Child abuse in WalMart

[DC2.2GSR]

I waited for a few days to post this, thinking that the "good guy" I encountered might also be on here, and hoping that a story would emerge, but no such luck (yet). It's a long one, but here it goes....


This past Friday I took a trip to WM to check out the ammo supply and pick up a few boxes like I do every week. We have two entrances at this WM, one has a Subway restaurant right inside the door and one has the pharmacy and 'bathroom stuff' right near it.

For some reason I keep getting the exact same parking spot at the front of the store on the Subway side. I parked and sat in my car counting out some cash for the ammo. I heard a kid yell "Go the hell!!" and "Get off of me!!" at the top of his lungs. I turn to see the kid, about 12 years old, 2-3 rows over squirming to get away from who I assumed was his dad. I watched the kid walk quickly toward the store and the dad followed, about 10 yards back. I was ready to go so I hopped out of my car and followed into the same entrance.

Inside the store I ended up walking parallel to them from the Subway entrance to the pharmacy section. The dad was yelling the entire time: "get back here you little asshole!" and all kinds of other obnoxious and degrading crap. He was making a horrible scene and being very loud. They disappeared into an aisle and I didn't hear anything else for a minute.

I turned down the deodorant aisle just in time to see the kid turn around and walk away from the dad again, and the dad took a half-running step toward the kid and punched him in the back of the head. When I say punched, I literally mean punched - the kind of punch that would make any man see stars, at least. The worst part of it is that the kid got it in the back of the head, right near his neck.

The kid flew forward and hit the ground face first and started screaming and crying hysterically. The guy sort of straddled over the top of him and crouched down to yell at him some more. All the while he had a cocked fist. A woman standing right where the kid landed yelled in surprise/shock and turned to the guy and flipped out. I honestly couldn't even understand what she was yelling. The guy stood up and took a step toward her aggressively and I had enough. I yelled "YO!!!" as loud as I could. He turned around, and came toward me instead. Okay, I thought... mission #1 accomplished. He turned from both the kid and the woman and focused on me. By that point I had backed into the wider main aisle and was in plain view of all kinds of employees and other customers who were coming over to the area. My main thought was getting him away from the kid, because he was almost literally foaming at the mouth. He was yelling profanities and spitting everywhere. "Rabid raccoon" is what went through my mind.

He tried to 'get in my face', and I managed to keep my distance and swung around to stand between the kid/woman and him. He was yelling "Motherf***er, you're done! I've had it with you asshole!" and basically jumping all over the place. Nothing made sense and he was obviously very unstable. At least 10 employees and a few customers were around by then. I had turned slightly, and kept my strong side away with my hand hovering near my waist. I was CCing, so it didn't look bad to anyone who didn't know what to look for.

I turned to look to my right and I saw a guy who I could only describe as "A Marine" (you all know what I mean), standing just like I was. We were both quiet and facing the guy and letting a store employee do the talking. The bad guy had already turned from me and was yelling at everyone else, telling them to mind their business, etc. The Marine guy looked at me and gave a knowing kind of look, and turned back toward the dad.

In no time there were three police officers who ran up and cuffed the guy. I heard someone say that they had been eating at Subway and heard the yelling. I asked an officer if he needed a witness statement and that I'd be happy to give one, but he told me that a statement from the woman (who attended to the kid the whole time) and the video tape from the store's surveillance would be plenty. I tried looking for the Marine guy and I couldn't find him. I thought he'd probably be back at the ammo counter (where else?) but no such luck. I guess he had enough and took off.

I've ran the entire thing through my head a lot over the past few days and I've decided that I've learned a few things:

1. Sometimes words aren't necessary in a conflict or its resolution. All I did was yell one word, which was more like just a noise, to get the guy to turn his focus away from the beaten kid and the woman who was standing right by him. Also, the Marine guy said nothing the whole time we were standing there facing the dad. We both knew what the other one was doing and we knew that we'd exercise restraint as long as possible. Neither one of us had fully switched to "shoot" mode since it wasn't even close to necessary yet. Somehow, even non-verbally we both knew that. Also, possibly due to our body language/posture, the guy made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with us after his initial pissed off reaction towards me. He had immediately turned to pick on someone else.

2. Being my first real situation of any kind I've had to deal with, I was surprised how clearly I thought. Sure there wasn't any real immediate danger to me, but it was very stressful nonetheless. I can actually remember going over certain steps in my mind and telling myself what had to be done next. At no point did I actually think to myself "I'm going to have to shoot this guy", but I do remember arranging myself so that I would be facing away from the kid and the woman, with the block wall as my backstop. I didn't actually think about this until I wrote everything above and I remembered which direction I was standing.

