VIDEO: Staying Safe In The Community

COLUMBUS, Miss.(WCBI)—Park under a light. Lock your doors. and shop with a friend is all good advice but sometimes, we all get in a hurry and forget to look around.

It happened Monday. An alleged kidnapping and robbery in a Columbus parking lot.

Some local residents are concerned it could happen anywhere or anytime.

“Situational Awareness is everything,”said IFP Tactical Store Owner, Wayne Doyle.

IFP Tactical Defense instructor Wayne Doyle offers a variety of self-defense classes and he says situational awareness can drastically cut down on potential attacks.

“We’ve got a video we actually show in the first class of an 18 year old girl getting hit in the back with a baseball bat she had no idea anybody else was in Wal-mart other than her. A mentally ill guy walked up behind her and hit her with a baseball bat. If she had known what was going on around her he would never have gotten up that close,”said Doyle.

Reports of crime in public spaces are why, Jaena Frye says she uses extreme caution while in public.

” I definitely plan out my days, I don’t like to take multiple trips into town cause when you’re scatter brained you’re not paying attention to your surroundings. I check under my car, behind my car, I don’t even get in my car until we have vehicle clearance,”said Columbus resident Jaena Frye.

When seconds count but law enforcement is still minutes away, Doyle says there are several options a potential victims has in defending themselves.

“You can use your sun glasses and your telephone or that pen right there could be a deadly weapon, if you needed to use it.
Maybe just, as little as, side stepping somebody. You’ve got to have situational awareness and you have to have a combat mind set to do this,”said Doyle.

Doyle says the need to use self-defense could come at any time.

” If you come out of Wal-mart and your car is parked in a certain position and you see something that doesn’t look right, don’t go straight to your car. You may want to walk over one aisle come down and go back to it. If you don’t feel good go back to the store call 911 and get a police officer to escort you, they would be happy to do it,”said Doyle.

Jarvis Pruitt owns Focus Security in Columbus and he says sometimes the best line of defense is to not be in the situation to begin with.

“Knowing where and where not to stop. Because there are some places that you just should not stop after dark and like i said if you’re shopping late night try and have somebody with you. Try not to be alone,”said Pruitt.

In 2016 Mississippi joined 10 other sates, that allowed residents to constitutionally carry a concealed firearm, without a state permit.

Doyle says when self-defense comes into play, you have to decide quick if it’s going to be your life or theirs.

” It’s not something we can teach you or anybody else can teach you. Can you pull that trigger and take another life if you need to? If it gets down to your life or someone else. If you can’t pull the trigger, don’t pull the gun, it will be used against you,”said Doyle.

The suspect in Monday’s kidnapping is in custody now. For more information on self defense visit, ifptactical.com or call 662-570-4106.