Riley Bowman: And welcome to the Concealed Carry
Riley Bowman: Podcast, part of the ConcealedCarry.com network, brought to you by HK.
Riley Bowman: Today is actually Thursday, July 23rd, 2026, as of the live recording of this
Riley Bowman: episode. And I am your host, Riley Bowman.
Riley Bowman: And I'm joined today by a special guest whom we will introduce here momentarily.
Riley Bowman: I'm really excited about this one, folks.
Riley Bowman: I hope you'll stick around for the entirety of the episode because it's going
Riley Bowman: to be a good episode. I know that.
Riley Bowman: So today we are going to be sharing the story and interviewing firsthand Jarrell
Riley Bowman: Kapel, who was a FedEx delivery driver in
Riley Bowman: December of 2019 that had a defensive gun use, as we call them here at the Concealed
Riley Bowman: Carry Podcast, a justified save.
Riley Bowman: It's a compelling story with many lessons to be learned, and I know that you're
Riley Bowman: going to really benefit from this one. So I look forward to bringing Jarrell on here in just a moment.
Riley Bowman: As he described himself to me a moment ago, he is just a chill guy.
Riley Bowman: And I appreciate that about him. He's got a good attitude.
Riley Bowman: And I'll tell you, sometimes a chill attitude is the right one to have when
Riley Bowman: we're dealing with high-stress situations.
Riley Bowman: And certainly to try to avoid those situations where possible.
Riley Bowman: Unfortunately, that's not how it worked out for Jarrell on that fateful night in 2019.
Riley Bowman: As he was robbed by an armed robber and actually got himself shot,
Riley Bowman: unfortunately, as part of that.
Riley Bowman: But he fought back, and he's here to tell his whole story. But before we get
Riley Bowman: into that, we do have a couple episode sponsors today. Our first sponsor,
Riley Bowman: which we'll introduce now, is HK, Heckler & Koch.
Riley Bowman: Our friends over at HKUSA have been big supporters of the podcast for a long
Riley Bowman: time now, and they are the title sponsor of this podcast and of today's episode.
Riley Bowman: So thank you, HK, for your support of the Concealed Carry podcast.
Riley Bowman: Folks, when you're dealing with difficult situations, particularly when your
Riley Bowman: life is on the line, I'm a big believer in trusting only your life with the best equipment.
Riley Bowman: And I know that carrying an HK pistol for my personal choice in a sidearm is
Riley Bowman: a quality piece. It's something I am confident will not let me down when the moment counts.
Riley Bowman: So I'd hope that you would consider for your next firearm, taking a look at
Riley Bowman: HK today, go to hk-usa.com to see their full lineup of firearms.
Riley Bowman: You can find them typically in just about any local gun dealer.
Riley Bowman: And I do think it's good and wise to support your local dealers.
Riley Bowman: So go to your local gun shop and ask them what they have on the shelves from HK today.
Riley Bowman: The CC9 is a big hit. It's been a very popular pistol for them since it was released.
Riley Bowman: And I'm actually carrying, I like carrying that one, but I'm actually carrying
Riley Bowman: today the newer HK A1 series.
Riley Bowman: It's the VP9A1K, the K model, which is a nice mid-sized compact gun and just a great performer.
Riley Bowman: So there you go. HK, thank you for your support of the podcast.
Riley Bowman: Again, you can learn more at hk-usa.com.
Riley Bowman: Well, let's bring on our special guest today, Jarrell. There he is.
Riley Bowman: Welcome, sir. How are you?
Jarrel Cappell: I'm doing good. How about you?
Riley Bowman: Fantastic. It's really good to have you on. And we thank you for your time today
Riley Bowman: and your willingness to share your story.
Riley Bowman: I know that sometimes these kinds of things can be difficult to tell,
Riley Bowman: maybe even difficult to relive.
Riley Bowman: Fortunately, this is crazy. It's been almost seven years. It'll be seven years
Riley Bowman: ago in December of later this year. It'll be seven years since this thing happened
Riley Bowman: to you, unfortunately, back in December 2019.
Riley Bowman: Jarrell, you were employed as a FedEx delivery driver, contract guy, back at that point.
Riley Bowman: And you're just doing your job, man, delivering packages and bringing everybody
Riley Bowman: their holiday cheer, as they might say.
Riley Bowman: So tell us a little bit about kind of yourselves, your background,
Riley Bowman: and kind of, you know, how it was going in the days leading up to that fateful
Riley Bowman: day for you and your kind of day-to-day job.
Jarrel Cappell: All right thank you for having me um to share my story um so as i told you earlier
Jarrel Cappell: you know i'm a pretty relaxed cool easy going guy um uh,
Jarrel Cappell: up until that point what was it 2019 so i think i had been at fedex for about
Jarrel Cappell: 11 years at that point um wow so it was you know every day get up go deliver packages and,
Jarrel Cappell: um matter of fact the route i was on i had been doing for maybe about a year
Jarrel Cappell: i spent most of my um fedex career in west philadelphia so i was like pretty,
Jarrel Cappell: pretty known um in those parts so uh,
Jarrel Cappell: it's only been about a year for the route that i was on,
Jarrel Cappell: um but crazy enough it's the neighborhood that i live in so that's i usually
Jarrel Cappell: just go home i mean go to work come home so it was like i was actually learning
Jarrel Cappell: a lot about my neighborhood too at the same time while delivering that well um,
Jarrel Cappell: let me see uh.
Jarrel Cappell: I think leading up to that day a week before i had delivered a tv Once again,
Jarrel Cappell: we were talking about the Christmas season, right?
Jarrel Cappell: Yeah. So it was super busy.
Jarrel Cappell: I had a friend. They would allow us sometimes... FedEx would actually employ helpers.
Jarrel Cappell: Or if you had somebody that can help you, you have to bring them.
Jarrel Cappell: They would approve them.
Jarrel Cappell: I had help the week before. Me and my friend, we delivered a TV.
Jarrel Cappell: And about maybe...
Jarrel Cappell: 45 minutes later, somebody stole that TV. And the only reason I knew was because
Jarrel Cappell: my boss sent me a text that night that somebody caught it on the ring camera.
Jarrel Cappell: And it was a little bit upsetting because they thought it was me and my friend
Jarrel Cappell: because that day I had an orange FedEx hoodie on.
Jarrel Cappell: So you see me deliver the package, me and my friend.
Jarrel Cappell: Then we pull off and then about a 45 minutes later you see two guys pull up
Jarrel Cappell: in the car and they hop out run up take the tv,
Jarrel Cappell: but as the guy was running i think his shirt lifted up so you see like you see
Jarrel Cappell: an orange and i'm like that must have been his underwear you know how the guys dress,
Jarrel Cappell: so they thought it was i guess me and him and i'm like in my world i'm thinking,
Jarrel Cappell: i'm not risking my job to steal it still tv it's not worth it so that happened you've been.
Riley Bowman: Working there for you've been working there for 11 years
Jarrel Cappell: So i mean that's.
Riley Bowman: That's practically a career at that point like yeah
Riley Bowman: exactly yeah so sorry continue
Jarrel Cappell: No you're fine um so at that point it put me on alert that,
Jarrel Cappell: people were actually following you was over there you would follow the truck
Jarrel Cappell: or because in my opinion the way i've seen the video i'm like how did he know
Jarrel Cappell: that tv was there is either they,
Jarrel Cappell: seen me deliver it or maybe they drove down the street spotted it and came back
Jarrel Cappell: around but the video that was posted only showed when they pulled up and stole the tv so i was,
Jarrel Cappell: on some kind of alert that people were following us and then like i said prior
Jarrel Cappell: to i was I was in West Philly and by me being there for so long,
Jarrel Cappell: you know, I was cool with a lot of the police officers in that area and,
Jarrel Cappell: one cop in particular told me that,
Jarrel Cappell: I think Philly actually had police, I don't know if they were undercover or
Jarrel Cappell: not, they would follow FedEx trucks because they was aware of people stealing packages.
Jarrel Cappell: So they was already trying to get on top of it. Yeah.
Riley Bowman: Yeah. Yeah, you definitely hear those stories. I mean, we see them every year.
Riley Bowman: I live here in the suburbs of West Denver Metro and a good-sized city like Philly.
Riley Bowman: And every year you see the stories, you see people, you know,
Riley Bowman: share their videos as well, you know, to the news stations and stuff.
Riley Bowman: I mean, packages getting stolen by these so-called porch pirates and whatnot.
Riley Bowman: And I would imagine that, and this was 2019, which, you know,
Riley Bowman: that's still relatively recent.
Riley Bowman: But what's happened since then is, you know, we went through the whole COVID
Riley Bowman: episode and people started shopping and buying things online even more and,
Riley Bowman: you know, expecting deliveries and whatnot.
Riley Bowman: And so I would imagine this kind of thing has even increased from what it was in 2019.
Riley Bowman: I would imagine that if I was a route manager or owner or whatever,
Riley Bowman: I'd probably be talking to my employees,
Riley Bowman: coaching them, advising them, letting them know, like, hey, make sure you're
Riley Bowman: keeping your head on a swivel and keeping an eye out on things because you're a target potentially.
Riley Bowman: And unfortunately, that's what happened to you here.
Riley Bowman: But before we get to that moment, tell us a little bit about the actual day this happened, Don.
Riley Bowman: Even right down to like what was the weather like this is December in Philadelphia
Riley Bowman: was it was a nice day was it a cold day was it snow was it dry like
Riley Bowman: and then and what time did you typically start work and and then kind of lead
Riley Bowman: us up to I think the incident happened about 7 p.m.
Riley Bowman: That day so kind of tell us what that day was like.
Jarrel Cappell: So that day, if I remember correctly, I know it was definitely was sunny.
Jarrel Cappell: It wasn't too cold. You know, the past, I would probably say in the past decade,
Jarrel Cappell: we've been having these on the East Coast. We've been having these mixed winters
Jarrel Cappell: where you can come go outside one day in the wintertime and it's 70 degrees. So it wasn't too cold.
Jarrel Cappell: The day that it happened, the helper told you, couldn't make it in that day. So I was by myself.
Jarrel Cappell: And so I was on alert, just first stop, second stop, making sure I was checking
Jarrel Cappell: my surroundings, trying to make sure nobody was following you.
Jarrel Cappell: So typically, you know, with FedEx, once your day starts, you try to get into
Jarrel Cappell: a groove, stop, stop, stop.
Jarrel Cappell: And so I was working my way through holiday season.
