DONATE TO LOCAL BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB WEST JAX

I have established this to raise funds to be applied as an award for any information that directly leads to the arrest of this man to ensure he is off the streets. I will also use proceeds from the campaign to give back to the neighborhood where this incident occurred — to help get boys and girls off the streets so they do not end up in situations where they feel they need to do something extreme like this to survive. 

I will preface this story with sharing that I am an active duty Naval Officer with 15 years of service. I have done numerous deployments and spent over half my career at sea, deployed, or overseas. Never in my wildest dreams did I think the first time I get a gun pulled on me it would be in the country I swore to defend. March 5th at 3:05pm. Those numbers will forever be etched in my memory. Before I go on, let me first say that I take full responsibility for what happened to me. During my time in the Navy, I have spent a large amount of time passing certifications and training, as well as applying counter-terrorism, counter-piracy, weapon handling, and security force training. A huge shout out goes to “Turbo” (Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment) and Cody (Navy SEAL) who instilled the mindset in me to always look for an opportunity, you are never fully captured, and to play a game in “who can remain the most calm?” Thank you and I hope to shake both of your hands again one day. Living in Japan though for the past 3+ years, I was spoiled. Nearly no gun violence or violent crimes occur there. I should have realized what area of the city I was in and I should have had my guard up. I didn’t. The following account is what went through my head and what I saw as my one opportunity for survival:

While waiting for a friend at his residence on the west side of Jacksonville, Florida, I was on the phone talking with a different friend when all of a sudden I see swift movement in my left rear view mirror. It was moving quick and I immediately thought, “what the heck is that?” As soon as I turn around, I see a black male pulling a gun up to my face telling me to “get out of the mother fucking car.”  Since I was on the phone with my friend, I said “hey I gotta go, I’m getting robbed.” She heard the man screaming at me and she starts to scream “what’s going on!” and “get out of there!” To be honest, I don’t remember everything she was saying since 100% of my focus was now on the threat to my life. I looked at the guy and immediately see that the gun appears to be real, magazine inserted. He had no finger discipline and was very agitated and possibly high. Summary: this man’s intent is to kill me and take what he wants. Action: Stall, don’t get out of the car, he will shoot you, look for an opportunity to do SOMETHING. He then yells, “I’m taking your car, get out!” I respond with, “This is a Tesla, you can’t steal it.” He then reaches for the door handle, which set off a sequence of events that had to be executed with little error in order for me to survive. First thing I noticed is how he reached for the door. With flush doors, Tesla handles are a bit tricky to figure out the first time. The assailant is holding his gun in his right hand, he reaches for the door, and when he completely air balls the handle, he looks down for a split second. The muzzle of a gun generally follows the eyes so and for a split second, the gun was pointed away from my face. I took action. I stepped on the accelerator as hard as I could, and tucked and leaned my body over to the right while grabbing the steering wheel and turning it away from him, and I was gone. This is speculation, but I do not believe the gunman knew the car was on. He definitely did not know I was resting there using the Tesla “hold” feature while the car was still in drive. It startled him and he lifted his gun up and got a shot off. Luckily he missed me and though I did not know it at the time, he hit the pillar between my door and the back left passenger door. It was inches from potentially mortally wounding me.