
Originally Posted by
Doc Glockster
During my concealed carry class, the instructor advised that if you do shoot someone, call the cops, and when they arrive the first thing you should do is advise them that you would prefer to speak to an attorney before answering their questions. This is even if you are 100,000% sure it was a "good shoot."
(I present that last part to see if anyone agrees with that logic).

Yeah, this one is repeated quite often. I think some take it a bit too far though. In reality, and as advised by my attorney, don't answer any questions under stress that require much thought or that could corner you if you word it wrong or at least you might say something that you have to explain later.
What is probably the best suggestion is to tell them when they get there that "This man or these men attacked me and I want them arrested" or "out of my house/away from me" etc., or something else along those lines. Also, you can say "I was so scared for my life and I shot them in self defense" or "to stop him from attacking me", then state something like this, "Officer/Detective, I understand you have questions for me and I'm more than happy to give you a complete statement, but I'd really appreciate some time to calm down as I don't want to give a statement under this amount of stress at the moment. I'll be more than happy to come down to the station later tonight or first thing tomorrow with my attorney to give you a complete statement, but right now I need to calm down" or say something in place of "calm down" along the lines of "…but right now I'd like some medical attention or be seen by an EMT."
This tells them a few things. I know asking for the person, who may clearly be dead, to be arrested sounds odd, but it shows that you were the one being attacked and you are afraid. Obviously it could be something other than arrested as long as you don't say something like, "I'm glad that son of a bitch is dead, bring him here so I can shoot him again!".
The next part clearly shows that you are more than willing to cooperate but since this doesn't happen to you all the time, you are completely stressed out and can't clearly articulate the facts until you are calm. It also says that you have nothing to hide and will happily come to them, but also lets it be known that you want your attorney present.
I get the idea of not talking at all, but just plainly blurting out that you won't talk and want your attorney makes it appear that you are on the defensive. Though this will most likely NOT alter the outcome, we want every friend we can get in these situations and don't want to appear that we're scared of talking or that we're hiding anything at all.
Hope this helps. Again, this mostly from my attorney in my own words and through other things I've picked up on the subject. Remember, if it's a clean shoot you did nothing wrong and should act accordingly.
Last edited by jonconsiglio; 07-14-11 at 16:29.
Proven combat techniques may not be flashy and may require a bit more physical effort on the part of the shooter. Further, they may not win competition matches, but they will help ensure your survival in a shooting or gunfight on the street. ~ Paul Howe
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