Jarrel Cappell: If you've ever driven behind a fedex or even a ups truck and they open that
Jarrel Cappell: back door you notice that truck is loaded it is loaded up so,
Jarrel Cappell: it is it's a lot sometimes especially in the morning hours to try to clear your
Jarrel Cappell: truck out because the more room you have to move the more efficient you can be so,
Jarrel Cappell: i was definitely uh you know working trying to clear my truck um like i said
Jarrel Cappell: it was sunny most of the day so it was cool um,
Jarrel Cappell: and a lot of times for me i would if i got lunch i would stop get my lunch but,
Jarrel Cappell: i'm working while eating my lunch so i might my food might last me four or five
Jarrel Cappell: hours to finish it because it's just take a bite here work work work take a bite there um.
Jarrel Cappell: And you kind of feel the pressure like around 4 o'clock, 5 o'clock.
Jarrel Cappell: Because now it's like, okay, cool. I want to be off the road by 8 o'clock.
Jarrel Cappell: And depending on where you're at on the road, you start to kind of zone out.
Jarrel Cappell: So getting close to that time, it's tunnel vision. Like you're rapidly stop, stop, stop, stop.
Jarrel Cappell: Yeah. sometimes at that point.
Riley Bowman: How many stops would you have in a typical day during that season
Jarrel Cappell: Depending on your route 150 more than 150 would probably be a good day during
Jarrel Cappell: that time you could probably average between 180 200 plus stops a day,
Jarrel Cappell: 230.
Riley Bowman: So to your point you're getting later in the day I mean, you've,
Riley Bowman: you've made so many stops that like you, you use the word tunnel vision,
Riley Bowman: probably not literally tunnel vision, but you're just so like in the routine of stop, stop.
Riley Bowman: And probably before long, they all start to look the same. I would guess.
Jarrel Cappell: It does get to be like that. And then you're like, plus remember with that time,
Jarrel Cappell: that time of the year, you'll typically have like maybe, uh, I would say between.
Jarrel Cappell: Four five stops on each street that you stop on so they they go by faster sometimes
Jarrel Cappell: but it's still a lot of stops to um,
Jarrel Cappell: to get to um yeah and i think around yeah so around that time i was just really
Jarrel Cappell: moving um the truck is pretty much i can see my shelves so i can,
Jarrel Cappell: it's times you'll stop for like maybe five minutes and say you know what i'm
Jarrel Cappell: lining up my next 15 20 stops so that when i get there is just grab and go, grab and go.
Jarrel Cappell: Like I say, we're working your way through the day at that point. Yeah.
Riley Bowman: So on that particular day, it's getting late in the day or maybe an hour or so from being done.
Riley Bowman: Probably looking forward to that. It's probably been a long day already.
Riley Bowman: I mean, how long you worked at that point? Probably 12, 13 hours? 12 hours?
Jarrel Cappell: I think at that point, because usually when we get in in the morning,
Jarrel Cappell: even though we have loaders, but everything is not the way the driver would like it.
Jarrel Cappell: So most of us, we would probably spend about an hour, hour and a half sometimes
Jarrel Cappell: in the morning, resorting our truck so that we can work efficiently.
Jarrel Cappell: So probably would have been at work by eight o'clock.
Jarrel Cappell: If not leaving out nine 30, 10 o'clock, which would be late for us.
Jarrel Cappell: We would like to leave out like eight o'clock, but said we try to set ourselves
Jarrel Cappell: up. So we take the time to sort the truck out.
Jarrel Cappell: So, yeah, pretty much that was going on maybe –,
Jarrel Cappell: 10 hours of work at that point.
Riley Bowman: Okay. Yeah. Well, and you still got, you still got ways to go.
Riley Bowman: So it's been a long day and you're, you're, you're working hard. So you had a delivery.
Riley Bowman: Was this a TV that you were delivering when you got stopped in the robbery or
Riley Bowman: do you even know what you were delivering? Probably not.
Jarrel Cappell: No, I don't. This wasn't a TV. This was a small package.
Riley Bowman: Gotcha.
Jarrel Cappell: Another one of those packages, I think I said it was already lined up on my
Jarrel Cappell: shelf, stopped next to the house, ran to the door. I think I rung the bell,
Jarrel Cappell: and I was making my way back to the truck. And just to go back to it, I get that point.
Jarrel Cappell: Time from the time from the truck to the door might have been 30 seconds i'm
Jarrel Cappell: moving like i'm moving this time right yeah,
Jarrel Cappell: you're on residential blocks you can exit your truck run to the door leave the
Jarrel Cappell: package at the door and then um come back to the truck in less than a minute
Jarrel Cappell: plus around that time from what,
Jarrel Cappell: i recall and what i remember with protocol we had to leaving the package where
Jarrel Cappell: it's visible was a no-no.
Jarrel Cappell: I don't know if it's the same thing I did in Denver now, but as I ride around
Jarrel Cappell: Philadelphia, they leave packages on people's porch.
Jarrel Cappell: Sometimes, even with some of the other carriers, they'll put it right there on the steps.
Jarrel Cappell: I'm like, the porch is just a further, you know, put it on the porch where nobody can see it.
Jarrel Cappell: There's a lot of porch pirates, but I said, I ran that package, rung the doorbell.
Jarrel Cappell: I didn't get an answer, so I think I put it in between the screen door,
Jarrel Cappell: and I was making my way out of the person's front yard, and then that's when
Jarrel Cappell: the whole situation started. That's where it starts at.
Riley Bowman: Wow. Okay. Now, I'm going to put the pause button on there for just a little
Riley Bowman: bit because I got a question before we get to that critical moment.
Riley Bowman: So you're obviously carrying a gun. Yes.
Riley Bowman: What made you decide to carry Concealed as a FedEx driver?
Jarrel Cappell: I always have to give credit to one of my customers. A few years prior,
Jarrel Cappell: he was a technology guy. Super cool.
Jarrel Cappell: Sometimes I stop, we'll have like five, ten minute conversations throughout
Jarrel Cappell: my day. So I remember at one point.
Jarrel Cappell: I think we got into the topic of firearms, or I may have noticed that he was carrying.
Jarrel Cappell: So we were talking, and it was a key statement I asked him. I said,
Jarrel Cappell: do you think you could live with knowing that you had to use your firearm?
Jarrel Cappell: His response was, the key word in my statement was live. Cannot live with it.
Jarrel Cappell: And I think he told me he was actually robbed before and he was shot. He survived.
Jarrel Cappell: So from that moment, it kind of changed my mentality on firearms.
Jarrel Cappell: Let me not say it changed. At that point, I already owned a gun,
Jarrel Cappell: but I didn't carry it. So it was in-house.
Jarrel Cappell: But that did change my mind. And I think I do accredit him for possibly me still
Jarrel Cappell: being here because if it wasn't for that conversation, probably wouldn't have been carrying but,
Jarrel Cappell: it was very eye-opening and i just decided to uh start carrying you know it's a lot of.
Jarrel Cappell: Nuts out here like people are robbing for anything um they run in the truck
Jarrel Cappell: we have had situations um in the past with drivers being,
Jarrel Cappell: tied up in a truck, truck stolen. Um,
Jarrel Cappell: if you remember around that time, maybe like a couple of weeks before my incident
Jarrel Cappell: happened or maybe a week, there was a UPS driver in Florida that got caught up in a robbery.
Jarrel Cappell: The guys I think was robbing a bank of a jewelry store and they forced him on his truck to get away.
Jarrel Cappell: And he ended up getting killed in the shootout between law enforcement and those
Jarrel Cappell: drivers so that further solidified me carrying my firearm.
Riley Bowman: So that happened just shortly before your own incident what did that
Riley Bowman: cause you to change anything because that happened to that ups driver like in a
Riley Bowman: you know like did you start actually carrying every day where maybe you didn't
Riley Bowman: before or anything like that or or did it just sort of solidify that,
Riley Bowman: oh, I'm just going to make sure I'm really, you know, paying attention and dialed in?
Jarrel Cappell: I think it made me a little bit more dialed in. I was already carrying for the
Jarrel Cappell: most part almost every day, but it's some days because what it is,
Jarrel Cappell: one of the main things that came up are, are we allowed to carry as delivery drivers?
Jarrel Cappell: And I'm like, according to the policy of FedEx, I would say no,
Jarrel Cappell: but in my eyes, I didn't work for FedEx.
Jarrel Cappell: I worked through a contractor. So this truck that I'm on doesn't belong to FedEx.
Jarrel Cappell: And I would never walk into the building with my firearm.
Jarrel Cappell: So sometimes when you leave out and have to go to my car to get my firearm to
Jarrel Cappell: then start my day, it was some days you didn't feel like doing it.
Jarrel Cappell: But that further made me say, okay, every day. because you just never know when something can happen.
Riley Bowman: Yeah, I'm glad you explained that, by the way, because I don't have a personal
Riley Bowman: experience other than a family member owned a couple of FedEx routes.
Riley Bowman: And so I learned a little bit more about how that works over the years.
Riley Bowman: And like you just explained, those FedEx ground delivery trucks you see running
Riley Bowman: around, those are routes that are owned by a private individual or a company.
Riley Bowman: And uh and that includes all the equipment the trucks and everything uh
Riley Bowman: those are those are part of that contractor's uh business and so if you were to go to my uh
Riley Bowman: family member's house when they they they no longer do that anymore they sold those routes off but uh
Riley Bowman: they still have like old remnants of fedex vans and trucks sitting on their
Riley Bowman: property because you know they had some you They had a number of trucks,
Riley Bowman: and there was always something needing to be fixed and repaired.
Riley Bowman: And so anyway, yeah,
Riley Bowman: I hear what you're saying as far as, hey, I don't actually work technically for FedEx.
Riley Bowman: So like the route owner or the business that you actually were contracted with,
Riley Bowman: they had never addressed a policy with you prior to that as far as no guns,
Riley Bowman: no firearms, no carrying, that kind of stuff?
Jarrel Cappell: Yeah, not that I can recall. I just took it into my mind like,
Jarrel Cappell: hey, this is not FedEx's property.
Jarrel Cappell: Second of all is, you know, when you really think it's like,
Jarrel Cappell: I'm responsible for making it home to my family.
Jarrel Cappell: So even if it meant bending the rules in this way, I got to get home because
Jarrel Cappell: you might get fired. But if you're still alive, then you're still here for your
Jarrel Cappell: family. You can move past it. You can move on.
Riley Bowman: Yeah, you can get another job.
Jarrel Cappell: Yes.
Riley Bowman: Yeah, you can't get another life. I hear you. So you made the decision that,
Riley Bowman: hey, this is the right choice for me.
Riley Bowman: I'm in a relatively high-risk profession that could be targeted.
Riley Bowman: As you pointed out, there are already known instances of other drivers,
Riley Bowman: including for other companies, that were targets or had become victims of crimes.
