First draw experience

This happened about a week ago, and being as it was my first experience drawing a weapon as a civilian (prior military with combat tours) I remember it vividly.Me and my daughter had gone to our local mall to do a little bit of weekend shopping on a Sunday late afternoon. As I normally do when I take my daughter out I took my Mazda 6 (Important later) and loaded her stroller in the trunk. Now, I am the type of person due to my prior experience to deliberately do things such as park in a spot away from people so I can see clearly all around me. With that being said that's what I did, we get to the mall I park a little ways out, not to far but no cars parked on either side of me or in front or back of me. Mind you this parking lot is huge, so I park at the end of the mall where I can do this. We get there around 3 pm and walk around for a few hours do a little shopping and decide after a cinnabon and a lower self of steam due to eating more than one we head out of the mall and to the Car. The time was 5:30 and the sun was going down but not set, the sun was still high enough that parking lot lights had not kicked on. As I normally do I set my daughter in the front seat and folded up the stroller and placed it in the trunk and looked around, there is a male quite a ways off in the parking lot heading in my general direction but it's a mall and my car is between the door to the mall and him, no big deal. I get my daughter from the front seat of the car and begin to strap her in the car seat in the back passenger side seat, as I strap her left clip in I notice someone walking up to the back of my vehicle, I can see them through the tint and rear window but due to my tint they don't know I can see them. This was awkward as their was no need to get this close to my vehicle to get into the mall. As soon as I see this my focus immediately turns to this person, I lean back close the car door (My daughter still isn't completely strapped in) and look up to find the male I saw just before getting my daughter was at the trunk of my car. I have my car keys in my left hand and lock the vehicle. Not sure of his intentions I start the dialogue in a friendly manner, "Hey man, what's up?" he responded with "I have a watch I'm trying to sell, I really need the Money" (Mind you this guy had a large backpack on, was slightly out of breath he obviously ran to my car, he was slightly larger than me) I told the guy I didn't carry cash and I couldn't help him out. This is where this took a turn, his response was "Well I need money and you going to give me 100 dollars". I am really laid back and mellow and this didn't change that fact, I am a firm believer in keep a cool clear head during stressful situations and have practiced and trained to do so. So at this point my options are becoming limited, I place my hand on my firearm and sidestep away from the vehicle to keep his attention on my and not my daughter in the car. I kindly tell him again I have no cash and can't help him. He begins to reach behind him into his back pocket, I still don't draw my weapon as he has no weapon at this point until I noticed a small gerber multi-tool is what he retrieved from his pocket. At this point I draw my firearm and begin to back away slowly rotating to keep a clear backstop and no possible chance of me shooting my daughter or my vehicle. I proceed to scream at the top of my lungs, "Get back, get back, I will fucking shoot you.". Surprisingly enough this didn't phase him to begin with, he just stood there with the multi-tool in his hand, I was not going to give him the opportunity to pull the blade out of it. As he continued to look at me he looked around all the while I'm continuing to yell "Get the fuck back, I will shoot you, Get the fuck away". Finally I get the attention of a few passerby's at the mall entrance from my yelling, the guy notices this and turns and takes off. I immediately holster my weapon when I feel he is an adequate distance away, buckle my daughter and move my vehicle to a populated area of the mall parking lot and call 911. I explain the situation to the dispatcher who told me she had 3 calls about me already and officers were on the way. They take a report and say I was justified and that two people had been robbed this week with a similar story.Lessons Learned:1) Maybe park somewhere not so far out, yes I have better visibility but make myself a target.2) Buckle my daughter in the car first, if she was buckled I would've happily left the stroller to get to safety.3) Draw my weapon immediately after he demanded money, it qualifies as justifiable as I had my daughter with me, and had anything happened to me she'd be left helpless. This will allow eliminate the possibility of anyone getting a hand on a weapon.Things I think I did well:Stay calm and assess the situation in a rational mannerCleared my backstop and exited the "kill zone", for those who don't know the "kill zone" is the area in which you plant your feet and stay in a dangerous situation, the best way to get out of it is move slowly and move your focus from eyes to chest or chest to head to eliminate the tunnel vision.Yell clear verbal commands to gain attention from passerby's as I didn't have the ability to call 911 on my phone. via /r/CCW http://ift.tt/2BThAgx