to have a loaded/concealed handgun in a vehicle IF:
your are 18 or older
lawfully in possession of the vehicle you are in or have permission from one lawfully in possession of the vehicle
TO: Carry, possess, conceal, own, dangle from your rear view mirror or from the left heel a handgun that is loaded, unloaded, concealed, or not concealed WHILE YOU ARE INSIDE THE VEHICLE.
You may not have a loaded concealed firearm outside the vehicle while you are on a public road UNLESS you have a Concealed Carry Permit.

Until I was sure that you had LOST your follower I would have called 911, described your situation, what you were driving, and arrange to met the police at a convenient safe location for you and the officer.
At night in SL valley it would be next to impossible to be sure that you had LOST your follower.

You did still have some safety while you were inside your moving vehicle. Once you had stopped and exited your vehicle your potential risk level went up SIGNIFICANTLY!

Many possibilities about what was going on from some Bad Guys or Girls knowing where you worked and following you home to possible kidnap you and/or force you to participate in some illegal actions, to someone mad at you for something work related and were seeking some form of revenge, to just some stupid kids doing something stupid from some innocent action of yours that they perceived as a "dis" to them.....

Glad it has worked out well for you SO FAR. Hope it continues to...

BTW--- did you happen to get a description of the perp, car, and the license tag number?

I concur with Joe. And, if you do not already have one, please get a Utah Concealed Firearm Permit.

I would second the suggestion you drive to a police station if you think you are being followed. When the vehicle passed you and put on their brakes, I would have also taken the license plate #.

As for your personal safety...you bet you should carry, and you should also teach your wife proper firearms handling and use. Start her with a .22 like a High Standard, Colt Woodsman, or a Buckmark...something simple and easy to handle.

Once your wife is comfortable with shooting a .22, that source of resistance should evaporate.

You exhibited poor choices all around from a tactical perspective. I also suspect you're not telling the whole story. It belies credibility that someone would just cut you off for no reason, and that you, against all logical thought, went around them.

Next, you didn't drive to a public place (preferably as suggested the police station), you didn't get a license number and, despite driving around you lead them to your house. THEN you brandished and failed to call it into 9-11, (making you the victim). They could have reported you stalked at them with a gun.

Now, knowing where you live they can comeback for shenanigans (I hope not and this ends it).

Suggest you learn from this and do your best to avoid being drawn into road rage incidents.

Badger Johnson said:

You exhibited poor choices all around from a tactical perspective. I also suspect you're not telling the whole story. It belies credibility that someone would just cut you off for no reason, and that you, against all logical thought, went around them.

Next, you didn't drive to a public place (preferably as suggested the police station), you didn't get a license number and, despite driving around you lead them to your house. THEN you brandished and failed to call it into 9-11, (making you the victim). They could have reported you stalked at them with a gun.

Now, knowing where you live they can comeback for shenanigans (I hope not and this ends it).

Suggest you learn from this and do your best to avoid being drawn into road rage incidents.

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It belies credibility that someone would just cut you off for no reason,

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This happened to me in Michigan back in the 80's and all I was doing was driving home from work. The e-way as empty and the people that did the same to me also shot my car up and I had not done a thing (4 Bullets where found in my car) from a 357 mag by the police, NO I did NOT get a plate number either. All I still remember even today is that i was a Ford Tempo no color no markings nothing.
Don't talk crap unless you have ever been put in that type of situation.
People are just walking into schools and other type places and start shooting for no reason so why is the OP story so hard to believe that he could have just been cut off for no reason.

Rick H said:

This happened to me in Michigan back in the 80's and all I was doing was driving home from work. The e-way as empty and the people that did the same to me also shot my car up and I had not done a thing (4 Bullets where found in my car) from a 357 mag by the police, NO I did NOT get a plate number either. All I still remember even today is that i was a Ford Tempo no color no markings nothing.
Don't talk crap unless you have ever been put in that type of situation.
People are just walking into schools and other type places and start shooting for no reason so why is the OP story so hard to believe that he could have just been cut off for no reason.

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I'll second that. I've had a carload of teens do everything they could to frighten me, to include holding up a pistol where I could see it. What they saw, at first, was an older man they thought might be helpless. What they soon saw was the business end of a Ruger. At that point, they decided to leave the area. I filed a police report, to include a description of the vehicle, but never heard anything about it.

Do understand that there are elements of our society who will do things like this just for kicks. Remember the story of the two "children" (ten and eleven if I remember) who pushed a shopping cart off a building and onto a woman's head?

Badger Johnson said:

someone would just cut you off for no reason

Next, you didn't drive to a public place (preferably as suggested the police station), you didn't get a license number.

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Something very similar happened to me one night when some gangster wannabes pulled out in front of me and i honked my horn. They decided to hit a block and come in behind my car. I went to the closest public place which was a grocery store parking lot and pulled in. They came screeching in behind me and My Glock 19 I had at the time was pointed at the first guy of 4 that got out of the car yelling at me "we're beating your ass, get the f*** out" As soon as they saw my gun Ive never seen 4 guys get in a car and take off so fast in my life.

I didnt go to the police department, didnt get a plate, and didnt lead them to my house. I knew they were just some stupid kids out to be retards and they got a nice lesson out of it...hopefully....
Sometimes in the heat of the moment going to the police isnt the first thing you think of, but going home was definitely not in the cards for me so later on they couldnt come back and smash my car windows or take out thier frustration on anything else of mine.

SFCRetired said:

Do understand that there are elements of our society who will do things like this just for kicks. Remember the story of the two "children" (ten and eleven if I remember) who pushed a shopping cart off a building and onto a woman's head?

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+1

I've been "stalked" twice while driving with my sisters. Once at night, which made it all that more intense. We kept trying to lose the car in traffic, but no luck. We finally managed to dodge ahead of a semi and took an exit ramp, cutting them off and making them overshoot the exit.

The second time was during the day, and it was several guys who seemed to be having a great time harassing us. I was in the backseat, so I grabbed my cell phone, dialed 911 and turned to get their license plate number. Once they figured out what I was doing, they backed off really quickly.

Conclusion: sometimes there are trouble makers, and sometimes there are sociopaths, and they can and will target random people. Don't take chances.

Rick H said:

Don't talk crap unless you have ever been put in that type of situation.
People are just walking into schools and other type places and start shooting for no reason so why is the OP story so hard to believe that he could have just been cut off for no reason.

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First, sorry that happened to you and glad you weren't harmed. Second, you took my comment out of context. I said, in essence it is incredible that he got cut off for no reason and that he passed them (as a remedy) putting himself in the cross hairs, so to speak. Note I didn't say it was an impossible scenario, and I appreciate your input and stand corrected.

Add fire stations as a place to go to shake a tail/harrasser

MilProGuy said:

First of all, welcome to the forum. :dude:

Secondly, I appreciate your sharing the highlights of this disturbing episode with our forum.

In the society in which we now live, one must be mentally and physically prepared for just about anything.

This could have certainly turned out a lot worse for you, but I'm glad that it didn't.

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The Arizona Department of Public Safety suggested that you go to a fire station instead of a police department. They said fire stations are open 24 hours a day, and someone is always on duty there. They also said that firemen deal with emergencies all the time and are used to it, and that firemen, as a group, had the highest percentages of concealed carry permits of any group in the state.

My experience is that I hear of a lot of single women who get harrassed in this manner. I changed my mind about the necessity of having a loaded gun in the car after hearing a couple of stories like this.