Our Instructor Was Shot in Front of us

14 Years ago I was living in Johannesburg, South Africa, and I used to attend martial arts training in the city.

We trained in a scout hall and were a small group of max 8 on any given Monday night. The night of the crime there were only 2 of us, and the instructor an elderly man (70 years old).

Bill our instructor is a military veteran, from special forces with the British SAS. Johannesburg is full of rampant crime and has been for years. I was born in a city to the west of Johannesburg, and when you live there, you adapt to the crime and violence, and unfortunately become numbed and cynical and hyper security conscious. I had a firearm, a handgun, but on this night it was not in my bag as it usually was. I had left it in the safe at home.

We were busy learning some techniques when we were interrupted by a gunman with glazed red eyes; I was sure he was on drugs. He had the jump on us, but seemed surprised when he saw two black belts and one old man. He was expecting mothers and scouts or fathers and scouts. He had a 38 Special handgun and was pointing it at us, asking us for our wallets and mobile phones.

Our instructor started walking forward to get closer to us, his students, but this was also closer to the gunman. The gunman told him to stop, so he did. Then he asked the two of us students for our wallets and mobile phones. My friend handed over his mobile phone and wallet, I said to him mine was in the car, so he told me to get it, he had the gun in the small of my back.

I was extremely calm, something was telling me I wouldn’t be harmed. It was like God was saying to me, just do what he says, no harm will come to you. It only dawned on me afterward that one squeeze on that trigger into my spine that I could die or end up crippled for life.

I even messed him around. After rummaging around in the boot of my car with his gun in my back, I said, “Oh my wallet and phone must be in my bag.”

We went back into the scout hall, my friend and our instructor were still in there, and I still had the gun in my back, I walked over to my bag, and handed over my mobile phone but not my wallet. Our instructor walked closer to my friend and I. The gunman screamed at our instructor to stop walking, but he said, “I just want to be with my students.” The gunman seemed jumpy and shot our instructor, then ran out of the scout hall. My friend lost his mind and started chasing the gunman barefoot into the surrounding bushes. The gunman got away. Probably a good thing, or else my friend would also have been shot. I attended to our instructor, and then my crazy friend who chased the gunman came back into the hall, in a panic. I used our instructor’s phone to call a hospital up the road from the scout hall, but they were slow to respond. My crazy friend started sprinting up the road in his gi and barefoot to ‘awaken’ the hospital staff and get an ambulance down to us. The hospital was about 1 km straight up the road from us. I made our instructor comfortable who was bleeding from his abdomen. He lay there with t-shirts bundled as a pillow on that hard scout hall floor.

The ambulance arrived shortly afterward. Our Instructor was in hospital for weeks and he recovered, after having part of his spleen removed. He healed much faster than an average man of his age.

My friend called our instructor’s Mom, ninety something years old, and who lived in Scotland. She remarked in a broad Scottish accent, “Oh My son with all his years of military training and martial arts, and he gets shot, I mean what's the use?”

She didn’t seem too concerned about her son. But given the stories our instructor would tell about her, I was not that surprised.

What did I learn from the experience personally?

I learnt I am very calm in very tense situations, and that there was definitely something protecting me that night. I was convinced I wouldn’t be harmed. It was surreal and yet real? Difficult to explain. Like watching a movie and acting in it at the same time. I felt God was protecting me, and I am thankful.

I learnt my friend was a complete nutter, imagine chasing after a gunman barefoot and unarmed, the gunman got away. Not only that, my friend then ran barefoot on tarred roads to the hospital and he was so fast, I think if he stopped to think he would have driven his car up, but the adrenalin was pumping and he was like a wild man.

I learnt that my friend, though crazy, would be the best ally to have in any situation because I needed his bravery and complete craziness.

I learnt that my calmness and his craziness was an excellent combination.

I learnt that life happens and life is dangerous, and that we should all be grateful and love those closest to us, because life happens. Never take a single day for granted.

I learnt that an elderly Scottish ex-special forces dude is one tough character and they don’t make them like they used to.

I learnt that where there is a tough old man, there is an even tougher Mom.