http://www.keepandbeararms.com/information/XcIBViewItem.asp?ID=3552
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Learning the Value of Handguns the Hard Way

by Erving Holcomb [email protected]

January 22, 2002

KeepAndBearArms.com — My name is Erving Holcomb, I am 63
years old and I work for the Harris County judge?s office in
Houston TX. I never owned a handgun in my life until Jan.
19, 2002. On that day my life changed dramatically and
forever.

This is my story.

On Saturday, January 19th 2002 at about 8:30 a.m. I was on
my way to the auto store to get a few things for my car. I
was driving along a three-lane boulevard in a typical
commercial neighborhood, not a neighborhood known to be
dangerous. Suddenly, a pickup truck pulled up on my right
and abruptly cut in front of me and stopped to make a left
turn. I applied my breaks, stopping quickly, and as I did I
felt a bump from behind. I had been rear-ended. At first I
wasn?t going to get out, I was in a hurry and it wasn?t that
much of a hit to cause any damage I thought. On the other
hand, as we all know, the insurance company and police will
generally tell you, if you have an accident of any kind you
should get out and exchange insurance information with the
other driver, for even the most minor collision can
oftentimes result in back or neck injuries that don?t show
up for days or even weeks afterwards. So, I decided the
wisest thing to do would be to get out of the car, go back
and get the other driver?s license and insurance
information.

Immediately the other driver accused me of causing the
accident by stopping too quickly. I asked him if he saw the
pickup truck cut me off abruptly as it passed him. Of
course he hadn?t, it was his partner! After some discussion
he politely insisted we exchange information in case I was
hurt.

I should have been suspicious.

We pulled into a shopping mall parking lot. As he got out
of his car and approached my vehicle I reached over for my
insurance papers in the glove compartment. As I opened my
door I was violently attacked. I was struck in the left eye
with a large revolver. He hit me repeatedly in the face and
alongside my head. I was immediately blinded in my left
eye, my nose was broken, and my facial bones below the left
eye were fractured. He pushed me into my car forcing me to
lie down on the front seat. My wallet was ripped from my
back pocket and he got all my identification including my
bank ATM card. He demanded my wedding ring and other
jewelry I was wearing or he would kill me. Next, he drove
my car to a nearby bank drive-in repeatedly hitting me on
the side and back of the head with the gun. At one point
the gun went off narrowly missing my head and blowing a hole
through the windshield. At the ATM machine he jammed the
gun into the back of my head demanding the PIN number or he
would ?blow my head off?. As we left the bank I was laying
on the front seat bleeding from the eyes and nose wondering
how I was going to get out of this situation. He had
everything he could take and now he didn?t have any use for
me. My first thought was, to reach up and grab his gun hand
in the hopes of causing an accident, which would attract
attention; of course I might get shot to death in the
process. Another thought was to open the car door at some
point and try to jump out, but landing on the pavement at 35
mph didn?t sound too good either. Suddenly, a thought
occurred to me: if I were to die in this situation he would
be guilty of murder, capital murder, so why not die now! I
took in a deep breath, held it as long as possible and when
my lungs were about to burst, I started gasping for air and
calling out: ?I can?t breath, I can?t breath.? He hit me
several more times saying he would kill me if I was faking.
He then asked me what was wrong and I said, ?My heart, my
heart I can?t breathe.? He asked what I needed and I gasped
?nitro, nitro glycerin, I have got to get to a drugstore,
Walgreen?s, Walgreen?s?. He fell for it! He panicked; he
thought I was dying right there in the car. Suddenly, he
was on my side. Quickly he drove to a nearby Walgreen?s
drugstore, opened the door and pushed my body out the door
onto the pavement.

I laid there for several minutes just enjoying the warm
sunshine, breathing and being alive. Several passersby
walked around me, looked down, and kept going. A motorist
came down the driveway and was kind enough to drive around
me. Finally, after several minutes I got myself together,
got up and walked into the store where the Walgreen?s
manager called 911.

The Houston Fire Department took me to a nearby hospital
where I spent the weekend, getting out late Sunday
afternoon. Afraid that my attacker might come back again
when he realized I had fooled him, I immediately contacted a
friend, Houston Police Officer Bill Howard, whose daily
patrol includes my office. I asked him if I was in danger.
Officer Howard advised me to go immediately to the nearest
gun store and get a police riot gun. Assuming he was a drug
addict there was no telling what he was capable of doing.
This kind of gun Bill said, I could take home without a
waiting period, as might be the case with a handgun.

