A New Orleans mother used a firearm to defend herself and her child last Friday from a man who was trying to force his way into her minivan.
The incident occurred on the highway while the victim, identified as Charise Taylor, was driving to pick up her husband.
Taylor, an Air Force veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, explained to local news station WDSU how the events unfolded.
Taylor was stuck in gridlock traffic when a group in a truck motioned for her to move over, so she complied. Then, suddenly, a man came up to her passenger door and tried to get inside the vehicle.
“So, as he comes up he’s close and he’s pretty aggressive trying to get the car door open makes eye contact with me he’s still trying to get it open a couple times,” explained Taylor.
Taylor, who carries a firearm for self-defense, drew her pistol and pointed it at the perp.
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“It’s locked and loaded,” she recalled saying.
The individual ran off and Taylor did not have to fire a shot.
“You shouldn’t have to navigate your own city like a war zone. It’s un-American,” Taylor said. “The crime is out of control and it’s terrifying. At this point, having to use the same tactics in an American city that you use in Iraq and Afghanistan simply to navigate through the city it’s scary and I’m not the only mom feeling this way.”
Police are treating this incident as a “disturbance” for now but an investigation is ongoing.
“The NOPD is actively investigating a disturbance that occurred on Interstate 10 West at the Canal Street exit on February 11, 2022 at about 5:20 p.m. The incident classification is based on the available information regarding the incident at the time the report was written. We do not have any additional information to provide this time,” they said in a statement.
As for Taylor, she said her military training and familiarity with firearms prepared her for such an encounter.
“The emotions honestly your body takes in a different form I stayed in my body of course but everything transformed I’m trained to do this I’ve gone to classes I’m prior military if I have to pull this trigger that’s what I have to do,” Taylor said.
Crime is up significantly in The Big Easy over the past two years.
Metropolitan Crime Commission President Rafael Goyeneche spelled out just how bad things have gotten.
“From 2019 to 2021, carjackings are up over 160 percent,” Goyeneche told WWL last December. “Murders are up the same period of time, over 80 percent. Shootings are up over 100 percent.”
Given those numbers, let us hope that more responsible citizens are following in Taylor’s footsteps and carrying a firearm for self-defense.
Don’t mess with pistol packin mama
Hooora to a fellow Veteran! Who was trained in real life saving skills! Her own! And her child!
Crime is not just up significantly, IT’S OUT OF CONTROL, thanks to go old city hall. I did live there at one time, I don’t even visit now.
Poor kid probably just needed a quick ride to get home from bible study after helping out at the old folks’ home. He needed to get a few quick winks of sleep so he wouldn’t be late later when he headed out to his medical school classes, being that he is studying to be a doctor. His own mama would concur that “he’s a good boy” and furthermore, dindoonuffin.
Bravo to this fellow vet!
Such a shame she didn’t dispatch of the yute.
Two reasons she didn’t shoot. 1) Knowing the anti gun courts they probably would have arrested her and 2) She probably didn’t want to break the glass in her passenger side window. LOL
3rd reason…. Risking permanent hearing loss for herself and her child.