Marine brings knife to gunfight, wins.

Alex Moon · Post by **Alex Moon** » 2006-05-30 02:56pm

http://www.11alive.com/news/news_articl ... ryid=80405

A former U.S. Marine pulled out a pocket knife after four people, including a 17-year-old girl, allegedly tried to rob him late Monday evening in Midtown. That girl died.

Another one of the alleged assailants is in critical condition.

Investigators are calling the case one of self-defense. They say no charges will be filed against the victim in the case.

Police say they have been talking to three of the suspects, trying to find out what happened.

Atlanta police say around 11 p.m., Thomas Autry -- a former U.S. Marine -- was walking home from work at Jock’s and Jill’s in Midtown. He says that when he got to 4th Street and Penn Avenue, four people jumped out of a Cadillac with guns.

Police say that two of the suspects were armed -- one with a handgun, the other with a shotgun.

Autry told police he kicked the guns out of their hands, and fought back with his own pocket knife, stabbing the girl when she jumped on him and another man who attacked him.

The suspects fled in their car but police found them later at Atlanta Medical Center where the girl was pronounced dead. The man stabbed in the incident was in critical condition, Stephens said.

The remaining suspects were taken into police custody.

“These are the individuals we have been looking for, for the past two nights,” said Atlanta police Detective Danny Stephens. “They’ve were riding around in this area. They were actually robbing people. There’s actually been a lookout for these individuals, and tonight, we caught up with them.”

The older sister of one of the three people police have been talking to said she had been warning her brother about running with the wrong crowd.

“I’m really disturbed by this,” she said. “We’re always telling my brother that he needs to straighten up, and get it together and not run with the wrong crowd.”

Autry's attackers will face robbery and aggravated assault charges and are suspected in other robberies over the past week, Stephens said.

Stephens credited Autry's military training with helping him fend off the group.

"I would say he had to do what he had to do to stop the threat," Stephens said. "You can tell his training kicked in and he knew what to do."

Autry, 36, suffered a cut to his hand and a bruise on his chest, Stephens said.

Atlan · Post by **Atlan** » 2006-05-30 03:07pm

Looks like we've got a serious contestant for the Badassed Motherfucker Of The Week award.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2006-05-30 03:07pm

Not the brightest thing in the world to do, but I'm glad it all worked out for the best.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2006-05-30 03:07pm

I'll just go ahead and scratch "fuck with a Marine" off my to-do list.

Pablo Sanchez · Post by **Pablo Sanchez** » 2006-05-30 03:39pm

He kicked the guns out of their hands? Holy shit, I didn't think they taught you that kind of thing in the Marines.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2006-05-30 03:41pm

This man must have a truly superior testosterone level.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-05-30 03:45pm

Pablo Sanchez wrote:He kicked the guns out of their hands? Holy shit, I didn't think they taught you that kind of thing in the Marines.

Far as I know, they don't, since that would be amazingly risky. Most special forces, for instance, will only attempt disarming a gun opponent by quickly grabbing the muzzle and twisting it free, lest the attacker break their trigger finger. I've seen an old ex-SAS vet do it faster than you can blink with both a Hi-Power and an AK. Kicking would work, so long as the high aimed kick was perfect and quick. Else, you've just earnt yourself a bullet wound.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2006-05-30 03:47pm

He wouldn't have learned exactly how to do that, but I suspect he probably learned the doctrine of disrupting the enemy with speed, shock, and surprise. Once he decided that it was a "kill or be killed" situation, he obviously did not hesitate or hold anything back. Someone like me probably would have.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2006-05-30 03:48pm

Taking such a risky action twice and being successful probably means that the people pointing guns at you never seriously intended to fire them.

Falkenhayn · Post by **Falkenhayn** » 2006-05-30 03:58pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:
Pablo Sanchez wrote:He kicked the guns out of their hands? Holy shit, I didn't think they taught you that kind of thing in the Marines.
Far as I know, they don't, since that would be amazingly risky. Most special forces, for instance, will only attempt disarming a gun opponent by quickly grabbing the muzzle and twisting it free, lest the attacker break their trigger finger. I've seen an old ex-SAS vet do it faster than you can blink with both a Hi-Power and an AK. Kicking would work, so long as the high aimed kick was perfect and quick. Else, you've just earnt yourself a bullet wound.