3. I really don't know what I was trying to accomplish by getting involved. If this was a "normal" altercation I would have just backed off and called the police to have them sort it out. All I know is that there was a little kid involved and it really got to me. The kid was obviously down for the count with no way of running away, so I guess I just thought that it was right then or never. I felt that I had to get the guy to ignore the kid. Being so obviously unstable and violent, who knows what would have happened next, even in public. I think it was a little reckless getting involved in something like this, but again with the kid involved that wasn't on my mind at all.

All in all it was pretty much a non event for me and my gun (thankfully). I'm just glad the kid didn't get beat on any more and that no one else got hurt.

[Justin///M]

Dang that was a good story. I am very happy no one got seriously hurt, with the exception of the emotional damage that kid already has, and that you didn't have to escalate to deadly force.

Job well done sir!

[bigandy1966]

Rep for stepping up and getting involved. Good Job!

[streaker69]

I think you did everything just right. You drew the attention of the attacker away from the child which he was then rendered assistance. No one else was hurt, and you didn't have to put Robbie the Rabid Raccoon down.

Good for you. Did everything while it was happening focus into amazing clarity?

[JeannieBmine]

Well, all I can say is, I am glad that you did something. "Yo" could be the word that goes down in history for that boy.

I had a child abuse story the other day while I was walking my dog. I saw two little girls about 7 or 8 playing in their front row house yard. Then, the mother called for them to come inside. Moments later, the mother exits the house and runs to the corner and turns right and keeps on running, all the while, talking on her cell. Then the two girls come out of the house, in the rain, and chase after the mother and one of the girls is yelling, "mommy mommy, don't leave us". The mother, yells back, "I told you to go back in the house." The one kid who yelled for her mother sat down on the sidewalk and starts crying while the other sits down and starts petting my dogs. Then a neighbor comes out. I told him what had happened, and he says the mother does this all the time, leaving them home alone and they are often running the streets til late at night, he said.

I encouraged him to call about it, but what I see, time and time again, people are afraid to speak their mind for fear of retaliation, especially in my neighborhood.

What would you have done?

[mpan72]

I waited for a few days to post this, thinking that the "good guy" I encountered might also be on here, and hoping that a story would emerge, but no such luck (yet). It's a long one, but here it goes....


This past Friday I took a trip to WM to check out the ammo supply and pick up a few boxes like I do every week. We have two entrances at this WM, one has a Subway restaurant right inside the door and one has the pharmacy and 'bathroom stuff' right near it.

For some reason I keep getting the exact same parking spot at the front of the store on the Subway side. I parked and sat in my car counting out some cash for the ammo. I heard a kid yell "Go the hell!!" and "Get off of me!!" at the top of his lungs. I turn to see the kid, about 12 years old, 2-3 rows over squirming to get away from who I assumed was his dad. I watched the kid walk quickly toward the store and the dad followed, about 10 yards back. I was ready to go so I hopped out of my car and followed into the same entrance.

Inside the store I ended up walking parallel to them from the Subway entrance to the pharmacy section. The dad was yelling the entire time: "get back here you little asshole!" and all kinds of other obnoxious and degrading crap. He was making a horrible scene and being very loud. They disappeared into an aisle and I didn't hear anything else for a minute.

I turned down the deodorant aisle just in time to see the kid turn around and walk away from the dad again, and the dad took a half-running step toward the kid and punched him in the back of the head. When I say punched, I literally mean punched - the kind of punch that would make any man see stars, at least. The worst part of it is that the kid got it in the back of the head, right near his neck.

The kid flew forward and hit the ground face first and started screaming and crying hysterically. The guy sort of straddled over the top of him and crouched down to yell at him some more. All the while he had a cocked fist. A woman standing right where the kid landed yelled in surprise/shock and turned to the guy and flipped out. I honestly couldn't even understand what she was yelling. The guy stood up and took a step toward her aggressively and I had enough. I yelled "YO!!!" as loud as I could. He turned around, and came toward me instead. Okay, I thought... mission #1 accomplished. He turned from both the kid and the woman and focused on me. By that point I had backed into the wider main aisle and was in plain view of all kinds of employees and other customers who were coming over to the area. My main thought was getting him away from the kid, because he was almost literally foaming at the mouth. He was yelling profanities and spitting everywhere. "Rabid raccoon" is what went through my mind.

