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MagnumWill · December 10, 2011, 06:40 PM

I've had two circumstances where I had been "followed", one turns out was not harmful, and the other may have been an attempt at a mugging that was averted by my awareness to the situation.

First time, i was in my truck and just pulled up into the gas station. A van parked in a spot behind me started up and drove around me (i haven't gotten out of the truck yet) AND PULLED DIRECTLY IN FRONT of me, with the driver yelling "hey! hey, you!" at me with a p***ed off look on his face. I was 19 or 20 at the time, so I hadn't owned my handguns yet- but I have a combat knife with an 8" blade behind the seat. I looked at him and said to myself, i'm not dealing with this sh** right now and I pulled the knife and scabbard from behind the seat and waited in the truck, with it running (and now back in gear). He must have seen me pull the knife, because his demeanor IMMEDIATELY changed to relatively apologetic

he almost timidly creeped up to my door and asked if I wanted to buy some stereo equipment. I sternly told him "no", and that was that. Was it an attempt at something else? Who knows, situation was averted and I don't lose sleep over it.

The second time i was at the gas station AGAIN in my truck (Anyone familiar with Pueblo will understand, both instances were there). And also, I violated my direct vigil of Murphy's law, and I just so happened to be totally unarmed. No gun, no knife, nothing. I'm standing between my truck and the pump, and a guy walks around the hood of my truck (it's hard to see people walking around it- it's an old K-10 with a 6" lift and 35" tires) and calmly asks me for a few bucks for gas so they can get home. As i went for my wallet with my back to the truck, another guy walked around the BED of the truck, effectively trapping me between the truck, the pump and them. I immediately whirled to meet him with clenched fists, in a very alert and startled state. when I did that, they both took a couple steps back and either realized that they accidentally put me in a compromising position, or i may have been too reactive for them to take advantage of me. Regardless, i sternly (again) handed the first guy a five dollar bill, and they said thank you and quickly strode off back to their car about fifty feet away.

Both instances were probably just my imagination, but I think people don't realize that they accidentally look more threatening than they mean to be. Who knows, maybe i'm just a hypersensitive a**hole

. I just try to remain vigilant- because I think when someone is following you and you don't acknowledge their presence, you're gonna get whopped from behind long before you can respond. The only solution is try not to get in that position.

Oh, and my wife just reminded me of her encounter as well (sorry, enormous post) when she was "followed" as well. My wife is 5'6", 130 pounds, and pretty cute

so she sometimes draws unscrupulous attention. She works in a pretty bad part of town, and typically goes to and from work during the seemingly "mugging witching hours". One of the parking lots is seriously a textbook place for a mugging- no cameras, dark, fenced in, away from public view. Once she was walking back to her car at a relatively late hour. She has her Sig P238TL in her purse with her, as well as a large pocket knife. Well, as she is walking out and is about thirty paces from her SUV, a car comes creeping up from the other side of the road, and parks a few spaces down in almost an "observing" position. He's kind of easy to notice, they're the only two cars in the lot

. But once she is about to get into her SUV, the car suddenly starts again and moves close, into the same position. She's not the kind to be taunted/threatened, so she has her hand on her gun in her purse ever since the car went into the lot. She gets into her car, and watches the other car as hers warms up, plugs in her stereo, etc. Then the car exits the lot, drives to the other side of the street, and parks facing her AGAIN. She continued to watch them, and then the car moved AGAIN two or three spots down in the same lot, still facing her. At that point, she started moving and crossed the street, and slowly drove past the car and got its description (gold Corolla, license plate XXX-XXX). She exited that lot, and left for home. She said the car was completely full of stuff, with a large sticker or something over the driver side window to either obscure who was in the car, or it could have possibly been for blocking the sunlight, if someone was living out of their car looking for a calm spot to sleep. Regardless, people make themselves look super-suspicious.

OK, that's all I got. thank you for bearing with me.

