A stranger threatened to "shoot" me today when I was with my child. was I being unreasonable to call 999?

[BlackFriYay]

I was on my way to collect DC from school, toddler was with me on reins. The seats were full so we went upstairs where there was only a few seats left, next to other passengers.

I sat on the nearest one and put toddler on my knee, I didn't pay any attention to who I was sitting next to as i was sitting sideways with my feet in the aisle and my back to the person occupying the window seat. Toddler was squirming a bit and wanted to get down so as soon as another double seat became available we moved across there.

A man sitting in the area we moved from started playing loud music through his phone, some daft parody song on repeat.

As our stop approached I got up, lifted the little one and was walking towards the stairs, past the strange bloke with the music. As I passed him he said not to ever sit next to him again or he'll shoot me in the face. Confused as hell, I looked up as we got to the stairs to see if he was talking to me and he was. He then said "oh is that a woman?" IE me, then added "never mind I'm still going to do it" whilst making shot gun gestures toward me.

I couldn't get down the stairs quick enough and tried to tell the driver what had happened but he could barely hear me through the plastic. I didn't want a scene I just wanted to get as far away from the prick as I could.

In a panic I called 999 which I'm not sure was the right thing to do or not, perhaps 101 would have been more appropriate. They've made an appointment to come and see me at home on Tuesday which is the earliest appointment they have.

I asked whether they're going to make any attempt to look for the man as he seems dangerous threatening lone women with children. They said they'd circulate his description and If any officers see him they will talk to him?!

Do you think that is sufficient? Am I blowing this way out of proportion?

I felt so, so vulnerable and scared but they don't seem to think it's anything major.

Who are 'they'? Do you really think there are teams of people just sitting spending their days, paid for by the government, spending hours doing all of this for every little random threat on a bus?

I’m sorry but it’s unlikely he was mentally ill, he was a horrible misogynistic man who thinks it’s ok to threaten women. The world is full of these fuckers and getting worse. I know exactly the type of man you’re talking about, I can almost picture him esp with the playing of music without headphones- there’s a certain type.

He made a threat to kill, a criminal offence. He is a woman hater, he is dangerous. One day (if he hasn’t already) he will attack and injure a woman or kill her.

Women just seem to be acceptable damage to the whims of men these days. Life is going backwards

Ring the bus company and explain you have reported to the police and they might want cctv of the bus.

Honestly OP travelling that route I am suprised it phased you at all, was it the 75 by any chance? Standard behaviour for the local nutters when I was growing up in Lewisham

Yes, exactly. What would make the other person fear it would be carried out? He did not move from his seat, did not have a weapon and, by the time OP called 999, he was nowhere near her.....
Good luck getting anywhere near justifying that

It’s not a “little random threat” though it was a threat to kill on a bus with likely misogynistic motives. It’s comments like these which enable the men who kill and attack women - never ever be dismissive of threats of violence to women. Eventually the man is likely to carry them out.

How much tax is worth paying for this?

You absolutely did the right thing by reporting to the police. He could have done the same to others who have also reported it. I'm assuming the bus will have cctv. I couldn't give a shit what the reasons were he said this, but everyone should be able to travel on public transport without being threatened or scared.

How is anyone even attempting to downplay or defend this man's behaviour? Appalling. OP, you did the right thing and it's exactly what I'd have done too in your shoes. I hope you're OK, sounds terrifying

How did the woman know he hadn’t got a weapon? How did the woman know he wasn’t about to hop off at the next stop and find her. If she was in fear at the moment the threat was made that her life was in danger, it doesn’t matter if she was still in fear when she made the call the crime had been committed.

it’s attitudes like this that make the world an increasingly dangerous place and the reason why the police keep being investigated when yet another poor woman ends up dead.

If you move from your seat, or make an action toward a person and a threat simultaneously, it becomes assault. Once it’s an assault, threats to kill is not usually charged as per the guidance, as it is then unnecessary. You don’t have to accompany the threat with an action for it to be a threat, basically. What you do have to establish is that it wasn’t made in jest or in such a way that the person was clearly joking or similar. The fact a child was present actually raises the culpability under guidelines from the Sentencing Council.

That's not how the burden of proof works.

We don't know if anyone has a concealed weapon.

There has to be a positive reason and evidence for the threat to kill to be suspected, it doesn't work like that (thankfully)

Because feminism now seeks to be to tell women to shut up and put up with whatever misogynistic shit men through at them. Women are enabling this all the time!

Nice try at dodging the original question.

So what makes you think that there is any positive evidence that all parts of your quoted offence are suspected? Anything? No... funny that

you did the right thing

But how do you know which he was? You don’t. No one does until it’s too late so any threat to kill should be taken seriously

The evidence would be the witnesses (I assume a few on a London bus), OP’s statement and any CCTV which substantiates the interaction.

Op, that is ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING. I think you did the right thing. In America (where I live) I would have called 911, as that’s a threat.

You must be so shaken; that person is an absolute psycho!

I think you’re overreacting here. You got off the bus so the man was no longer a threat to you. It’s not an emergency where the police urgently need to hunt down the bus, stop the bus, and arrest him ie if you were still in the same space. I think the police are handling it just fine ie take statements then triage resources before they investigate further. It’s a he said vs she said situation so it’s unlikely to lead to anything unfortunately.

I don’t think you’re unreasonable to feel scared and want some sort of justice but in perspective, it’s not proportionate for the police to have tried to apprehend him there and then unless he was armed or had assaulted someone or is still threatening you in close proximity.

the fact the man didn’t follow you off the bus, and made a nasty comment as you weee getting off the bus (ie to try and get the last word) suggests he’s all bravado. I do think he sounds like antisocial scum but I really really doubt the police would do much. I’ve reported much worse to the police & they’ve done F all

Witnesses of what? If it was just as the OP stated then, again, and by definition, the offence didn't happen.

I don’t think there’s anything “thankfully” about you trying to excuse the behaviour of this cunt of a man.

if I was this woman I might have been scared the jacket he was wearing could have concealed a gun, when he raised his hand I might have been in fear he could have attacked me.

we seriously need to sort this shit out. His threats were clearly motivated by her being a woman.

how would - I’m going to shoot you because you’re X minority work out?

Yes.

British Transport Police have always been really responsive every time I’ve reported threatening or antisocial behaviour.

they have tracked someone before using the exact method I referenced.

Agree. It’s a public order offence not a genuine threat to kill.

Firstly, man is making pointy fingers, no suggestion of a gun being present.

Secondly, the threat was if she sat next to him again he’d shoot her in the face. Threats can be conditional but a complete stranger making pointy fingers telling her not to sit next to him again wasn’t realistically going to make her realistically fear that he was going to kill her.

Thats not to say it was frightening but it was a public order offence all day long.

Of him threatening to shoot her in the face.

Do go ahead and tell me why the offence didn’t happen ‘by definition’. You seemed to think the man would’ve had to make an accompanying gesture which isn’t just incorrect, it would’ve turned it into a different offence altogether

You poor woman, what a horrible thing to have happened to you. I would 100% have contacted the police about this - maybe not dialed 999, but it's done now and I don't think that it's a terrible thing to have done in the grand scheme of things. And as others have pointed out, the police are taking it seriously enough to follow up. The man may well be known to them already, so any extra evidence might help with an intervention.

to you, anyway. Taking a toddler on the bus to pick another child up from school every day must be exhausting enough without the nutters!

Yes, the 31% that voted that op is WBVU are fucking mad!