Riley Bowman: So you made the decision for you and for your family. you were going to carry
Riley Bowman: and so you were carrying on that fateful day as well yes so going back
Riley Bowman: you're on that and i think this happened like on unreal avenue i think was where
Riley Bowman: this took place so you're at this home you're dropping off this package you
Riley Bowman: slip in in between the screen door and the and the door
Riley Bowman: and you're starting back towards
Riley Bowman: your truck making your way through their yard and then what happens
Jarrel Cappell: As I'm as I'm walking out,
Jarrel Cappell: suspect is walking in.
Riley Bowman: And so they were coming like into into this like a did they have like a little gate or something
Jarrel Cappell: It was yeah it was a little gate there um it's not a very long yard it was short
Jarrel Cappell: so i was walking out i seen him walking towards me and i still didn't think
Jarrel Cappell: nothing of it his first words was a my man,
Jarrel Cappell: and in the time that i've worked at fedex,
Jarrel Cappell: i've heard that statement a million times and usually what follows that statement
Jarrel Cappell: is do you have a package for so-and-so or for this address so i didn't think nothing of it at all just,
Jarrel Cappell: hey my man i'm like what's going on um,
Jarrel Cappell: the very next thing is i see a gun being pulled out on me and the slob being
Jarrel Cappell: racked back and the next statement is give me everything you got,
Jarrel Cappell: and that's where like I feel like it turns,
Jarrel Cappell: I have to give Hollywood some credit sometimes to the way they depict certain
Jarrel Cappell: things in movies it kind of it starts to spiral like,
Jarrel Cappell: I do I tell people I do recall that feeling of your entire life just flashing
Jarrel Cappell: before your eyes in that second.
Jarrel Cappell: Like so many things ran through my mind.
Jarrel Cappell: First thing I did was, first of all, you're presented with a firearm.
Jarrel Cappell: And let me go back just a little bit because...
Jarrel Cappell: Along with carrying, I watched tons of videos on YouTube on self-defense, the legality part of it.
Jarrel Cappell: I watched a lot of training videos.
Jarrel Cappell: What else had I done at that point? I used to go to the range.
Riley Bowman: Okay.
Jarrel Cappell: Go ahead.
Riley Bowman: Had you been through any formal training courses?
Jarrel Cappell: I didn't take any courses at that point, but,
Jarrel Cappell: I would watch my videos, go to the range, practice.
Jarrel Cappell: I think the only kind of training you could say I had was at one range where
Jarrel Cappell: they let you do a couple reps so they can certify you to draw from your holster.
Jarrel Cappell: But at that point, that was it. I used to just watch a lot of training videos
Jarrel Cappell: and, you know, take into account what's going on.
Jarrel Cappell: One of the key things I forgot who the YouTube personality was,
Jarrel Cappell: but it was one key video that,
Jarrel Cappell: Came into play this night that I remember, and it was along the lines of knowing
Jarrel Cappell: when to draw and when not to draw.
Jarrel Cappell: And I think he had used a scenario in which a police officer had tried to draw
Jarrel Cappell: a gun on the suspect, and the suspect shot first, killed the cop.
Jarrel Cappell: And there was another situation where it was regular civilians and the civilian,
Jarrel Cappell: I think, was getting robbed. And he waited till the guy just turned his head for a slight second.
Jarrel Cappell: And that was his opportunity to get in to the fight in his terminology.
Riley Bowman: Right. Kind of sounds similar to my friend John Correa at Active Self-Protection.
Jarrel Cappell: I think it was.
Riley Bowman: Yeah?
Jarrel Cappell: I think it was. It was two videos he showed.
Riley Bowman: Yeah yeah he's real big about talking about uh waiting for your turn you know if uh
Riley Bowman: if you are faced with a deadly threat particularly a gun that's already drawn on you uh
Riley Bowman: you're gonna have a hard time beating them on the draws they've already got
Riley Bowman: their gun out but uh you gotta wait for your turn and whether that's a distraction or
Riley Bowman: uh you know them just turning their head away for a moment or whatever you know
Riley Bowman: you got to look for those opportunities that say okay now it's my turn now i
Riley Bowman: now i've got the opportunity to do something here so that i'm really glad you
Riley Bowman: you mentioned that that you'd uh
Riley Bowman: watch some content like that so you've you felt like that was uh
Riley Bowman: particularly meaningful for you just did that in your mind
Jarrel Cappell: It stood out a lot of the stuff that i had seen to that point actually played
Jarrel Cappell: out. And as I tell the story, like,
Jarrel Cappell: I have to sometimes pause because a lot of this, it really came to me.
Jarrel Cappell: And like you mentioned too, in the beginning with me having a calm personality,
Jarrel Cappell: my mind is always running. So it forced me to think through this entire event.
Jarrel Cappell: And mind you, it took a while for me to unpack it throughout the years and realize,
Jarrel Cappell: oh, wow, I didn't even realize this when this happened.
Jarrel Cappell: But everything kind of came back to me in that moment. And that throughout the whole event.
Riley Bowman: Yeah. Yeah. So you're leaving this property, this home.
Riley Bowman: They're coming through the gate or whatever, or they're near there.
Riley Bowman: It sounds like it just happens real fast. Like you said, the guy's just like, hey, my man.
Riley Bowman: And then next thing you know he's just drawing his gun you said you racked the slide
Riley Bowman: so uh and then he's like give me everything you got yeah boom like this is all
Riley Bowman: happens probably in what two seconds maybe
Jarrel Cappell: About yeah probably two seconds because when in that in those moments is like,
Jarrel Cappell: is the conflict in your mind processing is this real time because a lot of it
Jarrel Cappell: does feel like it's slow motion.
Jarrel Cappell: A lot of it feels like it's in slow motion, but it's probably definitely a few seconds.
Jarrel Cappell: And going on seven years, and I will probably have to go back because I do want
Jarrel Cappell: to attain the 911 call that I've made,
Jarrel Cappell: I'm still trying to figure out how long did the whole event last.
Jarrel Cappell: I knew it wasn't five minutes, but in my mind, it feels like five minutes or more.
Jarrel Cappell: But it probably might have been all of a minute or two, I feel like, in actuality.
Riley Bowman: Sorry and you're talking you know from that initial contact with him to the
Riley Bowman: the actual incident the shooting uh
Riley Bowman: him running off you i think you also got in your and we'll talk we'll break
Riley Bowman: this all down but i think you also go back in your truck and drove off some
Riley Bowman: distance right and then i imagine that at that point started calling 911 yes
Riley Bowman: yeah yeah so you're that's what you mean like how long this all took you're,
Riley Bowman: you're talking about kind of that whole timeframe of initial contact to making
Riley Bowman: your own escape and that, that call.
Jarrel Cappell: Yes.
Riley Bowman: Okay, cool. Cool. So what happens next?
Riley Bowman: I mean, you're standing there, you're looking at a gun and see point in this,
Riley Bowman: you know, like right up in your face or like,
Riley Bowman: is he just keeping it down close, close to his body like you know how how menacing
Riley Bowman: was him as a threat i'm just curious
Jarrel Cappell: From what i remember i think it was pointed closer to his he kept it down towards
Jarrel Cappell: towards his body um but it was still pointed at me yeah it definitely was close to his body because,
Jarrel Cappell: um i had it felt like,
Jarrel Cappell: The gun was, I think he had an all-gray sweatsuit on. So the gun being close
Jarrel Cappell: to his body and then with everything going through my mind, I thought the gun
Jarrel Cappell: was completely all silver, all nickel, but it wasn't.
Jarrel Cappell: So it was close to him. It wasn't pointed directly in my face.
Riley Bowman: Mm-hmm. And then what did you do next? I mean, so he just told you to hand him
Riley Bowman: everything you got. What did you do?
Jarrel Cappell: That's when I got stupid. When I say stupid, I mean like scared stupid.
Jarrel Cappell: Like, you know, it runs through your mind.
Jarrel Cappell: Give me everything you got. So the first thing, and I laugh because I literally
Jarrel Cappell: in my mind, in my mind, I literally went to my pockets. I think I pulled out my keys.
Jarrel Cappell: And my car keys was in my left pocket. I don't know why I handed him my car
Jarrel Cappell: keys. My car keys is at the job.
Jarrel Cappell: So I handed him the car keys. I'm going through the pockets.
Jarrel Cappell: I get to my wallet. And when I went for my wallet, which I used to carry in
Jarrel Cappell: my back pocket, I was carrying at a four o'clock position. So my hand brushed against my gun.
Jarrel Cappell: Once again, wait your turn. As a gun pointed at me, in my mind,
Jarrel Cappell: it was like, can't do nothing about this right now. Just get to the wallet.
Jarrel Cappell: And here's where I said I got scared stupid.
Jarrel Cappell: I went into my wallet and literally took out the money that was in the wallet,
Jarrel Cappell: and gave it to him and then it was like you smack yourself figuratively.
Jarrel Cappell: He said give him everything so I'm like oh I gave him the whole wallet right,
Jarrel Cappell: so I always laugh at that point like why did I go in there and take money out
Jarrel Cappell: instead of just handing him the wallet so I ended up handing him the wallet.
Jarrel Cappell: After I handed him the wallet I think he asked me,
Jarrel Cappell: he thought I dropped my phone I didn't drop my phone I dropped my FedEx scanner,
Jarrel Cappell: so he asked why did I drop my scanner I said I don't know listen I'm scared
Jarrel Cappell: you got a gun pointed to me,
Jarrel Cappell: drop everything gave you the wallet the important things that would get you,
Jarrel Cappell: give you what you want so you get away from me, so I can feel safe again.
Jarrel Cappell: So I did that. I'm trying to think, was there anything else?
Jarrel Cappell: It was the keys and the water, I think, I gave him. Um...
Riley Bowman: Yeah.
Jarrel Cappell: Yep, that was a yep.
Riley Bowman: In the news reports that I read, and by the way, interesting thing,
Riley Bowman: Jacob and I, I think it was me and Jacob, it could have been me and Matthew
Riley Bowman: who used to do the podcast with me as well.
Riley Bowman: We talked about your story in January of 2020 because for years we've done,
Riley Bowman: We call it our Justified Saves episode where we talk about incidents like yours
Riley Bowman: that we come across in news reports and stuff.
Riley Bowman: And I stumbled upon that. I was like, I'm pretty sure we talked about this.
Riley Bowman: And I had to go back and do some digging and saw, yeah, we talked about your story in January 2020.
Riley Bowman: So like a month after, after it happened anyway.
Riley Bowman: Um, so the, uh, I forgot what I was going with that, but, uh,
Riley Bowman: I think, you know, just continuing on with your story.
Riley Bowman: Uh, you said you, you got stupid, uh, and you know, you're kind of like,
Riley Bowman: I think it's, I think our brains do all kinds of crazy, weird stuff when we
Riley Bowman: are scared and under a lot of stress, you know?
Riley Bowman: So I appreciate you take, you know, describing to us how you're like,
Riley Bowman: well, here's the money. And then you're like, oh, wait, I guess I just got to give you it all.
