Convenience Store Shooting Reveals Truth About Self Defense

It seems like everywhere I turn I hear another story about the importance of distraction in self defense and fighting (recall the Mayweather v Ortiz Fight?). This time the story comes from a convenience store shooting in Ohio.

In this story the robber came into the store wielding a shotgun, asking the young clerk to empty the register. The clerk pulled out some of the money, laid it on the counter, but the robber wanted all the money. So the robber put the barrel of the shotgun up to the young man’s head and demanded the rest.

The quick thinking clerk used the fist full of cash to distract the robber by holding his hand out to the side while he reached down behind the counter for a pistol. Sure enough the distraction worked. The robber’s eyes followed the cash, not the empty hand, and the clerk managed to fire several shots at the fleeing would-be robber (hitting him once in the shoulder).

This example just goes to show the importance of distraction in a fight or self defense situation. The clerk in this story was able to use a distraction technique during the fight, much harder to do than before the fight.

The distraction technique may have saved the clerks life. That’s how important distractions can be. However, before I go on you have to understand that you may not be the only guy in the room who understands the power of distraction.

This clerk happened to be lucky as well as very smart. Often times it is the burglar or mugger who uses some clever distraction technique to attack. In fact one of the biggest advantages of becoming a master of deception is that you will become hyper-aware of the distraction techniques of others. Simply put learning how to distract and deceive (for self defense purposes) is the best way to ensure that you will not be the victim of a clever distraction technique.

I’m not saying you need to be a sneak. But the old saying, “it takes one to know one” certainly rings true in this instance. You really do need to learn how to distract to recognize a good distraction.

The moral of the story is that distraction techniques really do work. They save lives every day (unfortunately they are used by the bad guys too). So keep your eyes peeled and your head up.

If you want to learn some simple (but potentially life saving) distraction techniques check out my post on that subject titled “Why Is Deception The Key To Defeating An Attacker?” Keep these tips in mind, you never know when you might need them to save your own life.