I arrived at the Collector?s Firearms shop minutes before
closing time. When the staff saw my face and heard the
story they closed the shop and turned out the front lights.
The staff was very helpful and stayed nearly an hour to find
me just the right gun and show me how to load and use it, if
I had to. This was the first time in my life that I ever
owned a gun. They also directed me to a gun instructor for
lessons in shotgun shooting. Later, one of the salesmen
known as ?LD? would work with both my wife and I to select
the most appropriate handguns for each of us.

I spent Sunday night sitting in a recliner with the shotgun
across my lap wondering where my attacker was. The gun
store had given me several ?snap caps? to practice loading
and firing with. By dawn I was the fastest shotgun in
Houston.

Monday was spent notifying a great many people about the
details of my accident. We were afraid to leave our
apartment for fear we might come home and find him there.

Tuesday was a day of great irony. My spouse and I spent the
morning in trauma counseling. My wife?s employer insisted
we get some trauma counseling immediately. After spending
an hour and half with a counselor we had lunch and then
proceeded to an outdoor firing range where I received two
hours of training in what the instructor referred to as
?defensive shotgun shooting.? ?We aren?t shooting ducks? he
said. I was beginning to feel much better!! Upon arriving
home, as we entered our apartment my wife switched on the
TV. Suddenly I heard her scream: ?the car, the car? as I
turned to look at the TV I heard the announcer say ?you are
watching a live broadcast from our helicopter of a police
chase in progress of a suspected armed????.? There it was,
my car being chased by five Houston Police cars along a
street not more than a few blocks from where we live. At
first I couldn?t believe it, I thought I was watching
something out of a TV movie, but there it was, I could see
the bullet hole in the windshield, it was my car. The
driver eventually crashed my car into a concrete barrier
destroying it completely. I watched as several Houston
Police officers dragged the man out through the passenger
side window and handcuffed him.

A week later I was able to return to work. I immediately
decided to become trained and licensed to carry a concealed
weapon. Fortunately my office building has full time police
security, Harris County Deputy Constable Wilbert Jue of
Precinct 1 is on duty during business hours. Constable Jue
is not only a law enforcement officer with several years
experience, but is also a Texas licensed handgun instructor
and a competitive marksman. Constable Jue and I made
arrangements to begin my training program. In Texas you are
required to attend ten hours of classroom instruction and
two hours of actual shooting instruction. Wilbert helped me
with the paperwork including the required finger printing
and photographs. We went through the required program
together and then he took me to the firing range and showed
me how to use my newly acquired handgun.

I am very fortunate to know both Officer Bill Howard and
Constable Jue. It has been over a year now, we still meet
frequently and they give me tips on being street smart and
gun wise.

As a result of all of this I now have a new interest,
shooting. I own three handguns and practice weekly. My
wife is learning to shoot and will be getting her license
soon. I have told many people who I work with and meet
throughout the day that it is especially important these
days that they consider personal security and self-defense.
I would like to lend my full support to any and all
organizations that support the right of the individual to
own and carry firearms for self-defense. I feel uniquely
qualified to answer that old, worn out question that the
anti-gun establishment always asks: ?to protect yourself
against who?? I can answer that. While a great many others
may have viewpoints and opinions I have the experience.

Here are a few twists to my story: [submitted Jan 19, 2003]

Upon being admitted to Hermann Memorial Hospital my
roommate, a young man who was in for a knee operation, was
an experienced handgun marksman. He and his wife spoke with
me on the urgent need to get handgun training.

Another twist: I was already blind in my left eye, from a
childhood accident, when the attacker struck me. The eye
doctor at the hospital told me that had the gun struck my
face just 2 inches further to the right I would have been
totally blind. She said “you would be learning to read
brail and use a white cane, you were unbelievably lucky”.

Yet another twist. My attacker committed the exact same
crime three days earlier on Wednesday, attacking a woman,
stealing her purse and her car. After taking her car the
police found it totally burned up, he had set fire to it.
HE ATTACKED HER WITH A KNIFE. He put a knife to her throat
in a K-Mart parking lot and threaten to kill her. A tough
little lady, somehow struggled and got away.

My accident happened one year ago today. I went shooting
this morning.