Riley Bowman: Oh, I remember what I was saying. In the news reports, it talked about the perpetrator
Riley Bowman: also taking your FedEx scanner as well. Do you recall that?
Jarrel Cappell: That I don't recall because I thought I had dropped it on the floor.
Jarrel Cappell: I do know in the reports that I've read, they said when they found a car that
Jarrel Cappell: they were driving that it had packages inside of it.
Jarrel Cappell: So apparently they must have been driving around doing stealing packages also.
Jarrel Cappell: But I don't recall. I know they might have reported that he had my FedEx ID
Jarrel Cappell: also because which was in my FedEx ID would have been in my wallet also but
Jarrel Cappell: I don't recall him taking the scanner.
Riley Bowman: Yeah that's fine I just noticed that as I was going back I was pulling up some
Riley Bowman: of these old news stories and I saw that detail
Riley Bowman: and it doesn't matter it's neither here nor there but anyway you hand him this stuff and then what
Jarrel Cappell: So i hand him the stuff and i felt like he was looking around,
Jarrel Cappell: and the very next statement he made was okay come outside the gate boom come
Jarrel Cappell: outside the yard so this particular street.
Jarrel Cappell: In front of the house where I was at, opposite of that house, I believe, is a church.
Jarrel Cappell: Further down, it was an apartment building that they were working on.
Jarrel Cappell: It wasn't occupied at the time.
Jarrel Cappell: And it's a dark block.
Jarrel Cappell: So I'm here, like, come outside the gate. I'm like, oh, this is it right here.
Jarrel Cappell: Like, you want me to come outside the gate?
Jarrel Cappell: I handed you everything. What more can you want?
Jarrel Cappell: And what do you mean come outside the gate? So that's what I think my mind just started going. Okay.
Jarrel Cappell: He might try to shoot me or this is going to be it for me. So I think.
Jarrel Cappell: I knew I was going to comply because you still have that hopefulness that they're
Jarrel Cappell: going to leave you alone.
Jarrel Cappell: So I was I did comply to my benefit he chose to walk in front of me so he turned
Jarrel Cappell: his back and this is where,
Jarrel Cappell: act of self protection came in and I'm like well this is my turn right now to
Jarrel Cappell: actually get to my gun and at that in that moment I think to today it's still a,
Jarrel Cappell: it's a it's a not even an argument it's a thing in the firearms do you carry
Jarrel Cappell: with one in the head or do you not and that particular time i didn't carry with one in the head,
Jarrel Cappell: um so i had to get my gun out um put one in the chamber,
Jarrel Cappell: and that alone was like i hope he doesn't hear this so he did.
Riley Bowman: That so so so he had stepped into the yard you're in the yard where the where
Riley Bowman: you hand him the stuff he's like come out of the yard or out of the gate or
Riley Bowman: whatever and he walks in front of you so his backs to you at this moment yes
Riley Bowman: and this is when you're like okay i'm going to get my gun so you get your gun out
Riley Bowman: and you know you don't have a round chambered in that gun and so you're realizing
Riley Bowman: He's like, I've got to rack the slide on my gun,
Riley Bowman: and you're hoping he doesn't notice.
Jarrel Cappell: Yep. That's another scary part.
Riley Bowman: Oh, snap.
Jarrel Cappell: Yeah.
Riley Bowman: That's super scary.
Jarrel Cappell: It really is. To this day, I still wonder if he – did he hear anything?
Jarrel Cappell: I mean, he didn't react to it, so I'm guessing he didn't hear it, thankfully.
Jarrel Cappell: And I still had I don't maybe it's just the good in me that still felt like,
Jarrel Cappell: he's probably still going to walk away. So I didn't have the gun.
Jarrel Cappell: I didn't keep it in front of me.
Jarrel Cappell: I had put my hand behind my back where it was still in my hand,
Jarrel Cappell: but he wouldn't be able to see it.
Jarrel Cappell: From that point, he made it outside the gate.
Jarrel Cappell: I get to maybe a couple feet in front of the gate, and now he's facing me again.
Jarrel Cappell: And he tells me to come, like, he waves, come here, while the gun is still,
Jarrel Cappell: you know, around maybe his abdomen level pointed at me.
Jarrel Cappell: He says, come here, and that's the moment where the,
Jarrel Cappell: only thing I could say is that I felt a burning sensation in my stomach, and I flinched.
Jarrel Cappell: And I'm here like, I'm shot because it felt it was hot. It felt hot.
Jarrel Cappell: It was fast. It was it felt hot. And with the flinch, I'm like, oh, I'm shot.
Jarrel Cappell: And everything from that point was just, I think,
Jarrel Cappell: instinctual reaction, which I would attribute from the training videos that
Jarrel Cappell: I used to watch in the time at the range.
Jarrel Cappell: Because the very next thing I remember was staring on the back of my gun and seeing him run.
Jarrel Cappell: So I knew at some point, okay, he's like, okay, he's got a gun too.
Jarrel Cappell: He's shooting at me. He's trying to make an exit.
Jarrel Cappell: That was the very next thing.
Jarrel Cappell: I can't say that I remember raising the gun to my Milana sight, aiming.
Jarrel Cappell: Everything just felt like instant at that point. this happened and I was King 2-0.
Jarrel Cappell: He's running. I can't shoot him in the back.
Riley Bowman: Hmm. Right. Okay. So, wow. Uh, so he shoots you, he shoots you in the stomach area,
Jarrel Cappell: Right? Yes.
Riley Bowman: Just, just the one time, just the one shot,
Jarrel Cappell: One shot. Oh, actually I believe that's, that's how many times I got hit.
Jarrel Cappell: Um, according to the detectives, it was about maybe, I think it was like maybe
Jarrel Cappell: 12 shot cases. They found both were nine millimeter.
Jarrel Cappell: Um, so I never found out.
Jarrel Cappell: I do know that in the aftermath, they said he got hit around six to seven times.
Jarrel Cappell: And so I'm like, if he got hit six or seven times, maybe he discharged around
Jarrel Cappell: three or four times and only got hit once.
Jarrel Cappell: So I got, I guess I would say, I don't know if you call it luck or training.
Jarrel Cappell: Because I did take my time at the range serious. Like, let me follow the fundamentals
Jarrel Cappell: to make sure that, you know, I'm putting rounds on target.
Jarrel Cappell: I do see people go to the range, and to them it's just fun. They just shoot,
Jarrel Cappell: and put holes in the paper, no fundamentals or nothing.
Riley Bowman: Yeah. Okay, so I'm backing up just a little bit because I think, I mean,
Riley Bowman: and i can only imagine that in the moment for real like it would have just all happened so fast again
Riley Bowman: and you just mentioned how you don't really even remember bringing the gun up
Riley Bowman: or anything it just next thing you know the gun's in front of your face and you're shooting but um
Riley Bowman: he said come over here or whatever you said he motioned to you and then he shot
Jarrel Cappell: Right then yeah.
Riley Bowman: Like no warning like nothing
Jarrel Cappell: Else nothing else just come.
Riley Bowman: Over here and then
Jarrel Cappell: Bang yeah,
Jarrel Cappell: like i said by happening so fast it was just like,
Jarrel Cappell: all i felt was that burning sensation and me flinching i didn't i didn't see
Jarrel Cappell: a muzzle flash i didn't hear a gunshot which,
Jarrel Cappell: as you know time went by you know through research and you you hear about auditory
Jarrel Cappell: exclusion and circumstances like that where you won't even hear the shot because
Jarrel Cappell: there's so much there's so much going on um and then i guess,
Jarrel Cappell: probably wasn't even didn't even notice the flash because at the time split
Jarrel Cappell: second i'm hit so it's a flinch and then now I'm just reacting to it.
Riley Bowman: Yeah, right. Wow. And so you don't like, you don't
Riley Bowman: So do you think that he shot you now at this point because he saw your gun or heard your gun?
Riley Bowman: Or do you think he'd already made up his mind that he's going to shoot you?
Jarrel Cappell: That, honestly, I don't know.
Riley Bowman: You just don't know? Wow.
Jarrel Cappell: It very well could be. Because like I said, that's one of the main things in
Jarrel Cappell: my mind is I hope he doesn't hear this.
Jarrel Cappell: So it very well could have been people often ask when people hear my story they
Jarrel Cappell: think that oh wow he robbed the truck I'm like no he robbed me,
Jarrel Cappell: then my mind always goes to,
Jarrel Cappell: why didn't you just run up to the truck and drive off with the truck or just,
Jarrel Cappell: hey I'm taking this you stay over here xyz like i'm a fedex driver fedex ups
Jarrel Cappell: post office anybody's like,
Jarrel Cappell: we we don't carry around that much cash on us that's it's personal money that
Jarrel Cappell: we're carrying around on especially this time of year so it's like still to
Jarrel Cappell: this day try to figure out the rationale behind it and like somebody said to me before like,
Jarrel Cappell: you can't put yourself as a rational person it's hard to put yourself in the
Jarrel Cappell: mindset of an irrational person.
Jarrel Cappell: In that moment, he was irrational. Even robbing somebody, committing that crime
Jarrel Cappell: as an irrational thing that they're doing in that moment.
Jarrel Cappell: So like, I think I kind of gave up on trying to figure out why he shot me.
Jarrel Cappell: And like you were asking me earlier too.
Jarrel Cappell: You know what was going on that day i just said i did try my best to to look
Jarrel Cappell: at every street that i turned on seven years later i still can't,
Jarrel Cappell: figure out was he already on the street um this did he pull up behind me right
Jarrel Cappell: when i grabbed the package to run it in the gate,
Jarrel Cappell: because i feel like he came out of nowhere i mean it's 7 p.m in this episode
Jarrel Cappell: was dark but i'm like where did he come from and i mean i'll probably never
Jarrel Cappell: know but answer but it's like to this,
Jarrel Cappell: day that's the question mark where did he come from that fast like because i
Jarrel Cappell: in time i left my truck to that door and i was turning back it did not go past
Jarrel Cappell: a minute it was literally i would say,
Jarrel Cappell: seconds, maybe 30 seconds almost.
Riley Bowman: Yeah. Wow. And so you don't remember how many rounds you actually fired.
Riley Bowman: You know you fired several at the very least.
Riley Bowman: You told me that as far as you know, the investigation showed you hit him six or seven times.
Riley Bowman: Good on you, by the way. Like seriously, bravo. Thank you. That's excellent.
Riley Bowman: Um and he he takes off running and you did say that i thought this was a key thing that you
Riley Bowman: at some point you realize the gun like you're basically looking at the back
Riley Bowman: of your gun you're shooting at him and you realize he is now facing away from
Riley Bowman: you running away making his escape
Riley Bowman: and you're like oh you know it's time to be done shooting like i don't want
Riley Bowman: to be shooting him in the back right yes
Riley Bowman: Cool. Cool. And according to reports, at least, we know that he runs off,
Riley Bowman: apparently gets back to his vehicle and he was not alone. Right.
