On October 15th, a 30 y/o Violent Criminal Actor (VCA) followed a young single mother around the Target store in Springfield, MO. When she left, he continued to follow her to her apartment complex. As she was carrying her child into her apartment, she spotted him hiding next to her car and demanded to know what he was doing.

At this point, our VCA attempted to grab both the mother and child. When the mother screamed and fought back, he released her and fled in his own vehicle. Video surveillance was able to identify him, and subsequently Springfield PD took him into custody.

Lesson: No one should be able to follow you around a store without you seeing them! Having a toddler makes that difficult, but even more important. You must be aware of what's going around you!

Notice that when she screamed and began to fight the assailant let her go. Most VCAs don't want attention! While many of us preach about the need to have a self defense tool and the training to use it, sometimes we have to go at it hands on. I have no idea if the mother in this case had any kind of defensive training like Jiu Jitsu or Krav Maga, but she had the will to fight back and she still succeeded! Always fight back!

Never think you are so unimportant that nothing bad will happen to you. It can, and many times will! The only thing you can do is be prepared to be the source of your own survival.