He tried to 'get in my face', and I managed to keep my distance and swung around to stand between the kid/woman and him. He was yelling "Motherf***er, you're done! I've had it with you asshole!" and basically jumping all over the place. Nothing made sense and he was obviously very unstable. At least 10 employees and a few customers were around by then. I had turned slightly, and kept my strong side away with my hand hovering near my waist. I was CCing, so it didn't look bad to anyone who didn't know what to look for.

I turned to look to my right and I saw a guy who I could only describe as "A Marine" (you all know what I mean), standing just like I was. We were both quiet and facing the guy and letting a store employee do the talking. The bad guy had already turned from me and was yelling at everyone else, telling them to mind their business, etc. The Marine guy looked at me and gave a knowing kind of look, and turned back toward the dad.

In no time there were three police officers who ran up and cuffed the guy. I heard someone say that they had been eating at Subway and heard the yelling. I asked an officer if he needed a witness statement and that I'd be happy to give one, but he told me that a statement from the woman (who attended to the kid the whole time) and the video tape from the store's surveillance would be plenty. I tried looking for the Marine guy and I couldn't find him. I thought he'd probably be back at the ammo counter (where else?) but no such luck. I guess he had enough and took off.

I've ran the entire thing through my head a lot over the past few days and I've decided that I've learned a few things:

1. Sometimes words aren't necessary in a conflict or its resolution. All I did was yell one word, which was more like just a noise, to get the guy to turn his focus away from the beaten kid and the woman who was standing right by him. Also, the Marine guy said nothing the whole time we were standing there facing the dad. We both knew what the other one was doing and we knew that we'd exercise restraint as long as possible. Neither one of us had fully switched to "shoot" mode since it wasn't even close to necessary yet. Somehow, even non-verbally we both knew that. Also, possibly due to our body language/posture, the guy made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with us after his initial pissed off reaction towards me. He had immediately turned to pick on someone else.

2. Being my first real situation of any kind I've had to deal with, I was surprised how clearly I thought. Sure there wasn't any real immediate danger to me, but it was very stressful nonetheless. I can actually remember going over certain steps in my mind and telling myself what had to be done next. At no point did I actually think to myself "I'm going to have to shoot this guy", but I do remember arranging myself so that I would be facing away from the kid and the woman, with the block wall as my backstop. I didn't actually think about this until I wrote everything above and I remembered which direction I was standing.

3. I really don't know what I was trying to accomplish by getting involved. If this was a "normal" altercation I would have just backed off and called the police to have them sort it out. All I know is that there was a little kid involved and it really got to me. The kid was obviously down for the count with no way of running away, so I guess I just thought that it was right then or never. I felt that I had to get the guy to ignore the kid. Being so obviously unstable and violent, who knows what would have happened next, even in public. I think it was a little reckless getting involved in something like this, but again with the kid involved that wasn't on my mind at all.

All in all it was pretty much a non event for me and my gun (thankfully). I'm just glad the kid didn't get beat on any more and that no one else got hurt.

I think you handled yourself very well. At the very least you saved the boy from a further beating and probably the woman also. Rep sent.

[JIDinPhilly]

If the dad would act like this in a public place, one can only imagine the hell that their house must be. Nice work. You and the other woman are what citizens in a civilized society are supposed to act like.

[Bug44]

I have had a few Iff'ys at Wally World... The last one I was at the Lewisburg WM near the movie section when I heard "Shut the F-k Up!" Screamed by a guy maybe 3 isles down... I went in search of the guy who screamed it... but no luck... that was it.... But when i lived in harrisburg... (shudder) It was a whole new ball game! that place reeked!!!!!! of Well-fare and bad news bears!!! I hated that place with a passion!!! I normally carry .380 pocket but going there I always went .40 hip.. It was always bad news when I went there....

Glad all went well... you did greatZ!

[sanction762]

To the OP: Good job, my friend. Sometimes that kind of clarity comes as a result of adrenaline. Either way, you performed admirably, where most others would have turned away.

[Curmudgeon]

Wow... at first thought, there is a lot of detail in your OP, a lot to think about, and much we can all discuss.

First, rep to you for stepping up. It's not always the easy choice when crazy is right in front of you.

I really like your situational awareness, I think it helped to keep you on top of things right from the beginning.

I also like the way you were constantly assessing and evaluating things, especially after getting involved, and apparently it was the right thing to do here. A lot of damage could have been done here, but cooler heads prevailed.

Hopefully the boy will get help. It seems he and his family need it.

Thanks for posting all this.