Riley Bowman: There was somebody else with him.
Jarrel Cappell: Yeah, he wasn't alone. And I didn't know this until this happened.
Jarrel Cappell: I believe it happened on the week.
Jarrel Cappell: I woke up in the hospital on a Friday. And it probably wasn't until a few days
Jarrel Cappell: after that that I found out he actually had an accomplice and he had him in custody.
Jarrel Cappell: So it was two of them. I'm like, wow, the whole time I'm going through this
Jarrel Cappell: situation focused on this one person.
Jarrel Cappell: But the whole time it was two. But I think the conference was parked in a driveway
Jarrel Cappell: or an alley waiting for him to get back to the car.
Riley Bowman: That's basically the getaway driver, so to speak, and he's the strong arm, so to speak.
Riley Bowman: Got it. And you mentioned that they found him wounded multiple times somewhere
Riley Bowman: nearby there in a vehicle with packages, with your stuff that he had stolen.
Riley Bowman: And I think reports said that he was transported to the hospital and he was pronounced dead. Um,
Riley Bowman: we're going to talk about aftermath
Riley Bowman: here in a few minutes. So I got some questions about that for sure.
Riley Bowman: Uh, it did also show in some reports I found that, that there were 11 spent
Riley Bowman: casings that were found. Your memory is pretty good. I think you said 12.
Riley Bowman: Um, and, uh, you know, some of those are presumably his and some were yours.
Riley Bowman: Uh, and so to your point, he, he may very, you don't know for sure,
Riley Bowman: but he likely fired a few shots at the very least, but only one struck you.
Riley Bowman: Where exactly did that strike you?
Jarrel Cappell: It was my lower abdomen to the left of my belly button. So it was, yeah.
Jarrel Cappell: And it hit diagonal. So it went through, it hit my intestine.
Jarrel Cappell: And then on the way out, it fractured a vertebrae on the outside of my,
Jarrel Cappell: towards the outside of my spine.
Riley Bowman: Ah, so when you say diagonal, so it's a little bit left of your belly button.
Riley Bowman: And so you're kind of turned a little bit of an angle so that that bullet path,
Riley Bowman: as it went towards your back, it got closer to your spine.
Jarrel Cappell: Yes.
Riley Bowman: Okay. And it exited, you said?
Jarrel Cappell: Exited, yep. Oh, dang. Through and through and from the looks of it,
Jarrel Cappell: I can't remember the first time I seen them, seeing the actual exit wound in the hospital.
Jarrel Cappell: Lucky for me, I don't think he was carrying self-defense rounds because the
Jarrel Cappell: exit rule was just as small as the entry rule. So I'm like, that was probably
Jarrel Cappell: another blessing in disguise right there.
Riley Bowman: Yeah, for sure. Now, we did actually have a question coming in from a live viewer here. Project 1868
Riley Bowman: says, he wants to know what you were carrying. So what gun were you carrying?
Riley Bowman: What holster you did mention you're carrying about four o'clock and then he
Riley Bowman: asked also what ammo you were carrying
Jarrel Cappell: Um i said this is i'm probably gonna get some kind of scrutiny for this i was
Jarrel Cappell: carrying a taurus g2c that's all right which there you go it's it's mixed it's
Jarrel Cappell: mixed reviews about that gun but,
Jarrel Cappell: i will say this uh on the weekends i was doing some construction work with my,
Jarrel Cappell: wife's cousin's husband.
Jarrel Cappell: I don't think I had cleaned that gun in a while. You're looking at the dust
Jarrel Cappell: from working in construction and then FedEx truck is also dusty too.
Jarrel Cappell: The tourists definitely did what it was supposed to do.
Jarrel Cappell: The holster I had, I believe it was,
Jarrel Cappell: they didn't give me back my holster. I think I had a Vetter holster or if it
Jarrel Cappell: wasn't Vetter it was maybe We The People.
Jarrel Cappell: One of those two companies. It was a Kydex holster.
Riley Bowman: It was a Kydex holster.
Jarrel Cappell: And then I was,
Jarrel Cappell: was I carrying federal,
Jarrel Cappell: HSTs?
Jarrel Cappell: Here's the thing.
Jarrel Cappell: Right before that incident happened, my brother also carries.
Jarrel Cappell: And I had just recently swapped in ammo with him.
Jarrel Cappell: If I wasn't carrying Hornady Critical Defense, it might have been Federal HSDs.
Riley Bowman: Okay. Well, Critical Defense, it's not a bad round.
Riley Bowman: And HSDs is a good round. So either way, you got the job done.
Riley Bowman: Yeah. So then the second half of Project 1868's question is,
Riley Bowman: have you changed any of those things since that incident?
Riley Bowman: In other words, what are you carrying now in holster and ammo and gun?
Jarrel Cappell: So I think what I –,
Jarrel Cappell: even though i still have the nine millimeter in in in my um safe i went back
Jarrel Cappell: to my first gun which was a ruger sr 40 only because of the confusion that we had that day,
Jarrel Cappell: both nine millimeters who shot what i say you know i'm going i'm carrying the 40.
Jarrel Cappell: God forbid it happens again but it's going to be a difference and i've always
Jarrel Cappell: carried um the critical defense or is it the critical it's one of the the horn of the um.
Riley Bowman: Yeah critical defense and critical
Jarrel Cappell: Duty yeah yeah but it is time for me to um change out my um my carry ammo,
Jarrel Cappell: and i do it's been a while but i have to dive back into youtube world to see
Jarrel Cappell: the comparison videos on which round you know gives you the best um,
Jarrel Cappell: results so i always try to do my homework on that kind of stuff and then um,
Jarrel Cappell: i am contemplating changing carrying carry carry weapons tools,
Jarrel Cappell: it's it's in my mind because i said of that discrepancy but i kind of want to
Jarrel Cappell: go back to a nine millimeter went to carry but so i'm going to be doing some
Jarrel Cappell: homework soon on that yeah Well.
Riley Bowman: Let's get you an HK.
Jarrel Cappell: Listen, I heard you talk when you was talking about them earlier,
Jarrel Cappell: because I was like, the last time I really looked in the HK was definitely the VP9.
Jarrel Cappell: And I do know they had made some changes because prior to, I believe the magazine
Jarrel Cappell: release was on the trigger guard in the earlier models. But I think they do
Jarrel Cappell: have the American variant with the button release, right?
Riley Bowman: Yeah, they do have a, they call it the B model. So like a VP9-B is a push button
Riley Bowman: mag release, which I'm like you.
Riley Bowman: I'm an American. I like having the buttons to push.
Riley Bowman: They don't have the B models available yet in the newer A1 series of VP9s,
Riley Bowman: but I do hope that will come eventually here soon.
Riley Bowman: But you can get the older VP9s with a push button.
Jarrel Cappell: And what about the other one you said you carried? You said the CC?
Riley Bowman: CC9. Yeah, that's their little, you know, their kind of micro-compact size gun.
Riley Bowman: And it's a great gun. It carries really nicely. It's small, compact,
Riley Bowman: lightweight, easy to conceal.
Riley Bowman: Shoots good, too. And that one, and then actually the unique thing about the
Riley Bowman: CC9 is that is the first gun
Riley Bowman: that is designed, engineered, uh, made and built, uh, all in the U S by HK.
Riley Bowman: Uh, so that was designed and built by their U S team.
Riley Bowman: And, uh, so it's got a push button mag release. Okay. So, uh, yeah, yeah.
Riley Bowman: CC9 might be a good, good one to maybe take a look at and give a try. I I'm a big fan of it.
Riley Bowman: I mean, I was already a fan before, uh, they, they were sponsors officially,
Riley Bowman: but, uh, of course I'm doubly so now.
Jarrel Cappell: I'll probably definitely have
Jarrel Cappell: to go into the homework tonight and look at the CC9 because I think...
Jarrel Cappell: I do own a CZP10C. I know it's still bigger than the microcompacts.
Jarrel Cappell: Currently shooting wise that's my favorite gun that i that i own but at the same time like,
Jarrel Cappell: do i want to carry around a six seven hundred dollar gun and then god forbid
Jarrel Cappell: something happens even though i'm alive like you gotta hope and wait to get it back this is why like i,
Jarrel Cappell: i probably would never carry like a 1911 because i'm like some of those guns
Jarrel Cappell: are like if it's a hundred dollars i'm like,
Jarrel Cappell: what if i never get that back yeah.
Riley Bowman: I hear you i hear you i would say uh it's a small price to pay in the
Jarrel Cappell: Overall yeah for your life right yeah that's true.
Riley Bowman: Yeah you know carry the one that's the right choice is the way i think of it
Riley Bowman: yeah and uh you know because meaning that the one that gives you the best chance
Riley Bowman: of making at home in one piece so anyway uh
Riley Bowman: and then you're still carrying inside waistband like four o'clock
Jarrel Cappell: Area i'm appendix now appendix and i have done it before but at that particular
Jarrel Cappell: time working and sitting driving carrying packages it wasn't too comfortable but,
Jarrel Cappell: i forced myself to become comfortable with it so that's all i carry now is on appendix um,
Jarrel Cappell: you know i drive fire and train at home and for me it's the fastest draw that,
Jarrel Cappell: that you can have so it's like i want to put myself in the best position to
Jarrel Cappell: survive god forbid you ever have to be in a situation with me.
Riley Bowman: Yeah i'm with you there i've been carrying appendix now for
Riley Bowman: eight years nine years eight eight ish or so and uh yeah uh
Riley Bowman: hey if we can help you out as well with uh getting a ksg armory holster which
Riley Bowman: is our holster uh company uh in fact got a guy just through a couple of walls
Riley Bowman: here making holsters right now uh
Riley Bowman: let us know happy to help you out with any holsters you need.
Riley Bowman: If we can make it for your particular gun, we would definitely do that.
Riley Bowman: So I appreciate you answering the questions and thank you Project 1868 for tuning
Riley Bowman: in and thank you for the questions.
Riley Bowman: Real quick, we're going to take a little break and we're going to start transitioning
Riley Bowman: and talking about what happened and what came after this violent incident that
Riley Bowman: fortunately you came on top of.
Riley Bowman: But before we do that, we're going to talk about our second sponsor, which is CCW Safe.
Riley Bowman: And this will actually kind of lead me into a question I'm going to ask you, Jarrell.
Riley Bowman: But our other episode sponsor here today is CCW Safe, which is our preferred
Riley Bowman: choice and partner for self-defense coverage.
Riley Bowman: So the aftermath, I mean, here's the thing, guys. The fight doesn't end when
Riley Bowman: the threat stops for a lot of people.