Any way you splice it, we have some painfully idiotic street toughs who happend to jump a man with his shit together in a rather apocalyptic fashion.

Post by **Edi** » 2006-05-30 04:03pm

Vendetta wrote:Taking such a risky action twice and being successful probably means that the people pointing guns at you never seriously intended to fire them.

Or were simply too stunned to react properly when their intended target failed to be intimidated by drawn weapons. If they assumed they were holding the upper hand and suddenly found themselves on the defensive, it'd take them a fairly long time to adjust to the changed situation. In this case, a fatally long time.

Edi

Post by **Coyote** » 2006-05-30 04:18pm

I believe that when the media reports "military training" in situations like this, we should be thinking more along the lines of initiative, speed, shock, and surprise as Mike said, but also the most important thing to begin with-- keep your head cool and stay focused.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2006-05-30 04:25pm

Pablo Sanchez wrote:He kicked the guns out of their hands? Holy shit, I didn't think they taught you that kind of thing in the Marines.

When I took martial arts, we covered this scenario, and kicking the gun out of the assailant's hand was the last thing we were taught to do, because if you miss, you're off-balance. (If you wanted to disarm a pistol-wielding opponent, turn your body so that you're giving him a profile, step to the outside of his arm and grab his wrist. This way, even an accidental discharge won't hit you.)

Then again, this guy had to deal with two guns pointed at him: one a pistol and the other a rifle. I can't even imagine how he pulled it off without getting shot unless, as Vendetta already said, his opponents didn't have the stones to use their guns. I would've just given them my money unless I was absolutely convinced they were going to kill me either way.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-05-30 04:27pm

Coyote wrote:I believe that when the media reports "military training" in situations like this, we should be thinking more along the lines of initiative, speed, shock, and surprise as Mike said, but also the most important thing to begin with-- keep your head cool and stay focused.

Indeed. Many people could be put in the same situation and just panic, which is essentially your undoing. It's a bit like Unforgiven's example of a good gunslinger. If you keep your cool and be efficient carrying out your task, you can probably win over even a group of reckless, adrenaline addled foes by simply executing your attack with better proficiency.

And that is how a single man with a knife can take apart an ambush gang of firearm wielding thugs.

Durandal wrote:
When I took martial arts, we covered this scenario, and kicking the gun out of the assailant's hand was the last thing we were taught to do, because if you miss, you're off-balance. (If you wanted to disarm a pistol-wielding opponent, turn your body so that you're giving him a profile, step to the outside of his arm and grab his wrist. This way, even an accidental discharge won't hit you.)

Then again, this guy had to deal with two guns pointed at him: one a pistol and the other a rifle. I can't even imagine how he pulled it off without getting shot unless, as Vendetta already said, his opponents didn't have the stones to use their guns. I would've just given them my money unless I was absolutely convinced they were going to kill me either way.

That's the tactic for disarming knife opponents too, though I was only taught it as such because, frankly, the chances of a guy holding me at gunpoint are minute at best. The second way I was taught involved essentially stabbing the oncoming opponent with his own knife into the stomach without you even touching the hilt, but that's not something advised.

Sriad · Post by **Sriad** » 2006-05-30 04:44pm

Durandal wrote:
Pablo Sanchez wrote:He kicked the guns out of their hands? Holy shit, I didn't think they taught you that kind of thing in the Marines.
When I took martial arts, we covered this scenario, and kicking the gun out of the assailant's hand was the last thing we were taught to do, because if you miss, you're off-balance. (If you wanted to disarm a pistol-wielding opponent, turn your body so that you're giving him a profile, step to the outside of his arm and grab his wrist. This way, even an accidental discharge won't hit you.)

Then again, this guy had to deal with two guns pointed at him: one a pistol and the other a rifle. I can't even imagine how he pulled it off without getting shot unless, as Vendetta already said, his opponents didn't have the stones to use their guns. I would've just given them my money unless I was absolutely convinced they were going to kill me either way.