December 10, 2011, 06:40 PM	#59
MagnumWill Senior Member Join Date: March 18, 2009 Location: Central Colorado Posts: 1,001	I've had two circumstances where I had been "followed", one turns out was not harmful, and the other may have been an attempt at a mugging that was averted by my awareness to the situation. First time, i was in my truck and just pulled up into the gas station. A van parked in a spot behind me started up and drove around me (i haven't gotten out of the truck yet) AND PULLED DIRECTLY IN FRONT of me, with the driver yelling "hey! hey, you!" at me with a p*ed off look on his face. I was 19 or 20 at the time, so I hadn't owned my handguns yet- but I have a combat knife with an 8" blade behind the seat. I looked at him and said to myself, i'm not dealing with this sh right now and I pulled the knife and scabbard from behind the seat and waited in the truck, with it running (and now back in gear). He must have seen me pull the knife, because his demeanor IMMEDIATELY changed to relatively apologetic he almost timidly creeped up to my door and asked if I wanted to buy some stereo equipment. I sternly told him "no", and that was that. Was it an attempt at something else? Who knows, situation was averted and I don't lose sleep over it. The second time i was at the gas station AGAIN in my truck (Anyone familiar with Pueblo will understand, both instances were there). And also, I violated my direct vigil of Murphy's law, and I just so happened to be totally unarmed. No gun, no knife, nothing. I'm standing between my truck and the pump, and a guy walks around the hood of my truck (it's hard to see people walking around it- it's an old K-10 with a 6" lift and 35" tires) and calmly asks me for a few bucks for gas so they can get home. As i went for my wallet with my back to the truck, another guy walked around the BED of the truck, effectively trapping me between the truck, the pump and them. I immediately whirled to meet him with clenched fists, in a very alert and startled state. when I did that, they both took a couple steps back and either realized that they accidentally put me in a compromising position, or i may have been too reactive for them to take advantage of me. Regardless, i sternly (again) handed the first guy a five dollar bill, and they said thank you and quickly strode off back to their car about fifty feet away. Both instances were probably just my imagination, but I think people don't realize that they accidentally look more threatening than they mean to be. Who knows, maybe i'm just a hypersensitive a*hole . I just try to remain vigilant- because I think when someone is following you and you don't acknowledge their presence, you're gonna get whopped from behind long before you can respond. The only solution is try not to get in that position. Oh, and my wife just reminded me of her encounter as well (sorry, enormous post) when she was "followed" as well. My wife is 5'6", 130 pounds, and pretty cute so she sometimes draws unscrupulous attention. She works in a pretty bad part of town, and typically goes to and from work during the seemingly "mugging witching hours". One of the parking lots is seriously a textbook place for a mugging- no cameras, dark, fenced in, away from public view. Once she was walking back to her car at a relatively late hour. She has her Sig P238TL in her purse with her, as well as a large pocket knife. Well, as she is walking out and is about thirty paces from her SUV, a car comes creeping up from the other side of the road, and parks a few spaces down in almost an "observing" position. He's kind of easy to notice, they're the only two cars in the lot . But once she is about to get into her SUV, the car suddenly starts again and moves close, into the same position. She's not the kind to be taunted/threatened, so she has her hand on her gun in her purse ever since the car went into the lot. She gets into her car, and watches the other car as hers warms up, plugs in her stereo, etc. Then the car exits the lot, drives to the other side of the street, and parks facing her AGAIN. She continued to watch them, and then the car moved AGAIN two or three spots down in the same lot, still facing her. At that point, she started moving and crossed the street, and slowly drove past the car and got its description (gold Corolla, license plate XXX-XXX). She exited that lot, and left for home. She said the car was completely full of stuff, with a large sticker or something over the driver side window to either obscure who was in the car, or it could have possibly been for blocking the sunlight, if someone was living out of their car looking for a calm spot to sleep. Regardless, people make themselves look super-suspicious. OK, that's all I got. thank you for bearing with me. __________________ Those who hammer their swords into plow shares will plow for those who didn't...* Last edited by MagnumWill; December 10, 2011 at 06:58 PM.