After The Shooting
"... some things that you need to remember..."
"... some things that you need to remember..."
As self-defense oriented people, we tend to think about the actual encounter a lot, and seldom, if ever, about what we should do in the aftermath. If you are unlucky enough to be involved in a violent encounter, there are some things that you need to remember to maximize your chances of a successful outcome.
Call for help immediately. Even if you produced the gun and your assailant retreated with no shots fired, call the police. If there is somebody out there worth pulling a gun on, then the cops need to know about it. They may have just gone around the corner to pick an easier victim.
As soon as it is safe for you to do so, call 911. Always ask for an ambulance. If somebody has been shot, whether injured or even if you are a hundred percent sure that they are dead, you still need to ask for medical attention. First off, killing people sucks, so if you've got an injured assailant, you probably don't want him to die, you just wanted to make him leave you alone. Second, if you don't ask for medical attention, then there is an excellent chance that fact will be brought up during any potential trial. Strategically, it is just another tool of a prosecutor trying to portray the permit holder as a blood-thirsty vigilante.
If humanly possible, have your weapon secured before the police arrive, at least in your holster, absolutely do not have it in your hand or be any where near it. The responding officers do not know you, and the information they got from dispatch was probably sketchy at best. The last thing you want to do is survive a violent encounter only to get shot by the cops because they think you're the bad guy.
If you are ever in a situation where you still have the gun in your hands, and the police arrive, they are going to order you to drop the gun. Comply with their instructions immediately, otherwise they may think you are the threat and very likely may shoot you. Do not start talking or trying to explain what is going on. Don't be offended because they are treating you like the bad guy. This is not the time to get indignant. This is the time to keep from getting shot.
If you have medical training, and you have just shot and injured an attacker, you may be tempted to administer first aid. Keep in mind, however, that a minute ago this person was trying to hurt you bad enough that they were worth shooting. They may still be a threat to you. Your primary advantage was the fact you had a firearm. If you then put yourself close enough to administer treatment, you are giving up that advantage. He may not be as incapacitated as you believe, and when he stirs and sees the person who just shot him within arm's length, you have a real good chance of getting yourself seriously injured. He’s going to be very angry, and may have a folding knife that you don't know about until it is buried in your chest.
Keep in mind that when the police shoot somebody, the paramedics do not rush in and give immediate aid. The police always secure the individual before the paramedics move in. That is for everyone's safety. If you have been through first responder training, keep in mind one of the very first examples that was given to your class. If you come across a car accident, and the car is on fire, you do not have to climb into the burning car to try and help, because now you are just one more injured person to treat. You never want to endanger yourself to administer aid.
Never, never NEVER tamper with the crime scene. You may have heard the old myth, usually given by an imbecile that does not understand self-defense law, "if you shoot the guy on the porch, drag him in the living room." VERY Bad idea. Do not ever do that. Once you shoot someone, wherever it happened is now a crime scene. If you tamper with the evidence, the authorities and forensics will figure it out, and this will damage your credibility in the minds of the reasonable people looking at your case. If you felt the need to tamper with the scene, they will believe that you are trying to hide something. The only thing you may do, is to make the area physically safe for yourself, but other than that, leave the scene alone!
On the same note, do not leave the scene. Your personal safety does come first, so if you need to get away to keep from being injured, make sure that you call the police as quickly as possible. If you leave the scene of a shooting, it once again raises the specter of guilt with the authorities, and will color their investigation accordingly.
The responding officers are going to detain and attempt to question you Give a VERY brief statement, and then shut up, accent on brief, with little or no details. As in, "Officer, he attacked me, I was in fear for my life, so I shot him." That is it. Do not start to babble to the police. Do not try to explain everything at the time. They will continue to question you. At that point you will politely tell them that you are not going to answer any more questions until you have your attorney present.
If you ever have to shoot someone, unless you have ice water in your veins, you will be going through various stress reactions. One person may be in shock, another will be distraught that they just took a life, yet another may be enraged that some bad guy just threatened their children. Regardless of your reaction, you will not be in a calm state of mind. It is a biological fact that adrenalin affects higher brain functions. You will tend to forget details, some of which may be very important, or, even worse, you will fill in the forgotten blanks with facts that will later be shown to be incorrect.
ALWAYS wait until you have an attorney present before you make your statement. This gives you the time to compose yourself and calm down. Also, the Bill of Rights gives us the right to legal counsel. Take advantage of it. A good attorney will keep you from saying anything stupid that will be used against you in court later.
You may have the mistaken belief it is the bad guys that need the defense attorneys, not the good guys. Unfortunately, in reality it does not work that way. We live and work in an adversarial legal system, and anything you say in a statement, "can and will be used against you in a court of law."
These are just a few basic tips to keep in mind. Your primary consideration in a violent encounter is to first survive the attack, but doing these things may help you survive the aftermath.
