Understanding and Embracing the Attacker’s Perspective

The following is in response to an article that appeared in the New Yorker magazine titled “The Hitman’s Tale -How an honors student became a hired killer.

Those who have been through any of VDI’s courses know the emphasis we place on understanding and embracing the attacker’s perspective – from target selection and surveillance to execution of the attack – in order to be a more effective protection practitioner.

Once you get past the empathetic tone of this article, it offers invaluable insight into that perspective, as provided by a hit man for drug lords in Detroit. It’s interesting to note the focus on the intended target’s movement by vehicle and the propensity for attacking when the target is in or around their vehicle. More anecdotal evidence in support of the conclusion that DeBecker, Taylor and Marquart reached in their seminal work “Just 2 Seconds”, which dovetails with Tony Scotti’s original work in “Executive Safety & International Terrorism” – if you’re going to be attacked, it will most likely happen when you are in or around your vehicle.

But don’t take it from these four experienced practitioners, here is an excerpt from the article that offers up the attacker’s perspective:

“Smothers looked for a moment of vulnerability. “When you drive up to your house, you turn your car off. You look around, make sure nobody is around, pull your door handle, push the door open with your foot, and lean over to grab whatever is sitting in the passenger seat,” he said. If someone Smothers was following had stopped at McDonald’s on the way home, he would inevitably reach for the bag of food on the way out of the car. “That moment you lean over, that’s the moment you get killed,” Smothers said.”