A few observations;
I think the initial inability to react was/is a training issue, as well as a mindset issue.
The OP appears to have been in "Oh shit, this is really happening" mode, which leads to a person being a bit stuck in the OOD part of the OODA loop.
Training, both range and FoF, greatly reduce this tendency (we used to see it in rookies when they first hit the street, now we don't anymore, due to the training we do in-house).
I concur that the time to move would have best been at the very beginning, bad guy with gun to side while wearing ski mask = shoot the shit out of him right now, in my book anyway.
Voice commands given in many robbery situations lead to shot good guys way too often, especially if things are close and one has no cover.
I don't think one is or should be required to give the bad guy the option of the first shot if the bad guys so chooses.
A high powered flashlight is always a good thing to carry.
Empty hand tactics may be what one needs at the moment to safely clear a way to deploy one's pistol.
I don't think the 1911 being carried was a real issue, it being so easy to shoot well may have led to the only hit on the bad guy being made. Other guys, such as a DA revolver, may not have been fired at all by the OP due to weakness in the hand precluding him being able to pull the trigger.
This incident is an example of why the whole "limp wrist" argument by some companies to explain their pistols not working is complete BS. One may be shot, down, shooting from a non-standard position, etc. The pistol should cycle in these circumstances, otherwise it is a range toy and not a combat pistol.
Read this for how I would prefer to hear a robbery in progress to end;
http://www.wsmv.com/news/22950700/detail.html
Officer Shoots 3 Robbery Suspects In Brentwood
Suspected Thieves Hospitalized After Attempted Hotel Robbery
POSTED: 6:10 am CDT March 25,2010
UPDATED: 2:54 pm CDT March 25,2010
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BRENTWOOD, Tenn. -- Three suspected robbers were shot by a Metro police officer in Brentwood early Thursday morning. Authorities said the men were conducting their second robbery of the night when they were shot and wounded.
Related: Images | Noon Report | Morning Report
Officials said three men robbed a group of people in the lobby at the Homewood Suites on Church Street in downtown Nashville at about 1:50 a.m. They escaped with two purses and one wallet.
The suspects were identified as Deaunte Carter, 23, Rory Gilmer, 22, and 20-year-old Antonio Leggs.
The thieves then got into a maroon van and drove to the Hyatt Place Hotel on Old Hickory Boulevard in Brentwood, according to police.
Officials said Officer Justin Fox, 35, and an undercover officer from another agency, entered the Brentwood Hyatt lobby at 2:30 a.m. They were working as part of an unrelated, ongoing investigation.
Police said the suspects ordered the officers to the floor at gunpoint, striking and kicking both men while threatening to kill them.
Before Fox went completely to the ground he pulled out his police-issued handgun, and fired on all three suspects in defense of himself and the other officer who did not fire a weapon. The suspects did not return fire. A handgun, dropped by one of the suspects, was recovered from the lobby floor.
According to authorities, the three wounded men then escaped to their van and drove north on Interstate 65. Police caught them and took them into custody near Armory Drive.
Carter and Gilmer are in critical condition at Vanderbilt University Hospital. Leggs is in stable condition. Police said they all face charges.
The two purses and wallet stolen from the victims of the Homewood Suites robbery were recovered from the suspects' getaway vehicle.
Fox, a 12-year police veteran, is on routine administrative assignment pending an investigation into the shootings.