A successful disarm in this situation, I'd imagine, involved grabbing the shotgun and getting it pointed somewhere-the-hell-else while kicking the handgun haver good and hard in an appropriate location, then closing on the shotgunner with knife. A kick might have been involved at that point. (better control of the shotgun would be a priority because a pistol-shot would fucking suck, but a shotgun blast would kill him)

That's what I'd imagine, but without knowing the attackers precise lay-out it's hard to vizualize.

Regardless, suprise certainly would have been in the Marine's favor, buying him a good 1/4 second before the would-be-muggers used up their WTF faces. Sounds like they'd been doing this for a day or two and had become used to the idea that when faced with four people wielding a pair of firearms between them, people will not fight back.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2006-05-30 05:05pm

Since the girl that died was 17yrs old, I'm willing to bet all the would-be robbers were under age 20. A combat-trained Marine against 4 teenagers who probably had stolen Daddy's gun is a massecre.

Pezzoni · Post by **Pezzoni** » 2006-05-30 06:01pm

Awesomeness.

My old physics teacher was Ex-SBS. He once got pissed off with a twattish student, and litterally threw him out of his room, over 6 feet of corridor, and into a wall which the student then bounced off. He wasn't the kind of guy you would dare to fuck with. He also nearly killed Marget Thatcher by accident

Civil War Man · Post by **Civil War Man** » 2006-05-30 06:07pm

Unbeknownst to his attackers, Thomas Autry's middle name was Chucknorris

Enigma · Post by **Enigma** » 2006-05-30 06:20pm

LadyTevar wrote:Since the girl that died was 17yrs old, I'm willing to bet all the would-be robbers were under age 20. A combat-trained Marine against 4 teenagers who probably had stolen Daddy's gun is a massecre.

Well she shouldn't have jumped on him. Noticed that only the ones that attacked him got stabbed? She knew he was holding the knife since the article said that he fought back using his pocket knife.

The two attackers were morons since if they did not get the picture since the ex-marine just disarmed two of them that attacking a knife weilding man is a *very bad* idea. Teenagers or not, they should have known better.

Jason von Evil · Post by **Jason von Evil** » 2006-05-30 07:37pm

Civil War Man wrote:Unbeknownst to his attackers, Thomas Autry's middle name was Chucknorris

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v394/ ... badass.jpg

And he has the blood of Vin Diesal flowing through his veins.

This would've been bloody hilarious if he was a Gurkha instead of a marine.

Robber: Give us your money, man!

*Gurkha pulls out big ass knife*

Robber: Oh fuck...

Civil War Man · Post by **Civil War Man** » 2006-05-30 08:03pm

Jason von Evil wrote:This would've been bloody hilarious if he was a Gurkha instead of a marine.

That'd just be cruel. Gurkhas are fucking scary. I've heard stories of them going down the lines in Korea and slitting the throats of any non-UN personnel they found.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-05-30 08:53pm

Sounds like those fuckers got what was coming to them.

Spetulhu · Post by **Spetulhu** » 2006-05-30 09:23pm

Enigma wrote:
LadyTevar wrote:Since the girl that died was 17yrs old, I'm willing to bet all the would-be robbers were under age 20. A combat-trained Marine against 4 teenagers who probably had stolen Daddy's gun is a massecre.
Noticed that only the ones that attacked him got stabbed?

Exactly. Using a knife for self-defense is just that, self-defense. It would have been a massacre if the marine picked up those guns and killed the fleeing robbers.

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2006-05-30 10:04pm

Pablo Sanchez wrote:He kicked the guns out of their hands? Holy shit, I didn't think they taught you that kind of thing in the Marines.

Just guessing here, but I'd assume he probably kicked the shotgun. Bigger target for the foot and a more unwieldly weapon for the holder. Kick that bad boy so the muzzel points toward one of the other assailents, and you've bought yourself time and room to manuver.

Just a guess, though.

Semper Fi, motherfuckers.

Pablo Sanchez · Post by **Pablo Sanchez** » 2006-05-31 12:26am

Knife wrote:Just guessing here, but I'd assume he probably kicked the shotgun. Bigger target for the foot and a more unwieldly weapon for the holder. Kick that bad boy so the muzzel points toward one of the other assailents, and you've bought yourself time and room to manuver.

Me, I was picturing a "wha-cha!" Cain from Kung Fu whip kick right into the guy's wrist. That would be sweet.