Riley Bowman: There's still going to be potentially legal issues, financial issues.
Riley Bowman: There could be all kinds of things that happen in the aftermath of an incident.
Riley Bowman: And we're going to hear in a moment from Jarrell about what his aftermath was like.
Riley Bowman: But we have seen, we've talked to people that have had both positive and also
Riley Bowman: very negative experiences in the aftermath of a self-defense shooting.
Riley Bowman: You want to have the best team backing you up in those critical moments that
Riley Bowman: come after a self-defense incident.
Riley Bowman: And CCW Safe stands at the ready to do just that. We've known these guys for years.
Riley Bowman: We know that the owners of the company personally and know that they stand behind
Riley Bowman: their product and stand behind their members.
Riley Bowman: They have proven that again and again through a number of incidents where they
Riley Bowman: are right there with their quick response team to support, guide, answer questions,
Riley Bowman: get an attorney to you right away.
Riley Bowman: Make sure you have all the tools and resources you need to make sure that the
Riley Bowman: aftermath goes i would say as smoothly but actually i'd say more smoothly
Riley Bowman: than the actual critical incident itself
Riley Bowman: and that's what a professional team like ccwsafe can provide so ccwsafe.com
Riley Bowman: to learn more guardian nation members of ours guardian nation members can save
Riley Bowman: i think it's 20 20 discount off CCWSAFE membership.
Riley Bowman: So you might want to look into Guardian Nation as well.
Riley Bowman: But please consider joining CCWSAFE because that's who I trust and believe in
Riley Bowman: to back me up in the aftermath of a critical incident, such as one like this.
Riley Bowman: So that's actually the first question, Jarrell. We'll talk some of the specifics
Riley Bowman: about what happened, but did you have any kind of concealed carry or self-defense
Riley Bowman: coverage or insurance or anything like that when this happened to you?
Jarrel Cappell: No, I didn't. And I still don't.
Jarrel Cappell: And I do, too, definitely. Because I have... I think I did dedicate some time
Jarrel Cappell: before to looking into the different companies, but that is something that is on my radar because,
Jarrel Cappell: I count this incident as...
Jarrel Cappell: I say I'm lucky. I do think because I was in a FedEx uniform,
Jarrel Cappell: it saved me from going through, you know, that storm, that legal storm,
Jarrel Cappell: let alone the fact that, okay, cool, you have my ID, you know I'm at work,
Jarrel Cappell: but, you know, also civilly.
Jarrel Cappell: And I'm happy you asked that question because I'm not sure about how many events
Jarrel Cappell: you talk about that go on in the media currently.
Jarrel Cappell: I see a lot of people's emotions and opinions in the comments section.
Jarrel Cappell: And I try to dissect every shooting from a standpoint, not only legally,
Jarrel Cappell: but it's like you have to realize that a person can not only face criminal charges,
Jarrel Cappell: they can be sued civilly.
Jarrel Cappell: And, I mean, like, you always want to be in the best standing for your defense.
Jarrel Cappell: So, I definitely have to get on the ball and secure some self-defense insurance coverage.
Riley Bowman: Yeah. Awesome. I appreciate you, uh, honestly, uh, uh, sharing that with us.
Riley Bowman: And, uh, if we can be of any assistance to you, uh, in navigating that, let us know.
Riley Bowman: Um, and, and for folks that, yeah, we do have CCW Safe as a sponsor of the podcast,
Riley Bowman: of course, but, uh, we've had a resource on our website for years now.
Riley Bowman: We try to keep it up to date.
Riley Bowman: Uh, you can go to concealedcarry.com forward slash insurance.
Riley Bowman: So concealedcarry.com forward slash insurance and there's a chart and it compares
Riley Bowman: all the major programs from the different companies
Riley Bowman: uh in that chart so people you know it's just a free tool that we've
Riley Bowman: put together for for years like i said now uh to make it easy for people to
Riley Bowman: make the right decision for them as they're you know kind of shopping all these
Riley Bowman: different programs that are out there we we personally believe ccw saves the best but uh
Riley Bowman: but there's a lot of different programs and options out there,
Riley Bowman: and your particular needs might be different than somebody else's,
Riley Bowman: so you can go through that comparison chart and make the right decision for you. So,
Riley Bowman: all right, Jarrell, you fire back at this guy, and he scrambles away. What do you do next?
Jarrel Cappell: My next thought is, like I said, the first thing was, I can't shoot this guy
Jarrel Cappell: in the back, but I'm saying, And he's gone.
Jarrel Cappell: I don't want to be in this situation. I'm gone. So I turn to the right.
Jarrel Cappell: I see my truck. So I just start running to my truck.
Jarrel Cappell: And as I'm running, my brain is functioning. And I'm thinking of all the videos.
Jarrel Cappell: It dawns on me, you're leaving the scene of a crime. So now I'm like,
Jarrel Cappell: okay, at least if I'm driving away to get to safety, I got to call 911.
Jarrel Cappell: So I'm on the phone with 911.
Jarrel Cappell: I get to my truck. Well, I get to my truck.
Jarrel Cappell: I realize, luckily, I remember in the panic where my phone is at.
Jarrel Cappell: So I get to my phone, and one of the first things that came to mind was,
Jarrel Cappell: okay, I'm shot. I didn't look, so I'm automatically assuming that I'm bleeding out profusely.
Jarrel Cappell: So I say to myself, well, if I could control my breathing, I could probably
Jarrel Cappell: slow my heart rate down, which would have pumped less and probably control how
Jarrel Cappell: much blood I'm losing, right?
Jarrel Cappell: Like, I think that allowed my brain to function even clearer because when I
Jarrel Cappell: got on the phone with 9-1-1 operator, another thing kicks into my frame of mind is like, well,
Jarrel Cappell: it always seems like when you call 9-1-1, they ask a bunch of questions and
Jarrel Cappell: they just keep you talking.
Jarrel Cappell: My mindset was that I am going to control this conversation.
Jarrel Cappell: I'm going to give you everything you need to know. I don't want to keep talking.
Jarrel Cappell: As I'm driving. So I think I got in the truck.
Jarrel Cappell: I pull off. So the block that I was on, directly in front of me,
Jarrel Cappell: there's homes. So you have to make a left or make a right.
Jarrel Cappell: But on the other side of those homes is an Acme parking lot.
Jarrel Cappell: So I believe I made the left, made the very first right, right onto the street
Jarrel Cappell: and drove to the Acme while I'm talking to the dispatch. And I think I very
Jarrel Cappell: clearly stated I gave her my name.
Jarrel Cappell: I gave her the address where the incident happened at. I told her I worked for FedEx.
Jarrel Cappell: Told her I had been robbed.
Jarrel Cappell: I told her what the suspect was wearing, told him that I was shot.
Jarrel Cappell: And this is, I mean, you can give me your opinion on it. So I know a lot of
Jarrel Cappell: people, as we were talking about the self-defense coverage, I said to her that I returned fire.
Jarrel Cappell: Because that's all I knew at the time, I returned fire. I didn't know if he
Jarrel Cappell: was hit or not, but I wanted that to be known for the authorities.
Jarrel Cappell: Like, hey, when you get here, just know that I'm shot.
Jarrel Cappell: He's possibly shot I'm a firearms on a FedEx driver so by the time I got to
Jarrel Cappell: the Acme which might have been,
Jarrel Cappell: maybe I wouldn't even say it was a minute because it was a car coming in the
Jarrel Cappell: intersection and I was just on my horn the whole time like listen I'm not stopping
Jarrel Cappell: I gotta make this turn I'm trying to get to my head,
Jarrel Cappell: so time I pulled into the Acme I think when I stopped I might have put my head
Jarrel Cappell: on the steering wheel for like
Jarrel Cappell: maybe a second and then I instantly seen sirens and I saw past the cops.
Riley Bowman: Oh, that's great. It's not always they're able to make a quick response,
Riley Bowman: but, uh, it's nice when they do.
Riley Bowman: I'll bet you were feeling relieved at that point. I definitely,
Riley Bowman: definitely was knowing help was,
Jarrel Cappell: Uh, coming. Definitely was.
Riley Bowman: Yeah. That's gotta be scary. Not knowing the extent of your injuries and not
Riley Bowman: knowing if you know you have seconds or minutes to live if you're going to bleed
Riley Bowman: out like you said you might have been doing and so
Riley Bowman: did you ever lose consciousness
Riley Bowman: you know during all this from that point onward till you got help there or at
Riley Bowman: the hospital at the hospital
Jarrel Cappell: I lost consciousness I think twice but throughout the whole ordeal Hello.
Jarrel Cappell: I was alert because it was in my mind for one of the first things I said to
Jarrel Cappell: myself also was that you got to put it in your mind. I'm going to survive this.
Jarrel Cappell: So I feel like I already put that on my back. I'm going to survive this.
Jarrel Cappell: So when the cops came, I stood up.
Jarrel Cappell: I was trying to be as active as possible. They put me in the police car to take
Jarrel Cappell: me to the hospital. I guess the ambulance is going to take too long.
Jarrel Cappell: Um do recall a police officer asking me where my firearm was and i pointed to
Jarrel Cappell: the four o'clock position and back to training.
Riley Bowman: Yeah so you had reholstered
Jarrel Cappell: At some and honestly i don't recall doing that and i was like i said this is
Jarrel Cappell: how important training is because it just became muscle memory i'm like i don't
Jarrel Cappell: recall reholstering that weapon at all i thought i was like let me get out of
Jarrel Cappell: here, but it was on my head.
Jarrel Cappell: He did ask me how many rounds that I discharged, and I was like, I don't know.
Jarrel Cappell: I said, listen, the gun holds 12, so whatever's left in the magazine,
Jarrel Cappell: that's the answer right there to how many rounds I shot.
Jarrel Cappell: So he just took the gun, he took me in the car, and drove me to the hospital,
Jarrel Cappell: which was maybe seven minutes away, I would guess, with his siren on.
Jarrel Cappell: But it felt, it felt, it felt longer because as you mentioned, feeling safe.
Jarrel Cappell: The moment I got to the police car, I did feel safe. I'm okay,
Jarrel Cappell: cool. I'm on the way to the hospital.
Jarrel Cappell: That's kind of when the adrenaline dump went away. It's like, okay, you're safe now.
Jarrel Cappell: Now there's discomfort in my abdomen kicks in. And I'm like,
Jarrel Cappell: I mean, I wouldn't say it was pain.
Jarrel Cappell: It was a whole lot of discomfort like laying back there in the cruiser to the hospital.
Riley Bowman: Well, I've sat in those back seats of cruisers. They're not made to be comfortable, that's for sure.
Jarrel Cappell: And I was laying down in it. Like, I think at one point my foot was actually
Jarrel Cappell: hanging out the window because I was trying to be as comfortable as possible.
