Once a Marine...

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Read this post from Defend University about a 70 year-old "former" U.S. Marine who took out an armed bandit using a choke.

I found the following story on Reuters:

Angry tourists break mugger's neck

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) - A group of U.S. tourists, including a former Marine, killed a Costa Rican mugger by breaking his neck after he pulled a gun on them in a Caribbean port, a local police official said on Thursday.

The cruise ship passengers told police they jumped on Wagner Segura, 20, to defend themselves when he pointed a .38 caliber revolver at them near the Caribbean port of Limon on Wednesday, and somehow snapped his neck, regional police director Luis Hernandez said.

Segura died instantly and two other unidentified thieves, one of whom was armed with a knife, fled the scene, Hernandez said.

"One of the tourists was a former Marine and he was probably the one who broke (Segura's) neck," Hernandez said. "His neck was completely snapped."

No charges will be filed against the tourists because police viewed the incident as an act of self-defense. Police questioned and released the group, which rejoined the cruise and left Cost Rica.

The Americans were passengers aboard the Carnival cruise ship Legend. They got off their tour bus to take photos in a notoriously rough neighborhood a short drive from Limon.

After the attack, they put Segura's body on their bus and found a police officer in Limon to report the incident.

Defend U then posits the following lessons learned:

1. Fight deadly force with deadly force. They've got a gun and a knife -- they are prepared to use deadly force against you. This is not a fight. This is combat. You must use deadly force to prevail.
2. Have courage! This is a 70-year-old vs. a 20-year-old. You are never too old, too weak, too scared, too out-of-shape, too young, etc. to be able to defend yourself. Strengthen your will to survive and prevail against all adversaries.
3. Learn the fundamental techniques well. I doubt if this guy has practiced any of his hand-to-hand techniques since Eisenhower was president, but the basic, fundamental rear naked choke (I'm assuming here) is something that works and is simple enough to retain for long periods of time.
4. Be committed. Once you make the decision to counterattack, be decisive, swift and violent in your actions.
5. Rest easy that you did the right thing by defending yourself and made the world safer for those who follow you.

Right on.

UPDATED: This newer AP story gives more details:

Adams was with 12 American tourists who hired a driver to explore Costa Rica for a few hours. They were climbing out of the van to visit a Caribbean beach when three men wearing ski masks ran toward them, she said. One held a gun to her head, while the other two pulled out knives.

Suddenly, one of the tourists, a U.S. military veteran trained in self defense, jumped out of the van and put the gunman in a headlock, according to Limon police chief Luis Hernandez.

Hernandez said the American, whom he refused to identify, struggled with the robber, breaking his collarbone and eventually killing him. Police identified the dead man as Warner Segura, 20. The other two assailants fled.

And...

Costa Rican officials interviewed the Americans, and said they wouldn't charge the U.S. tourist with any crime because he acted in self defense.

"They were in their right to defend themselves after being held up," Hernandez said. He said Segura had previous charges against him for assaults.

But Ligia Herrera Mendez, the mother of the dead assailant, claimed the tourists of took the law into their own hands.

"We want justice, this can't go unpunished, because they could have saved him," she said in an interview in Limon. "If this had happened in the United States, the suspect would have been detained and wouldn't have left the country."

She also acknowledged past problems. "I know my boy wasn't staying out of trouble, I knew that any moment I would get bad news."