A family trip to the zoo turned terrifying for Brandon Parker and his three sons in Atlanta. What should have been a day of memories ended with a stranger pointing a gun in his face — and his kids’ faces.
It started with a crash. Parker says a woman slammed into his vehicle on I-20, then tried to flee the scene.
With his 2, 8, and 14-year-old sons in the car, Parker followed long enough to grab her plate number for police. The woman finally stopped in a neighborhood, and that’s when things spiraled.
Video recorded by Parker’s teenage son shows the woman waving a gun directly at him and his kids. One round fired and missed their feet.
“Everything I was doing was to keep from getting shot,” Parker told Atlanta News First afterward. “All I’m concerned about is just don’t hurt my child.”
He wrestled with the gun until police arrived, thinking only of protecting his boys. But later, Parker admitted second thoughts: “Thinking back, maybe I should’ve made some different decisions because it could’ve cost much more.”
SEE ALSO: California’s New Glock Ban Bill: What You Need to Know
And that’s where this story hits home for anyone who carries or even thinks about self-defense.
Put yourself in his shoes: you’re with your kids, a stranger just hit your car, then points a gun at your family. Do you confront? Do you back off and wait for police?
Parker chose to step in. His actions may have saved his family from real harm. But it also could’ve gone the other way.
For gun owners, it’s a scenario that forces a hard question — when danger collides with family responsibility, what’s the right call?
Some say you never gamble when your kids are in the mix. Others say you can’t just stand by when an armed threat is steps away.
So, what do you think? Should Parker have let the woman go and trusted police to handle it, or did he do exactly what any parent should do?
Sound off — because every armed citizen has to answer that question before the moment of truth arrives.
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is a seasoned outdoorsman, lifelong hunter, and the kind of guy who’d rather track whitetails than scroll social media. As an editor for GunsAmerica, he’s got a sharp eye for spotting both solid gear and bad gun laws. Whether he’s deep in the woods or deep in editorial deadlines, Larry brings a no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is approach to firearms, hunting, and the great American tradition of self-reliance. If there’s a hot debate on gun rights or the latest in hunting tech, you can bet Larry’s got an opinion—and it’s probably backed up with both facts and field experience.
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Lots of stupid and racist remarks. Doesn’t matter what ethnicity the woman was, or sex. I’m former US military. You don’t confront unless you have to. He didn’t have to. Following until he got a tag number I can see, but he should have backed off at that point as there was really nothing else he could legally do. He was shot at BECAUSE HE CONFRONTED. If he hadn’t shots wouldn’t have been fired — he forced the issue. Even at that point he should have retreated — if she had wanted to shoot him she wouldn’t have fired at his feet. The end situation was as much his fault as hers (for starting it with the hit and run). He put his kids in more danger by confronting. Hopefully he learned something and won’t repeat this, and his kids learned too.
He is not an officer and cannot enforce law nor can you pursue someone and play the victim get as much info as possible without contact is law enforcements recommendation also she can say he chased and she feared and he would have never approached a man like that and hit while carrying a gun she obviously was in fear and wasn’t going to shoot unless he continued pursuing her and she still didn’t
He only did it because it was an African-American lady. He was a buff ass white dude he chases her down. She pulls the gun on him he socks or knocks her out and take the gun. He thinks he’s a hero and he only exacerbated the whole situation and he should’ve left it right in law-enforcement hands but he thinks he’s cool and tough because he approached a fearful lady that did something wrong but she’s not condemn to death for whatever that little stupid traffic accident was just because you violate the law doesn’t mean you deserve whatever hate mongers feel he is not an officer and can’t enforce law
But he didn’t approach the border crisis since he’s a vigilante
real recognized fake
U.S.Veteran
Good luck in Atlanta these days, you’re pretty much on your own!
When your kids are in danger or potential danger the God given instinct takes over and you just react. I’ve experienced this myself.
If he was a CCW Holder, in my opinion this was a case to us force to protect his family
Did she leave without the firearm? If she did it must have been stolen. If LE has the video and the firearm then there should be more charges to follow. .
Figures…
This makes a great case for a Caucasian only position of firearm’s law …
This kind of comment is completely unhelpful to our cause, and makes us wish you were not vocal on our side.
Someone mentioned her loosing her “gun rights”. Lets look at the odds. The odds are this POS, pillar of the BLM society, already has a police record and can’t legally own a gun to begin with. Gun laws only apply to law-abiding citizens, you know. You think the BLM community give two shits about gun laws when their guns are probably stolen?
