Recently there have been a rash of murders on the strip in Las Vegas. In fact as of this writing there have been 3 unrelated murders on the strip in the last 11 days. In all three cases there was some sort of a verbal altercation before the physical violence escalted and left three men dead. There was also collateral damage and even more violence as a fallout from one of these incidents. Here is the thing that jumps out. These men left their homes and headed to the Las Vegas pressumably for fun and laughter. How did it all go so wrong?


A closer look at the incidents reveal some more pertinent details that are worth noting. In all three incidents there were verbal altercations prior to any violence. In 2 out of the 3 killings a weapon was used. Two of the victims were fatally stabbed multiple times and the other victim was punched in the face, knocked unconcious and died on the spot. In the last incident a much longer verbal altercation occured prior to the fatal blow being struck.

According to police reports two men were inside of a restroom in a casino on the strip. The victim made a racial comment to his would be killer. The verbal jabs continued as the men exited the restroom. The vicitim's hands were in his pockets while he was jawing back and forth with this man. The attacker pretended to turn and walk away and instead turned back around and delivered a vicious right hand to the victim's jaw. The victim was knocked out immediately and never regained conciousness. The punch knocked him out and the fall probably killed him. In a matter of seconds, both mens lives and the lives of their families were changed forever.

What went wrong? Who's fault is this? Did the victim bring this upon himself? Did his attacker overreact? Was his attacker acting out of fear or out of anger? There are so many questions that will unfortunately never get answered. But what I think is more important than that is the concept that we all should really consider our actions and the impact that they can have on our lives and the lives of others.

Everytime we get into an altercation verbal or physical our lives are at risk. We have to recognize the inate dangers of aggresive behavior. These types of scenes are played out every single day and most of them do not end in the death of one of the participants. Unfortunately all of these types of altercations have the potential to end exactly like that. So how does our training prepare us for situations like this.

We should always remember that it is more important to avoid altercations such as these because of their unpredictable nature. Tactically there is no advantage for exchanging verbal barbs with another individual, when you add alcohol, insulted pride and macho attitudes to the mix you can see where the volatile nature of these types of incidents can explode in violence.

Let's take a look at the victim here. First according to police accounts he was the one who "started" the altercation by making racial remarks to the attacker. He also continued verbally insulting the man after first exiting the restroom. When the man was approaching him, he kept his hands in his pockets and allowed the man to be in striking distance without preparing himself for the possibility of violence. He was talking and not paying attention to the assailant's body language or the fact that he was agitated. Why did he have his hands in his pocket? Was he trying to convey to the attacker that he was not going to become violent? Was he reaching for a weapon?

The attacker also participated in the verbal insults. He too was willing to exchange insults and profanities all while making the decision to strike the victim. He moved closer and closer to the victim and feined leaving prior to hitting the man. Was he angry because of the initial insult? Was he in fear for his safety because the man had his hands in his pockets? Or did he see the victim's hands in his pockets and take advantage of the opportunity to strike the victim?

A confrontation over an insult leads to one man's death and the other man's incarceration and two families destroyed by violence. We have to take these things very seriously. We have to maintain our civility and only us violence as means to to stop an aggresor who is clearly posing a threat to our lives or that of our loved ones. Our training must include scenarios that instill in our students the understanding of defusing and removing themselves from the threat as early on in the altercation as possible. The type of training that we do breeds confidence and that confidence can sometimes cause a student to remain in a situation linger than he or she should.

Violence has a potential of breaking out wherever humans frequent. We are all training to deal with violence should it come. We must never forget that the best way to deal with an altercation is to avoid said altercation. If that fails then we have to remember to constantly evaluate the other person's body language. We have to look at his hands first! We have to move to a better strategic situation ie, not be directly in front of him, We have to use a firm but fair tone and avoid directly challenging them with our words. We must be able to read and sense when he is going to act violently and respond with an appropriate amount of force. If you have a verbal altercation you must remember that the potential for violence is extremely high. Prepare yourselves accordingly.