A Jugging We Will Go -- Part I

A Jugging We Will Go

If you have not heard the term “jugging,” you might not be paying close attention to the news. Juggers are criminals that wait in or near parking lots near banks, credit unions, or ATMs and watch for people who have likely withdrawn large amounts of money. Juggers then follow the prospective victim to another location where they either physically assault the victim and take their money or wait until the victim is distracted or moves away from their vehicle and they then break into the vehicle to steal the money.

One of my students was a jugging victim in San Antonio in early 2024. She had entered and conducted business at a credit union and then returned home. When she arrived at her house, she pulled her pickup into the driveway through an open gate. She then exited her vehicle and went to the mailbox (outside the yard’s fenced area) to retrieve her mail.

Video of the front gate area shows a car which was following directly behind her pickup drive past her house and then quickly turn around and pull up to her driveway entrance as she is returning from the mailbox. A thug exits the vehicle’s passenger door and sprints to the pickup’s open driver’s door and dives into the pickup to grab her purse. 

She confronts the thug at the driver’s door; however, he pushes past her and returns to his vehicle, jumps in, and the thugs depart.

As the thug returned to his vehicle, my student (who was armed) considered drawing her pistol; however, she thought better of it and did not draw since she was not facing an imminent deadly threat. She said her training kicked in and she realized that drawing her pistol was not warranted. The thug did not threaten her physically nor did he exhibit a weapon; he only pushed past her as he escaped. A good decision on her part given the totality of the circumstances.

San Antonio Police Officers who were investigating the incident told my student that credit union cameras recorded images of the juggers waiting in the parking lot (presumably looking for a potential victim) and slipping in behind her pickup as she departed. The juggers followed her home which was over ten miles from the credit union--she did not notice the car which was directly behind her.

Jugging is on the rise across the United States. In Austin, Texas for example, in 2022 there were 153 reported jugging incidents where victims lost over $1.3 million dollars or an average of approximately $8500.00 per incident. That same year, the Houston Police Department reported over 700 jugging incidents. I have been unable to find any definitive statistics for 2023 or 2024; however, there is no reason to believe the trend is declining.

As I researched this article, I realized that some of these jugging teams are surprisingly sophisticated. When Dallas, Tx saw a rise jugging incidents in 2016 and 2017, the FBI began investigating. Ultimately the bureau arrested and charged thirteen members of a Houston-based crew with over 30 jugging offenses in the Dallas area--there were likely many more. The FBI concluded that the crew had taken more than $750,000.00 dollars, primarily from small business owners and operators.

In researching numerous incidents, I noted that often there were perpetrators using multiple vehicles in coordinated surveillance efforts to identify and follow victims. This fact hit home when I encountered the report of an incident in Schertz, TX, just north of San Antonio. The victim conducted business at a credit union (which coincidentally is the same one my wife and I use). When he departed the location, juggers followed him to a business in a near-by city and severely beat and robbed the victim who died several days later. The juggers lived in Houston and traveled to the San Antonio area to perpetrate their criminal enterprise.

Credit union surveillance video shows a woman wearing a mask inside the credit union and watching the victim. She exits the credit union and enters a gray Chevrolet Impala before following the victim to another business; surveillance video in that location shows the Impala circling the business parking lot while the victim was inside. As the victim exited the business, a Chevrolet Trailblazer pulled up behind the victim’s car and a passenger wearing a surgical mask exited the Trailblazer, approached the victim from behind and then attacked him and knocked him down. A struggle ensued before the suspect took off with an envelope containing the victim’s money. Cibolo, TX police photos show that at least three perpetrators in multiple cars were involved in this fatal robbery. See picture below.

I came across one incident where a bank employee was working with a jugging crew. The bank teller likely noted a pattern where a woman who owned a gas station and check-cashing business routinely withdrew large amounts of cash.  The day of the incident, police say that the bank teller notified the jugging crew that a woman had made a large withdrawal. The juggers followed the woman to her business where she was attacked and robbed of $75,000.00. The woman and her husband who tried to help her were both severely injured and hospitalized.

A former bank teller and the jugging team she tipped off

 

How can we prevent ourselves from becoming a jugging victim? My original intent when I started researching jugging robberies was to write a relatively short article. However, as I researched these incidents and the jugger’s tactics, I realized that since sophisticated teams were perpetrating many of these crimes, the article would need to deal with counter surveillance and other tactics as well. In Part II will discuss how you can avoid becoming a jugging victim.