Following with the kids in the car wasn’t the brightest thing to do, but I understand why he did it. Again, the odds are the car wasn’t legally registered to her and probably had a “coast-to-coast” paper tag on it. Why else run if the car is legally registered and you have insurance? He probably at least wanted to try and get a picture of the driver. She probably HAD no insurance, and people WITH insurance wonder why their un-insured motorist coverage is so expensive. This is exactly why I intend to install a car-camera.
Unfortunately since this happened in ATL she probably won’t even get a slap on the wrist, even though it was assault and battery with intent to kill. What he should have done once he wrestled the gun from her was use it on her. At least he was physically strong enough to the defuse the situation and put her on big ass. If he killed her he would have had a good self defense argument in court. Luckily for her he didn’t.
Maybe at least he can sue her in civil court and make life a little harder on her. But as the ‘ol saying goes; “you can’t get blood out of a turnip”.
Silence hatemonger and meet me to talk in person and let’s reflect on your hate. I have unlimited hugs and kisses if your so interested May Our Father protect us
I don’t need you to reflect on my “hate” as you call it. Besides, it isn’t hate, it’s facts.
Anybody can say what they would do but you really won’t know until the situation arrives.
I would’ve done the same thing. Then called USCCA
Me either. And after I called USCCA, I would have went home after the dust settle and got a restful nights’ sleep.👍
Why is it that a lot of these folks always want to get Ghetto on everybody? Sure is a good way to wind up in the local Obits in your city. People ain’t playing any more. After seeing that woman stabbed on the train, many folks are not going to let their loved ones harmed.
There is so much crime going on in Atlanta that if he had stopped and waited on police to track down and apprehend a non injury hit and run accident, even with photo documentation of the car and license plate, nothing would have come of it without video evidence of the actual collision. On the other hand when you confront someone who is wielding a firearm, you do have a good chance of being injured or killed. Decisions like that should be made at that moment by the people there and not second guessed by people who weren’t there.
Nope!
Its a hard call, but once she exited her vehicle and brandished that firearm waving it and pointing it in my face and son’s, then i would have probably quick reacted. Now as far as not restraining her, that definitley would have happened. I always keep a couple pairs of zip-cuffs in my truck just for this instance. She was unconcious, the firearm secured, he could have had his son retrieve something to tie her up with until the cops came. Now she has gotten off scott free, and he had to file a hit and run claim which would hurt his insurance.
Lesser-evolved, low intelligence throwbacks like Sha-nay-nay here possess just one problem solving tool. We should have picked our own cotton….
Dude, really? Idiotic behavior like the woman in this story showed is not exclusive to black people. Plenty of white hicks (like you appear to be) do this crap, too.
Hmm… I have read and re-read my post and I’m pretty sure it doesn’t say “Idiotic behavior…is exclusive to black people”. (You may wish to work on your reading comprehension skills Skippy) Nevertheless, I will concede it does insinuate the demonstrably verifiable fact that 13% of the population perpetrates 51% of all criminality in the U.S, so well done! “Is it them again, Yogi?”
Get real, asshat. I wasn’t quoting you; we all know what you were insinuating. The “idiotic behavior” (my term) is obvious from watching the video, and the woman in the video is clearly black. Using terms like “Sha-nay-nay” “lesser-evolved” really spells out your mindset. The ’60s called…they want you to return their white robe and pointy hat.
Oh! So you’re a mind reader now!! (Must be trying to compensate for that somewhere around room temperature IQ of yours) Still can’t quite grasp the point either. I suspect the families of Iryna Zarutska, Dr. Julie Gard Schnuelle, Marisa Ardys Casebolt and Liberty Borg–all four women were killed by career criminals of color–get the point and would beg to differ with you….
Obviously you don’t read or watch the news much.
I see enough news to know that black people aren’t the only hood rats out there. Yes, they commit a disproportionate amount of gun crime, but don’t single out black people as if all white folks are saints. It’s not the ’50s anymore. I judge people on their actions, not the color of their skin or where their grandfather came from. Y’all can continue to be racist bastards. I choose not to be.
/I’m out
“Everything I was doing was to keep from getting shot,” Parker told Atlanta News First afterward.
Doesn’t seem so to me, seems like he was trying to get shot. He should have taken that tag info and got the hell out of Dodge, especially so since he had kids in the car.
The truth is that probably he was angry and decided to confront the woman instead of protecting his children. At the very least he should have hauled ass as soon as the car he was chasing stopped and the woman got out. Did he do that? No, he got out and decided to have a muscle vs bullet fight. He is INSANELY lucky one of those bullets didn’t hit him or one of his kids. It was stupid and irresponsible.
