So, how do I teach my child to react if being followed by a stranger at night?

[MineralMan]

30. Distance is your friend. Most people are very poor

shots. Even cops rarely hit someone if that person is running. The farther you are away, the less likely you are to be hit. You could zig-zag, but that doesn't increase the distance as quickly.

Often the person you're running from will simply not even try to shoot. That would depend on their reason for confronting you in the first place. The person planning to rob you won't shoot at you if you run. It draws too much attention. The person following you is also unlikely to shoot. The gun is there to make you do something you don't want to do, unless the plan is to simply kill you, which is very, very rare.

So, running and getting as far away as fast as possible is the best plan. Trayvon, for example, circled back around or something. Had he simply fled the scene, this might have turned out completely differently. He shouldn't have to run, clearly. He shouldn't have been followed at all. But, running probably would have saved his life. He had a cell phone. The other guy had a gun. Run!