A quick-thinking Chicago motorist shot and killed an aspiring car jacker, displaying many of the techniques that an armed self-defender should master.
“Police believe that Ronald Morales, 43, made eye contact with the motorist who was pumping gas at the time, exited the store at the gas station, walked over to the car and pulled out his gun,” tribunist.com reports. “By the time Morales was near the car, the motorist was already back in the car.”
As you can see in the video, Mr. Morales hid his weapon from the un-named motorist — until the perp opened the passenger door. At that point, the armed citizen saw the firearm and took immediate evasive action.
He might have shot through the window. But, as Jon Wayne Taylor pointed out in yesterday’s Tactical Fitness Vehicle Close Combat post, a car is a coffin. Failing the ability to drive away, leaving the vehicle was the right choice. Which may also have been motivated by the defender’s need to stand up to draw his firearm.
The motorist’s choice of cover was also laudable. That’s right, cover. As JWT told us, a vehicle’s wheel and axle joint can stop bullets.
If you were being churlish, you could say that that our hero got married to cover. That he should have moved away from the vehicle after shooting; the bad guy could have easily repositioned himself for a clear shot. But hey, result.
Also worth noting: the attacker didn’t die on the spot. He was fully mobile after taking a round center mass.
Thanks to an armed good guy, there’s one less bad guy walking around the streets of the Windy City.