Jarrel Cappell: And this is where I was telling you, like, I'm just, like, calm, chill.
Jarrel Cappell: And I always try to do the right thing. Most people probably will ask me,
Jarrel Cappell: what the heck is on your mind? I think I text my wife.
Jarrel Cappell: I've been shot but then at the same time i text my boss hey i've been shot your truck is here,
Jarrel Cappell: i know people probably wouldn't i don't care about letting you know where your
Jarrel Cappell: truck is at i'm sure i'm trying to get to the hospital but i was trying to let
Jarrel Cappell: him know your truck is here i've been shot i'm hurt so you know at least what's going on,
Jarrel Cappell: wow it's times i'm telling the story and i'm here like i can't believe i did
Jarrel Cappell: all that and i expect my brain thought about everything like that so wow.
Riley Bowman: So you made the 911 call uh police arrived uh there was no question when they
Riley Bowman: arrived like they they knew what they were arriving to like they knew that you
Riley Bowman: were the victim there was no question as far as who you were
Jarrel Cappell: To them um i think the only question was before he put me in the car, he asked me if I was shot.
Jarrel Cappell: And he said he didn't see anything. So,
Jarrel Cappell: i was wearing a back brace so when i once i lift up my fedex shirt and i um,
Jarrel Cappell: took the velcro off my back brace i showed him he's like oh yeah you're shot
Jarrel Cappell: so i don't know how bad it looked i'm guessing if he responded that quick it
Jarrel Cappell: must have he probably could have clearly seen but i i do remember tightening back up my,
Jarrel Cappell: back brace i guess in my mind i'm like it's going to apply pressure to the wound
Jarrel Cappell: like it may help me in some way shape or form that was just how my mom was thinking
Jarrel Cappell: like i said i've always watched those videos and still not done with my training
Jarrel Cappell: i do want to take classes on,
Jarrel Cappell: you know trauma classes on stopping the bleed knowing how to apply a tourniquet and,
Jarrel Cappell: what you call those look um i forgot you call those uh.
Jarrel Cappell: Not the compression kits the um the one for like when you shot in the chest
Jarrel Cappell: or so the chest seals sorry,
Jarrel Cappell: I retain a lot of knowledge so in my mind it was just tighten this back brace
Jarrel Cappell: back up and let it hopefully this is a whole impression on it but that was pretty
Jarrel Cappell: much the only question I think the 9-1-1 dispatch,
Jarrel Cappell: by me trying to articulate everything so clearly I think that told them everything we needed it.
Riley Bowman: Yeah, that was really, I'll just say, I'm quite impressed with how you seem
Riley Bowman: to have handled yourself through all of that.
Riley Bowman: The communication aspect, you know, that after response, that's quite remarkable.
Riley Bowman: And you would attribute that to, I mean, some of the training,
Riley Bowman: the content that you'd watched and reviewed over the years, is that that was a help to you?
Riley Bowman: Is that how you see it okay that's that's awesome
Riley Bowman: that is awesome i'm gonna by the way we're done i'm gonna text uh john korea
Riley Bowman: and i'm gonna say hey by the way i just did this awesome interview with jorrell
Riley Bowman: and uh he gave you some kudos dude and you should probably know that
Riley Bowman: i'm sure john would appreciate that um
Riley Bowman: how did your how did your boss uh react to all this and did you know Did he
Riley Bowman: support you through all of this and afterwards?
Riley Bowman: What did the aftermath go like as far as with your job?
Jarrel Cappell: Yeah, he was definitely supportive. I think my wife said he actually was at
Jarrel Cappell: the hospital the night of because once I arrived, they reeled me into triage, x-rayed me.
Jarrel Cappell: I think cats gave me too, but then gave me some medication before surgery.
Jarrel Cappell: But she said he was out there in the waiting room.
Jarrel Cappell: So only person I seen that night was my wife before I went to surgery.
Jarrel Cappell: He came to the hospital after I came out of surgery.
Jarrel Cappell: And, you know, even after he was still basically held my job so I can come back anytime.
Jarrel Cappell: So he was definitely supportive.
Riley Bowman: That's great. That's great.
Riley Bowman: And since I'm on that topic, you don't work for FedEx any longer or for this contractor.
Riley Bowman: Was that just a voluntary separation that you made at some point later on,
Riley Bowman: or was this incident a factor in you eventually not continuing to work at FedEx anymore?
Jarrel Cappell: At that point, because when I woke up, I already had representation as far as
Jarrel Cappell: an attorney and then a workman's comp attorney also.
Jarrel Cappell: So my attorney actually requested more time for me to be away.
Jarrel Cappell: So I think workman's comp had paid me out for a few years, and that's when I had cut ties.
Jarrel Cappell: But, you know, it was no problem. I would have went back, but I'm happy I took my lawyer's advice.
Jarrel Cappell: Because it took a while. I definitely needed the counseling and the therapy,
Jarrel Cappell: to move past the incident because for a long time, you know,
Jarrel Cappell: I would still – it took me a while to get comfortable being outside again,
Jarrel Cappell: after dark, even in the daytime.
Jarrel Cappell: Sometimes the PTSD, you don't like people approaching you or being too close
Jarrel Cappell: to you because you don't know their intent.
Jarrel Cappell: So like I said, that time that I took to not, you know, return back to that environment.
Jarrel Cappell: And even today when I see FedEx drivers and stuff, it kind of gives me flashbacks
Jarrel Cappell: to like, wow, you can be so locked in the work that, you know,
Jarrel Cappell: you can easily be harmed, you know, so.
Riley Bowman: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I appreciate you sharing that with me.
Riley Bowman: So you said you had an attorney. I mean, not just a workers' comp attorney,
Riley Bowman: but you had another attorney to advise you in the aftermath of all this?
Riley Bowman: How did that come to be?
Jarrel Cappell: Well, my wife, one of her friends is an attorney. And so she called her.
Jarrel Cappell: Oh, good. That might have been the same night or the next night because I went
Jarrel Cappell: into surgery that same night.
Jarrel Cappell: And I woke up that Friday morning. So I'm guessing it was that Thursday she contacted her friend.
Jarrel Cappell: Um, I guess she already knew because I shot somebody and he didn't survive that
Jarrel Cappell: I can face, you know, legal ramifications.
Jarrel Cappell: So she had, her friend reached out to another attorney that she was close to.
Jarrel Cappell: He's a criminal defense attorney and here in Philly, he, he's actually been
Jarrel Cappell: in the news plenty of times.
Jarrel Cappell: You know, they asked him for his opinion on a lot of cases. So he took my case,
Jarrel Cappell: just off the strength of he said he felt connected to me because he used to
Jarrel Cappell: be a police officer and he had also been shot.
Jarrel Cappell: So he felt connected, just took my case, seen me in the hospital.
Jarrel Cappell: You know ultimately he didn't really he didn't have to do anything because,
Jarrel Cappell: he said to me if you're not in handcuffs in this hospital and they're going to allow you,
Jarrel Cappell: to go home and then come interview you in your home I was in there for two weeks they came,
Jarrel Cappell: about a week after I came out or so to interview me he was like They're probably
Jarrel Cappell: not looking at you Anywhere criminally and what not They just wanted to have
Jarrel Cappell: the pieces To the story for that night Which was the case.
Riley Bowman: Yeah. I mean, as far as, from my point of view, it seems like this was relatively,
Riley Bowman: you know, as they might say, cut and dry or black and white. You know what I mean?
Riley Bowman: It probably couldn't have gone much better for you as far as that's concerned,
Riley Bowman: which is good. Not every shooting goes that way, does it?
Jarrel Cappell: Not at all.
Riley Bowman: Yeah. Now that's awesome though, that your wife was on top of things and,
Riley Bowman: and, and made arrangements and made all the connections to, to get you some legal representation.
Riley Bowman: That's super important. Even like, and we've tried to stress this to our audience
Riley Bowman: before that, even if you're in an incident and you feel like you are in the
Riley Bowman: right, that you've done everything right and correct,
Riley Bowman: uh, you still want to get legal representation because, um,
Riley Bowman: even when you think that you're in the right, you're in the right.
Riley Bowman: Think you did everything right understand you got these other people these investigators
Riley Bowman: they are not you they don't see what you saw they all they have to look at is
Riley Bowman: whatever the evidence shows and sometimes evidence is not
Riley Bowman: either either there's not a lot of evidence and you know so therefore there's
Riley Bowman: not a lot to tell a story from or maybe evidence shows you know something that
Riley Bowman: they interpret a different way or whatever, right?
Riley Bowman: And so it's a good idea to have legal representation no matter what.
Riley Bowman: This is a critical situation for any self-defense-minded individual that's been
Riley Bowman: through an incident like this to make sure that
Riley Bowman: you got somebody guiding you through this process, that you're not answering
Riley Bowman: questions that you shouldn't be answering
Riley Bowman: or answering yet um and so i'm glad you had that that's good that was that was really really good um
Riley Bowman: so you just mentioned you had surgery maybe or maybe you even had more than
Riley Bowman: one did you have just one surgery or was there others it was just
Jarrel Cappell: One surgery from that night and let me just piggyback off what you said too
Jarrel Cappell: with even we're having everything you may think you're good with your attorney and.
Jarrel Cappell: Not having you answer questions you should have been answering.
Jarrel Cappell: My cousin, he's a retired corrections officer.
Jarrel Cappell: And, you know, as we was talking, there's one thing that I learned about corrections
Jarrel Cappell: and law enforcement is that in the aftermath of a shooting,
Jarrel Cappell: usually with police officers, they don't make any statements or release any
Jarrel Cappell: statement from the officer involved in the shooting they usually talk to the other officers because,
Jarrel Cappell: under high stress sometimes your your mind creates things that weren't were
Jarrel Cappell: not even there like the entire time this happened i don't know why i thought there was a.
Jarrel Cappell: Shrub or tree in this person's yard right it wasn't no tree there but my brain
Jarrel Cappell: literally tells me to this day there was a tree there and I had a little bit
Jarrel Cappell: of a cover, but it wasn't there.
Jarrel Cappell: Um, so that's another important thing too with the attorney,
Jarrel Cappell: but go back to the, um, uh, question I did have, um, it was,
Jarrel Cappell: I think it was pretty much one surgery.
Jarrel Cappell: They opened me up, um, sewed up my intestine.
Jarrel Cappell: And I think my wife was saying they you know put the gauze,
Jarrel Cappell: in my um abdomen to absorb all the blood and they I think they left me open
Jarrel Cappell: to monitor me like a whole night and then um I was in the hospital prior to that my spine,
Jarrel Cappell: it healed on its own they didn't even have to do anything with that so it was
Jarrel Cappell: just one surgery that's good thankfully.
