# Officer's winning mindset and calming self-talk saved his life after ambush shooting



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

From the Calibre Press _Street Survival Newsline_ 
He admits he had become somewhat complacent when it came to breaking and entering calls. The Lansing, Michigan, Police Department responds to dozens of such calls every week and most of them turn out to be nothing more serious than an estranged boyfriend returning to the apartment for his belongings. Many times, a parent gets a child to call in claiming the "intruder" has a gun so police will arrive faster.

The call that came in from a calm-sounding little girl about 10:30 p.m. on April 29, 2004, sounded like all the rest, and there was no mention of a gun. So, as Officer Robert Vargas walked from his patrol car to the apartment building, he wasn't expecting the worst. 
He couldn't have known he was being watched by gunmen who were waiting for him inside. 
As he had done on so many B&E calls before, he checked the door, the door facing and the windows for sign of forced entry. There was none. Then, he heard a woman screaming, as if she were screaming for her life. 
Officer Vargas, a nine-year veteran of the department, pushed the door open and saw a woman laying face down in the floor, her hands bound behind her back, only partially clothed. A man wearing a mask, which revealed part of his face, stood in the kitchen and stared at the officer. Holding nothing in his hands, the man began walking slowly and quietly into the living room, appearing to make his way toward another door. Officer Vargas followed him for a couple of steps and stopped. "Something just didn't feel right," he said. "He never said a word while I was talking to him, and kept walking away from me. So, I decided to leave and wait for backup."

Full Article: http://www.policeone.com/officer-shootings/articles/1280849/


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