There is a very good chance, had he gotten her info and began to exit the scene, that she would possibly started shooting at his “fleeing” vehicle. Being, LE, I ALWAYS carry. She probably would have ended up in a coffin as it sounds like she exited her vehicle prior to him while brandishing a firearm. Probably cause to drop her, as I would be in fear for not only my life, but also my family’s. If she comes out angerly, with the gun in hand, then she’s basically committing suicide.
ON THE OTHER HAND, he said she hit him and fled, so he followed and got her license plate number. IF he was NOT carrying and because he had his family on board, he should have ended his “pursuit” once he had sufficient information to identify her. Whether or not the police do anything to/about her does not matter as he has the info to turn in to his insurance company.
AND
At this point who knows what is going to happen to her. He will be lucky if some liberal prosecutor doesn’t come after him. She could always play ‘the race card’. We see that happening more and more.
Personally, even if I was pi$$ed off at her, I would have backed off after having enough identifying info (especially with my family in the car), reported it to LE and my insurance company. That is why our insurance rates are what they are (HIGH), to cover uninsured, underinsured and H&R drivers.
He was on the phone with the police. As soon as his kids snapped a picture of the car at all even if it looks like they couldn’t make out the license, he should have pulled over to a convenience store or some other public parking lot and waited for a unit to take his report and the information. That reduces the risk to him and his kids and likely gets them enough information. Heck even using video would likely have been enough if his kids aren’t good at using a camera since you see him taking video right there. Most modern phones have enough resolution that you can pull a lot of data out of the pixels.
It doesn’t change the fact that the moment she pulled the gun, her own position drastically changed. She stepped forward into his space and pointed the gun at him. At that point, it was no longer justifiable self-defense and threatening with a weapon. If she is caught and convicted, she will lose the right to have a firearm. Poor decisions on her part all around. And the way she sounds I wouldn’t be surprised if she was driving under the influence.
She shot a round. The threat of deadly bodily harm was evident. I would say shoot but in the current corrupt system they would say you should have not followed her because then she can interpret it as a threat to her. Once you got the license plate you should have stopped and left it for the police to grab her and then let her go without bail while you ask yourself why the hell you live in that city.
He was dead wrong she can easily say self defense and was scared of him he would of never approached a man he’s weak and cowardly to play tough with a woman he should’ve just got plate and reported his type always quick to pursue and confront females not men he caused discharge and escalation he chased her and got out it’s not self defense but her argument can be such
She stopped in the middle of the road supposedly before they got a good photo of the license plate. The moment she stepped forward into his space and pointed the gun at him to the side of his head instead of staying back, I’m pretty sure sure she lost her self-defense argument.
I think I would have just let the cops handle it. The pursuit while noble doesn’t have a net gain. Your beamer is going to the body shop regardless. A lot less painful than burying a child or leaving them with no Father.
I had a very similar situation but chose to stay in the car and call an officer. My incident happened in SC, castle doctrine. “Leave your castle thus no doctrine”. It was a black male who had pulled over onto me and was pushing me into the median my old road warrior vehicle pushed back. Enter any median at speed and about any angle and you WILL roll over, so I pushed back. I stayed in my car he stayed in his. Officer arrived in 8 minutes. Was I armed? Yes. Had the driver gotten out with something in his hand and approached me? What would I have done? I would have shot him, at least twice. Stay in your vehicle folks. You stay within your castle.
That’s also why I have a dash-cam in ALL of my vehicles.
IN this screwed up country with these bought-and-paid-for judges, EVEN IF you do everything by The Book, these judges will find you Guilty, AND THE PERSON who started IT all goes home, and you end up in jail.
I wonder what the outcome of this case was? I hope this crazy female is still in jail. BUT I DOUBT IT, BECAUSE SHE IS BLACK.
10-4!
This is a 2A moment. I live in Texas and she would have faced being shot in self defense had it been me.
Think about how this would have read if he had shot her… Atlanta burns to the ground…
Is that really a bad thing if Atlanta burnt to the ground? I’ve been there passing through and I’ll go out of my way to avoid it next time! One of the worst S***holes I’ve been too!
True, perhaps it SHOULD burn to the ground.
Wouldn’t be much of a loss…
Think about how this would have read if he had shot her… Atlanta burns to the ground…
i can go either way on this but since he wasn’t armed best choice would be don’t engage.
Can be said national