Costa Rican Armed Robbery Gone Bad

Robbers got what they deserved. from r/instantkarma

Link to News Article

The players:

Bad guys- helmeted “space men” and green stripe shirt who likely was a driver until he came out to help.

Good guy- Security guard in black coat.

Bystanders – Couple transferring $50k to a bank

• This ambush fits Craig Douglas’ criminal assault paradigm to the letter. Multiple opponents, armed, and the ambush is initiated at best time for them, worst for you.
• Classic transitional space ambush. It was over $50k in the white bag. Always remain alert when in transitional spaces like entering/exiting buildings or cars. Doubly so when you have valuables, and triple so when you have valuables that you move on a regular schedule.

The Scene:

• Ambush is initiated by a pistol whipping on the woman. The bad guys seem like they didn’t intend to do any shooting this day. They just wanted to show their magic wands, and get what they wanted. There was a discernible ramp up period that they needed to get into fight mode. This luckily cost them.
• The security guard tackles the only known bad guy (at the time) and tries to gain control of pistol.
• The other bystander (the husband) picks up the bag and gets into a 2 on 1 with the spacemen. Security guard picks up spaceman pistol and starts shooting. Gun fight begins.
• Accomplice in striped shirt that wasn’t committed to the fight decides he should get involved and picks up pistol and slugs it out with security guard.
• good guy wins.

Lessons:

• The ability to make and break entanglements is crucial. Especially when there’s multiple bad guys (which we have to assume is the case).
• Understanding basic wrestling or BJJ is like cheating in these scenarios, especially if you have an understanding of guns as well.
• The ability to mentally shift from distance shooting, right into a retention and entangled shooting posture also helps here. The distance is ever-changing until the fight is over.
• A dedication to the fight is required. The security guard remained aggressive the entire time, even though he was starting from a huge initiative deficit.
• When the bag guy’s plan started going bad, notice the confusion that begins once they start trying to get the object of their focus, and win a gunfight they weren’t expecting. Stripe shirt was not expecting to get in a gunfight that day and had to steel himself up to get into the fight.