An encounter with a lunatic

• Beau Doboszenski, Owner/Lead Instructor

• Originally published November 14th, 2018

I recently got an amazing email from a man named Jon, with the following story (slightly edited due to length).

I am writing to tell you about an encounter I had. I’m pretty sure that your training saved me.

A few nights ago, I was walking from my hotel in Anchorage, Alaska to a nearby Walmart at 9:30pm when I encountered a lunatic.

I first noticed this lunatic standing across from a police car. The man was some 10 yards away from the officer, yelling something indistinguishable at him and walking away.

Eager to avoid the problem, I turned the corner.

Now if this were a sane person, I think he wouldn’t have noticed me, but somehow his eyes locked on me as his next target. In my initial scan of him, I could tell he was either crazy or high on something.

The worst part was, he decided to follow me.

What had been a strange scene was quickly becoming a potential threat. Several options flew through my head, but the obvious answer was to cross the street.

As I sped across the street, my pursuer did as well, now shouting: "I am going to f*** you up!”

That mirroring of my movements, and the verbalizing of his intent confirmed to me that the man was a dangerous threat.

I scanned him again: dark complexion, long dark hair, a coat in his arms. I looked at his hands to see if he had a gun, knife, or club on him. Fortunately, they were empty, but I kept reassessing them as I tried to escape, walking faster to put more distance between the lunatic and myself.

I touched my Smith & Wesson Shield, concealed at 4 o'clock in my Crossbreed Holster, reassuring myself that I knew where my better defensive tools were in case I needed them.

When I reached the Walmart parking lot, the threat started running at me, closing the distance fast. He was quickly parallel with me, about 15 feet to my left. Then he moved to intercept me.

Waiting for no other signals, I bolted between a row of parked cars, creating a barricade.

The lunatic yelled obscenities at me. The most obscene sticking with me: “You’re lucky, n*****!” as he turned away.

Behind my barricade, I scanned the lot, finding a security vehicle nearby. I headed for the grocery entrance. Meanwhile, the security vehicle intercepted the lunatic, and I could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Inside the store I told the greeters about the lunatic. Even as I was talking to them, I knew that my goal was to find help and create a social barricade if the man tried to follow me into the store.

Beau, what you guys did in the video series Avoid-Deter-Defend kept me out of a serious confrontation. Thank you.

This story is what makes everything that we do at DMT worthwhile. The ability to identify threats early and avoid conflict is the ultimate goal of the defender - to defend yourself without ever having to actually fight.

Regular students of DMT will recognize the steps Jon took as exactly following the DMT Plan of Action. They’ve been seeing these steps in handgun and rifle classes for years, since we focus on the entire encounter, not just the use of the firearm.