Riley Bowman: Good. Yeah, that's great. But as you mentioned, you were in the hospital for
Riley Bowman: about two weeks. So you still had quite a bit of recovery to do there.
Riley Bowman: And then I imagine some, you know, at home after that, too.
Riley Bowman: You mentioned a moment ago, and so let's kind of shift gears a little bit.
Riley Bowman: And as we get close to wrapping this up, you caught my attention when you said
Riley Bowman: you talked about your personal trauma and mental health following this as well.
Riley Bowman: And some of the healing that needed to take place with that as well.
Riley Bowman: Not just the physical healing that you obviously had to go through.
Riley Bowman: Uh and we're so glad that you know that you healed uh i presume fully from your physical injuries but
Riley Bowman: could you share a little bit more about what you experienced personally mentally
Riley Bowman: emotionally uh could you just expand on that a little bit i think that's really
Riley Bowman: good for people to hear all
Jarrel Cappell: Right so for me it was,
Jarrel Cappell: the the mental aspect of it um i'm telling you where part of the mental aspect started,
Jarrel Cappell: actually started in the triage room because I'm not sure if every city and state
Jarrel Cappell: have the same protocol, but I do know that normally,
Jarrel Cappell: they try not to bring criminal and victim to the same hospital.
Jarrel Cappell: Believe it or not, when they found him, he was in the same triage room as me.
Jarrel Cappell: Literally, it was a half a wall dividing us. Remember you asked me if I had lost consciousness.
Jarrel Cappell: It was the second time I lost consciousness because I was, I'm telling you,
Jarrel Cappell: I was fighting to stay awake, stay alert, stay out of the light.
Jarrel Cappell: Like they say, your body just gives out. I woke up the first time.
Jarrel Cappell: Then the second time I was surrounded by police officers and I heard commotion
Jarrel Cappell: on my left hand side with them trying to revive the suspect.
Jarrel Cappell: And then at the same time, I'm being I was being commended by police officers,
Jarrel Cappell: like, hey, that's him over here.
Jarrel Cappell: And, you know, pretty much he's not going to make it like pretty much like a pat on the back.
Jarrel Cappell: But in that moment, I'm laying on this bed and I'm like, this is not a proud
Jarrel Cappell: moment for me. Like I didn't have no intention of going through this tonight.
Jarrel Cappell: I wanted to deliver packages, go home to my family.
Jarrel Cappell: But you know being in the hospital hearing nurses tell you that listen.
Jarrel Cappell: You don't understand how often a criminal is being taken care of and the victim
Jarrel Cappell: is dead they said it feels good to know that the good the good guy survived
Jarrel Cappell: every so often right so that was the very first part so i had to.
Jarrel Cappell: I had that and then coming home and for me it was more so like just the thought of,
Jarrel Cappell: this incident and oh my god it can happen again so i was a little bit paranoid
Jarrel Cappell: like i honestly thought every time i walked out my house there would be somebody
Jarrel Cappell: waiting at the corner just waiting to mug me again but,
Jarrel Cappell: therapy definitely helps with that a lot so i will always i would tell anybody
Jarrel Cappell: like you go through a traumatic situation seek counseling because you may not
Jarrel Cappell: I think it's affecting you,
Jarrel Cappell: but it does affect you. Me, I think because.
Jarrel Cappell: I felt remorse for him. I actually, the only thing, the only negative feeling
Jarrel Cappell: I have towards that night and the suspect is, why didn't you just walk away
Jarrel Cappell: with the money that I gave you? Like, it didn't have to go this far.
Jarrel Cappell: I felt, you know, pity on the family. Like, this is the holiday season.
Jarrel Cappell: Now you have to deal with burying a loved one.
Jarrel Cappell: But like I said you have to deal with all those emotions,
Jarrel Cappell: and you know going through therapy it helped me out I had a one on one therapist and then,
Jarrel Cappell: you know here in Pennsylvania Drexel is one of the major cities here,
Jarrel Cappell: Drexel also had a program for victims of violent crimes which is because it
Jarrel Cappell: was COVID it was done over the phone but it's in a group setting and pretty
Jarrel Cappell: much except for one of the counselors,
Jarrel Cappell: he had been there before too.
Jarrel Cappell: But everybody else has been through a situation similar.
Jarrel Cappell: So actually talking to other people that has been through similar situations
Jarrel Cappell: and being able to bounce off each other, that was very helpful to me.
Jarrel Cappell: Wow. I actually wanted to continue that too. No lie, I really wanted to continue,
Jarrel Cappell: in being able to help others when it comes to the recovery process of just dealing with that.
Riley Bowman: Well, I appreciate you talking about all this with us here today and sharing
Riley Bowman: your story and your feelings and everything, because I hope that this is helpful
Riley Bowman: for others out there listening or watching
Riley Bowman: and vice versa.
Riley Bowman: I hope that, you know, I certainly wouldn't want you to go through anything,
Riley Bowman: you know, negatively, emotionally as part of doing this podcast,
Riley Bowman: but I hope this is also just part of your journey too.
Riley Bowman: So I've kept you for 90 minutes now, which is a bit longer than I intended,
Riley Bowman: but this is just such a great story. I mean, frankly, I don't know if you realize
Riley Bowman: it, but this is just a very compelling story, and I am so thankful for your time.
Riley Bowman: If someone listening carries every day but has never truly imagined being in
Riley Bowman: an incident like this or maybe even being shot like you were and having to fight
Riley Bowman: through it, anything like that.
Riley Bowman: But what's something that you, you know, what's one thing you would like viewers
Riley Bowman: or listeners to take away from your story?
Jarrel Cappell: I would say this because once I became – I also took – sorry,
Jarrel Cappell: I also took classes to become a firearms instructor.
Jarrel Cappell: But I developed the mentality in trying to tell people, listen,
Jarrel Cappell: the minute you decide to buy a firearm and carry a firearm,
Jarrel Cappell: please you know get adopt the idea of you don't want to go through this but
Jarrel Cappell: if I have to go through this just know that.
Jarrel Cappell: You it should be no hesitation in choosing your life over the bad guy and I
Jarrel Cappell: feel like that's the first part of it but definitely you know God forbid it happens you know,
Jarrel Cappell: make sure you just have you know, a community in the village around you,
Jarrel Cappell: whether it be, you know, therapy,
Jarrel Cappell: like you mentioned too, with the self-defense insurance, because that can take
Jarrel Cappell: a lot of the pressure off of you that you don't have to go through this on your own.
Jarrel Cappell: Just have a community around you. Like if your lawyer's going to handle the
Jarrel Cappell: legal aspect of it, you can talk to your therapist, that will definitely help you.
Jarrel Cappell: And, you know, just remember, look at it like this.
Jarrel Cappell: If you wake up every day and you step out into the world looking to do good
Jarrel Cappell: and God forbid you have to face a threat and you have to defend yourself,
Jarrel Cappell: never look at yourself as the bad guy.
Jarrel Cappell: You did what you had to do to get home to your family. Never look at yourself as the bad guy.
Riley Bowman: Wise words. One more thing.
Riley Bowman: What would you say to the version of yourself who clocked in that morning with
Riley Bowman: no idea of what was going to happen that night great question oh
Jarrel Cappell: I would probably tell him,
Jarrel Cappell: keep your head on a swivel. Keep your head on a swivel.
Jarrel Cappell: Throughout anything, especially in the dark, just stay alert.
Jarrel Cappell: Stay alert.
Riley Bowman: Yeah. As you said earlier in the interview, and I've heard this from other folks
Riley Bowman: like yourself that have been in similar situations, it's not uncommon to hear
Riley Bowman: the phrase, he came out of nowhere.
Riley Bowman: And you said that almost exactly word for word. He just, I don't know where he came from.
Riley Bowman: That happens, unfortunately, so often. And it's a lesson I keep trying to remind
Riley Bowman: myself of that, hey, things can happen really fast and kind of come out of nowhere.
Riley Bowman: And it's harder for them to come out of nowhere if I'm actually really working to pay attention.
Riley Bowman: So thank you for sharing your story, Jarrell. This has been a wonderful time
Riley Bowman: with you. I hope it was good for you as well.
Riley Bowman: Good, good. You mentioned that you've become a firearms instructor.
Riley Bowman: You've done a little bit of that.
Riley Bowman: You're in the West Philly area.
Riley Bowman: Is there anywhere you'd like to point people to if they wanted to try to connect
Riley Bowman: with you or find you, come take a class from you or anything like that?
Riley Bowman: Where would they find you?
Jarrel Cappell: You can email me. My email is training at purplelineselfdefense.com.
Jarrel Cappell: And I have an Instagram page. I haven't been posting a lot, but the handle is
Jarrel Cappell: led, L-E-A-D, two rights.
Jarrel Cappell: That's the Instagram page. You can contact me on there, too.
Riley Bowman: Awesome. Excellent.
Riley Bowman: Well, good. Thanks again, Jarrell. And folks that have been here with us live
Riley Bowman: today, thank you for being a part of this. Of course, most of you are going
Riley Bowman: to be catching this interview after the fact.
Riley Bowman: That's where most of our listeners and viewers are, is catching it on the podcast
Riley Bowman: feed later on or on the YouTube channel after the fact.
Riley Bowman: Thank you either way for watching.
Riley Bowman: I hope you would hear the story and take some things away from it like I have
Riley Bowman: and then desire to share that with friends, family, coworkers,
Riley Bowman: whoever you think could also benefit from a message like this,
Riley Bowman: an episode like this here today.
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Riley Bowman: podcast and everything we try to do here at concealedcarry.com.
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Riley Bowman: we highlighted CCW Safe quite a bit.
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Riley Bowman: the Concealed Carry Podcast, and also our wonderful friends over there at HK
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Riley Bowman: Thank you, CCWsafe and HK both. If you guys would care to learn more about those
Riley Bowman: folks and those companies, you can go to hk-usa.com and ccwsafe.com.
Riley Bowman: Don't forget to subscribe and like the podcast and share.
Riley Bowman: Also, our social media pages, Concealed Carry on Facebook, Concealed Carry Inc.
Riley Bowman: On Instagram and the like. We're always trying to put out good content.
Riley Bowman: And if you've got any questions or anything you'd like to send our way,
Riley Bowman: you can always reach us at our email.
Riley Bowman: We'll call it the email hotline, the podcast email, which is podcast at concealedcarry.com.
Riley Bowman: Thank you, everyone, for being a part of this episode with us here today.
Riley Bowman: Thank you again, Jarrell.
Riley Bowman: And until next time, a reminder to train right, train often,
Riley Bowman: and train safe so you can fight hard, fight fast, and fight true. Take care.
Riley Bowman: A reminder that laws vary from place to place, and we encourage listeners to
Riley Bowman: seek local legal advice to understand applicable laws.
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