On Monday at 2 P.M., a call to 911 reported a possible abduction in progress in Ashburn, VA. Ashburn is one of the most affluent towns in Loudoun County, the wealthiest county in the country. The town sits 30 minutes outside Washington D.C. It has an average household income of $159,220. The medium home price is $748,857, with single-family homes selling for over $1 million. It is the home of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, doctors, lawyers, and politicians.
Crime rates in the town are incredibly low, and most feel the area is very safe, so it came as a shock that a man named Joseph C. Daniel, 44, of Leesburg, VA, allegedly kidnapped an adult woman in board daylight in front of a Wells Fargo bank and threw her in a stolen black Hummer SUV.
According to law enforcement authorities, the unnamed woman was kidnapped in a human trafficking scheme. Luckily for the woman, a Loudoun County Sheriff’s Deputy was only seconds away when the call was placed.
When the deputy approached the SUV, the Hummer fled the scene with the woman cowering in the front seat. Other deputies joined the pursuit as Daniel sped through the town on the wrong side of the road, heading into oncoming traffic. The Loudoun Sheriff’s Department would pursue the getaway car toward Dulles Airport.
The black Hummer would speed onto the Dulles Toll Road towards Washington, D.C., attempting to escape from the law enforcement officers. Fairfax County and State Police would join in the pursuit. A police helicopter responded to the call. Daniel would then again try to escape police by exiting the highway and speeding through Reston, VA, another affluent area in Fairfax County. The Hummer drove into head-on traffic and drove on the shoulder of the road.
Daniel would lead police through Northern Virginia until he reached Vienna, VA, near Tyson’s Corner. Daniel would attempt to abandon the Hummer and carjack two other cars. Police were able to stop the man before he could escape again. The woman was found in the car with minor injuries from the kidnapping attempt.
Although police were able to stop the kidnapping, it was luck that a deputy was only seconds away. This situation shows that no matter where you are or how safe you think you are, bad things can happen at any minute. We cannot count on dumb luck to keep us safe. We must be our own first responders.
Human trafficking is not just something that happens in movies or to runaways. This incident shows the need to be prepared.
If a human trafficker can kidnap a woman in the middle of the day in a “safe” town, it can happen anywhere. This case also didn’t make national news. Ashburn is in the D.C. Metro area, and the chase ended minutes from D.C. If this case didn’t make national news, how many other human trafficking cases don’t crack the news cycle?
The best way for a woman or anyone else to protect themselves is to carry the great equalizer. That equalizer is a firearm. The average man can overpower the average woman. A firearm levels the playing field and gives a woman a fighting chance against an attacker.
Not only should everyone carry a firearm, but everyone should also get training to handle and use their gun. A firearm is many things to many different people, but first and foremost, a gun is a tool. It is a tool for self-defense. It is useless unless the gun owner knows how to use the firearm.
We shouldn’t carry a firearm just in case a human trafficker tries to kidnap us. Crime is up across the country. Robberies, murders, and carjacking are plaguing the country. The risk of terrorism is rising every day with the unrest in the Middle East. We must prepare to defend ourselves and our families.
As Dark Mavis from DLD After Dark says in every video, “The only thing that can stop evil is good men skilled in violence.”
As Americans, we need to take our own safety into our hands. When you have only seconds, the police are minutes away. The incident in Virginia shows us that safety is only an illusion. Get a gun, get training, and carry it every day.
About John Crump
