Ohio CCW Survives & Breaks Ambush

[techres]

From two different reports comes this impressive story:

Man Fights Would-Be Robbers In Ambush

Shots fired at Lancaster quarry:
Area man exchanges gunfire with alleged robber Tuesday afternoon

In a nutshell, business man gets a call to buy a bobcat, goes to the meet with cash, and is ambushed by multiple attacckers:

Nathan R. Zeger, 27, of Galion, was meeting an individual to purchase a Bobcat around 3:50 p.m. Tuesday in the quarry in the 800 block of South Ewing Street, according to a Lancaster Police report.

There are no houses or businesses next to or across from the site.

As Zeger approached a white male dressed in black, another male wearing a black ski mask approached from Zeger's left and told Zeger to get down while pointing a black handgun at him.

Zeger dropped to the ground and pulled his .38 caliber handgun and shot six times at the male in the ski mask. The man in the ski mask fired three shots at Zeger in the exchange, according to the report.

The other report has two attackers:

A Galion man agreed to meet someone in Lancaster to buy some construction equipment, but it was all a set-up to a robbery.

The prospective customer was told to meet the seller on an area of desolate land in Lancaster to buy a Bobcat -- a type of construction equipment, NBC 4's Mike Bowersock reported.

Shortly after arriving, the man was walking across the field when someone approached him from the left, cursed at him and pointed a gun at him.

"There was a verbal agreement of $7,000 cash for the Bobcat and the (customer) showed up with the cash and found out it was actually a robbery -- ambush," said Sgt. Mike Peters, of Lancaster police.

But, the customer was prepared -- and had a concealed carry permit and two guns.

He unloaded one gun on the robbers and then started with the second gun.

The robbers returned fire, and it is believed that one of them was shot.

In the end, the CCW'er fulfilled job one in the gunfight - don't get hit. He seems to have also fulfilled job two - hit the other guy:

The robbers returned fire, and it is believed that one of them was shot.
"He was in fear for his life. He felt that he was going to be shot and killed and he actually did pull his gun and shot several times at the robber," Peters said.
No arrests have been made, but a man with a gunshot wound at The Ohio State University Medical Center is a suspect.

He will face no charges, he lives to live another day, and he is glad to not only be carrying one gun, but two.

While we can chastise him for not going to a meet with a friend, in this case his friend might not have had his speed, skill, and willingness to stay alive.

Job well done.

 

[Dogman]

for him.
And the guy at the medical center with a gunshot might be a suspect, you think!

 

[indyjoe]

I have to give him the skill and kudos for getting out of the situation, but give him a solid "dumb ass" award for getting into the situation.

Let us look for any warning signs:
- $7k cash. (Sorry, a little but much for me. Anything over $500 and I take precautions. If they won't take a large deposit and then accept a transfer or money order, etc, then something is probably wrong.)
- Going alone. (A friend standing 20-30 feet away would have broken the dynamics of the ambush.)
- Meeting in an isolated place. (If people aren't willing to meet in a crowded place, even just at first, something is wrong. I'm betting that he was told the machine was there.)

The importance of situational awareness is that you don't get into situations where it is required to you use your skill to deal with. As with all events, use other peoples mistakes as a lesson to not make them yourself.

The other thing I thought about is the part about shooting 6 times with his .38, then pulling another gun. Would he have been better and faster on targets with a high capacity semi-auto? I would have to think so. Whatever time it took to draw the second gun would have been eliminated and more fire on target reduces the chances that you are going to be hit my return fire. It really shows the advantage when the situation isn't a simple 1-on-1.

 

[Lars]

I'd agree with that assessment Indyjoe.

It's too bad the man didn't shoot a bit more accurately. Oxygen wasters like the two thugs in this story are contributing to global warming.

 

[Feign]

I'd agree with that assessment Indyjoe.

It's too bad the man didn't shoot a bit more accurately. Oxygen wasters like the two thugs in this story are contributing to global warming.

Yes, I refer to them as air thieves. I thank my dad for that term every time I say it!

 

[45calibre]

any word on what guns the guy had?

 

[Lars]

any word on what guns the guy had?

A Black one.....

 

[45calibre]

GLOCK?

 

[indyjoe]

GLOCK?

I haven't seen anything about the CCW's second gun (first was a 6 shot .38 or .357 with .38 rounds) or the would be robbers' gun(s).

An update, but not much of one:

Police continue to investigate shoot-out on South Ewing Street | lancastereaglegazette.com | Lancaster Eagle Gazette

If this is from his 6 shots, looks like 4 out of 6 connected, which isn't bad at all:

CHL Holder Foils Set-up

 

[rhino]

This should be a lesson to those of us who make arrangements on computer forums to exchange, purchase, or sell merchandise with strangers.

Take a friend or two if you can. Always meet in a public place. Arrive first and scan the area carefully.

 

[indyjoe]

This should be a lesson to those of us who make arrangements on computer forums to exchange, purchase, or sell merchandise with strangers.

Take a friend or two if you can. Always meet in a public place. Arrive first and scan the area carefully.

Doubly so if you are on the selling end of a firearm transaction. They might know you won't make the exchange once you meet a criminal, but I'm sure many would like to just take a good weapon from you by force. This is a real plus to the forum. You can get to know who is "for real" and lower the risk of FTF sales.

 

[flagtag]

I'm curious.... why would a man take that much money, in cash, to buy a piece of construction equipment? Could it be that he thought he was buying "hot" merchandise? That part sounds fishy to me as well. How many business men buy equipment in this way?

 

[indyjoe]

I'm curious.... why would a man take that much money, in cash, to buy a piece of construction equipment? Could it be that he thought he was buying "hot" merchandise? That part sounds fishy to me as well. How many business men buy equipment in this way?

Most likely it was a much better deal that it should be. He thought he should jump on it, so he gets it before other people do. When people see a bargain, they sometimes disable their brains.

I could think of a couple ways this could be made to sound more legit. "Yes, the b!tc# is divorcing me and I have to sell this for cash so she can't get at the money." Something like that.

 

[techres]

Most likely it was a much better deal that it should be. He thought he should jump on it, so he gets it before other people do. When people see a bargain, they sometimes disable their brains.

I could think of a couple ways this could be made to sound more legit. "Yes, the b!tc# is divorcing me and I have to sell this for cash so she can't get at the money." Something like that.

I buy used electronics all the time. Sometimes the deal has to happen fast, and sometimes for good reason. There are deals I have walked away from, and a few that ended with the seller walking away in handcuffs (literally), but many deals are outside any range of "normal" that you might expect.

But my stipulation is that in my line of business I do everything in check form to prove change of ownership on the items. However, the one exception is large auctions, etc. In those circumstances, cash is the only deal. And when it comes to large equipment, cash is the only way many will deal.

I have known people to buy large equipment and bring a wad of thousands with them. That part is not so strange. Maybe there were other warnings, but the report is unclear.