Fight last weekend -

So this whole story had me pretty hot the evening it all went down. Took a few hours to chill out, but I'm still wrestling with all the what ifs.So I was watching some Ozark Sunday night when I heard a scream. Pausing the show, I hear another one. These weren't some 'oh hah hah stop' or 'crap I fell off a stupid scooter' kind of screams I hear off my main road, but bloody murder.I popped my head outside my apartment balcony and see a guy on our sidewalk and ask if everything was ok. He replied with "Yeah man, we cool", before 3 girls piled out of the backdoor he was standing next too, all swinging on each other. Instantly, he jumped in the mix, swinging at the heads in the cat fight.I hurried out of my apartment and in to the stairwell to at least try and yell at the guy not to bash on the women, say I'm calling 911, something.Anyway, I'm only a floor above all this, the stairs overlooking the back door, so I had a good vantage point. They tumbled their way back in before one girl started getting her head smashed against the concrete floor by the two other girls.LIKE SMASHING HER HEAD IN TO THE FLOORAt this point, all I'm thinking is "Holy SHIT- those are potentially lethal blows, and this girl is gonna die." I ran back up the half flight of stairs and into my apartment, grabbed a holstered pistol, and yelled at my girl to call 911 (I left mine somewhere by the TV when I first heard the scream) and didn't know if I'd have time to go find it.We ran out together, saw another guy in the hallway by the stairway door, and yelled at him to record whatever happened next on our way in. I don't know if he did or not, or if he even stuck around in all the concern.Back on the stairs looking down over the fight, the two girls that were smashing the other girls head against the wall were still beating her in the head holder her by her hair. I've got my pistol gripped, still in the holster & slightly raised, and I'm yelling at the guys with them to intervene. Thinking back at it, it looked like it was two couples vs one with one guy off to the side.When I yelled at the men, two tried prying them apart before ending up swinging on each other. Total chaos. At this point, the two aggressive girls broke away from the guys, one of them holding the victim's hair while the other swooped in with her knee to the victim's face while her head was against the hallway wall.More potentially lethal blows.I yelled one more time "I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS, WE'VE CALLED 911". As I raised my gun, I had the other hand getting ready to slide off the holster when the guy that was standing around must have seen me. The split off happened so fast, I can't really recall the details why. Maybe they saw my gun, maybe that guy pushed them out.The 4 aggressors (I don't think they were residents) all just took off, and I ran back up to my apartment to try and see which direction they went for the police. At this point, my girl hands me the phone saying "They just answered" and handed me the phone....... "911, what is your emergency"I was pretty livid at the delay. Afterwards, my girl said it was maybe 3 minutes of ringing before they answered. I gave the recap, the description of those involved, which way the aggressors went, and that it was pathetic it took so long to answer.After that, I tried looking for the victim and her crowd on the first floor to see if they need an ambulance or any other attention. All I could find was weave in the general direction down the hallways, but they either left or were keeping quiet in the apartment.Finally, I was dealing with the frustration of the whole situation. I called my dad who is a retired FBI agent, gave him the recap, and voiced my frustrations;What if I didn't shoot, and that girl was killed?What if I did shoot, and it all just fizzled out like it actually did?What if I didn't shoot, and also didn't intervene and that girl was killed?What would have happened if I did shoot? Would I become their common enemy to chase after?I'm white, they were all black. What if I shot? What happens to my life/reputation?His feedback basically was "I would have recommended staying in the apartment, calling 911, and not intervening. But you walk that risk of now not helping someone that could have been beaten to death. Had you shot, you could have been justified. Or it could have been your word against 5 on murder. Maybe you being there spared that girl having her head smashed in, maybe it put a target on your apartment."In the end, I think something like a break in or an aggressor against myself could have been much more clear cut. This was total chaos, and the pull/don't pull tug of war was a nightmare. I don't know what they were fighting about, I didn't really walk out of this with anything new besides that I would likely feel compelled to intervene in a similar situation. via /r/CCW https://ift.tt/31GTkem