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Its Back! A 20 Gauge Load with FLITECONTROL®

Federal has begun manufacturing its Federal Premium 20 gauge #2 buckshot load once again. This premium load has a velocity of 1345 feet per second (fps). As of this writing it is the only commercial load available for the 20 gauge with the FLITECONTROL® wad.

I obtained some to test in January 2025 and was pleased with the results (note: I only fired four rounds at each distance—still too difficult to get in quantity). I used a Mossberg 590 20-gauge that had a Vang Comp Systems modified barrel installed and an unmodified Mossberg 590 20-gauge pump shotgun for the test. 

I did not zero the shotguns due to the quantity of ammunition available. As a result, some patterns are not centered on the target; however, I superimposed an eight-inch circle centered on the pattern for reference. 

I started at 10 yards and both guns patterned the 20 gauge #2 buckshot FLITECONTROL® loads with a very tight pattern for all ten pellets at that distance. However, both guns did throw two pellets slightly outside the main pattern which I thought was interesting.

I then moved back to fifteen yards and both 590s patterned the FLITECONTROL® loads within an acceptable eight inches (see below).

Moving back to 20 yards, the pattern with the Vang Comp Mossberg 590 opened to twelve inches with one flyer while the standard 590 threw three pellets slightly out of the eight-inch circle.

We then moved back to 25 yards with the standard 590 and fired two shots. One shot placed all pellets within the eight-inch circle while the other threw a pattern with fliers more than twelve inches from the point of aim. 

As you can see from these results, you must test each load you are considering for your home defense shotgun in your gun. Ideally, shoot five shots at each distance until you determine the maximum acceptable range for your shotgun using that load. With the 20 gauge, I started at ten yards because previous testing with other 20 gauge loads demonstrated failures at that distance. If you see a failure at a given distance, you do not need to test at greater distances. I consider the Vang Comp 590's maximum acceptable range with this load to be fifteen yards while the standard 590's to be twenty yards. (Note: The Vang Comp system is designed to work with standard wads and generally do not do as well with the FLITECONTROL® wad.) 

Overall, I think that Federal's Premium 20 gauge load with a FLITECONTROL® wad lived up to its bigger brother’s reputation and performed well out to fifteen yards. Is that range a limitation? It is not for me, my maximum potential engagement difference in my house is twelve yards. Obviously, your circumstances may vary. Federal's Premium 20 gauge #2 buckshot load will now be the go to round for my 20 gauge home defense shotguns. 

Why chose a shotgun for home defense? 

The shotgun with modern low-recoil ammunition is the most effective short-range weapon available to private citizens and is a superb home defense weapon. The shotgun possesses several advantages over single projectile weapons such as pistols or rifles including: 

-- A solid upper chest hit with a suitable buckshot load has a high potential to end the fight immediately and encourages any of the bad guy’s surviving buddies to seek elsewhere for their entertainment. 

-- Shotguns can be customized relatively easily through adding after-market accessories. 

-- Shotguns are usually very reliable if the shooter is trained in its operation and the gun is mechanically sound. 

-- Even less expensive shotguns can be very effective with modern ammunition. 

-- Shotguns are often seen as sporting firearms and juries may look upon using one to defend yourself more favorably than a AR15-style rifle or a pistol. 

-- In urban areas, the shotgun firing buckshot rounds offers the clear advantage of a significantly reduced down-range danger zone. A shotgun’s maximum range ("maximum range" refers to the furthest distance a projectile will travel when fired from a gun) is much shorter than other firearms suitable for home defense. Buckshot’s maximum range is 748 yards compared to that of a 9mm which is 2130 yds, a .45 ACP at 1840 yards, a .38 Special at 1739 yds, a .357 Magnum at 2398, and the 5.56 rifle round at 3843 yds. (source: Gun Safety: Ammunition Maximum Range; by the NRA Staff; November 7, 2019) 

Is There a Disadvantage to Using a Shotgun for Home Defense? 

Not really. People who recommend firearms other than the shotgun for home defense often point to the shotgun’s limited ammunition capacity. A shotgun set up for home defense will typically hold up to seven shells with each shell holding eight to ten buckshot pellets. If you think about it, an extremely fast shooter with a pistol can deliver six, possibly seven rounds per second with a 9mm pistol. A shotgun with a suitable buckshot load delivers eight to ten pellets traveling over 1,100 feet per second in a millisecond.

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