BloodyElbow.com Exclusive: Lloyd Irvin, Family and Brandon Vera Attacked by Two Gunman in Irvin's Home Saturday Morning

by Luke Thomas on Oct 6, 2008 1:15 PM EDT in News Comment 41 comments

Speaking exclusively to BloodyElbow.com, world champion grappler Lloyd Irvin said his home in Accokeek, Maryland was invaded by two armed gunman on Saturday morning at approximately 4:30am.

According to Irvin, the two gunman held Irvin, his son, wife and UFC light heavyweight contender Brandon Vera at gun point while demanding to be directed towards valuables like cash or jewelry.

While one gunman held Irvin's family hostage, another gunman directed Irvin to the the master bedroom. According to Irvin, he led the gunman toward his bedroom. Once in the bedroom, Irvin said he noticed the other gunman was far enough away down the hall to make a move to disarm the attacker in his bedroom. Irvin, an expert in Sambo defensive gun and knife techniques, was able to get ahold of the gun in the attacker's hands, first separating the clip from the gun and then removing the gun from the attacker's hands.

At that point, the attacker in Irvin's room ran yelling to his accomplice that Irvin had his gun and both gunman fled the house. It's not clear what, if anything, they were able to take with them. Police were called to the scene and have launched an investigation.

According to Irvin, no one in his family was physically hurt, although the psychological trauma at this point is considerable.

While Vera is physically unharmed, leaving for England this Tuesday and will continue training, it is not clear to what extent the psychological trauma from this event will have as he heads into his fight with Keith Jardine at UFC 89 on October 18th. Irvin indicated that to the extent possible, training would continue as normal.

On behalf of everyone at BloodyElbow.com, we are glad to hear no one was harmed in the attack and wish both the Irvin family and Vera the best during this very difficult time.

PERSONAL NOTE: For anyone who has ever doubted Irvin's weapons techniques that he learned in Sambo, they literally saved his life and the life of his family/Vera. There can be no more doubting them.

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jeez

that’s awful. Glad no one was hurt.
Reminds me of Benji Radich KO’ing the armed robber at the Denny’s or whatever.

by Kid Nate on Oct 6, 2008 11:00 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

How come its not in the news?

Why is the bloody elbow the only place this has been reported?

How come there are no mentions of a home invasion in that area around that time in the news?

Where are the police records?

by JustSaying on Oct 27, 2008 1:31 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

A: Picked the WRONG house to rob…
B: Maryland?? Is no place safe anymore? You would think Maryland would be all sunshine and lollipops…

Glad they’re ok, and hope they catch these guys soon.

by mythbuster on Oct 6, 2008 11:06 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Well, Baltimore is probable one of the most violent places in the country, so MD is not THAT safe..

by lbk on Oct 6, 2008 12:31 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

wow

didn’t know that.

Damn man, I’m moving to Afganastan where things are safer.

by mythbuster on Oct 6, 2008 12:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah man..

Baltimore is widely considered one of the most violent cities in the country. Probably ties with Detroit for tops in that category, presently..

by Blackout612 on Oct 6, 2008 12:41 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Baltimore has way more murders per capita than Detroit, but is only two-thirds the size.

Don't believe a word I say, I don't train BJJ. -- TangleBones

by jemaleddin on Oct 6, 2008 1:31 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

They win

What about armed robberies, assaults and the like? Wasn’t just talking about the moiders..

by Blackout612 on Oct 6, 2008 1:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Accokeek is in a very nice part of the state...

A lot of money where Accokeek is. Pretty far from Baltimore.

by JCS_FM on Oct 6, 2008 4:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Its closer to Washington. I live close to B-more, its pretty clear where the bad areas are. The More is striped with bad sections and you know if you are in one.

Accokeek is a nice subburb of DC. its not really known for crime or known for anything really.

by szucconi on Oct 6, 2008 5:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Bodymore, Murdaland

See: The Wire

by Chris Nelson on Oct 6, 2008 1:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Baltimore's Motto

“Get Low.”

by Brett Jones on Oct 6, 2008 1:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I lived in Maryland my entire life.

I grew up in a realy small ghetto (LEGIT, not a thug-wannabe place)…no more than a few thousand people, and it was 2nd in the state in drugs at one point—-behnid Salisbury. More than Baltimore. Maryland in the right areas can be absolutely violent. Especially where I grew up.

Most of it is country, fishermen, and rednecks (which is why im moving to Seattle). But if you go into the wrong area, you better stay in your car.

Recently I had someone break into my vehicle, rip out my ashtray and tookk the money I kept in it…threw the ashtray on the ground. A few months ago, someone bashed out the headlight of it while I had it parked near my brother’s house. I’ve also been robbed several times, nearly killed with a knife twice, and nearly killed with a gun over a weed deal gone bad (and it was my friend’s i was just at the wrong place…). I even got jumped over a pizza once! Dudes came from an alleyway chasing myself and a friend trying to steal our pizza we got from a nearby place. Small town. Dangerous as fuck.

by Slica on Oct 6, 2008 2:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

The best news is no one was hurt. They are so fortunate.

by Luke Thomas on Oct 6, 2008 11:22 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Hopefully,

when he disarmed the guy he at least broke something or tore some ligaments/tendons & stuff! It seems like to be safe in this day & age you really need to be sitting on your couch with guns at your side at all times to protect your family & loves ones. Who knows what these jackoffs would have done if he would have cooperated!

by dnevil001 on Oct 6, 2008 11:24 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

As I was reading it..

..I was hoping that he damaged the dude, so I was disappointed to see he got away. But I’m very glad he got a read that these guys were cowards and didn’t get into a gun fight with the other armed robber.

by Blackout612 on Oct 6, 2008 12:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Lloyd Irvin is the man.

by KneeToTheFace on Oct 6, 2008 11:25 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

What a crazy story.

Lloyd Irvin and wife

by Nick Thomas on Oct 6, 2008 11:29 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Wow, what a brave dude. Glad to hear no one was injured and I hope it doesn’t affect Vera going into his fight.

by Chris Nelson on Oct 6, 2008 11:34 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

That’s great to hear, but what I don’t understand is: Didn’t the guy who was holding his family hostage have a gun, too? He’s lucky that the second man didn’t just grab a kid and tell Irvin to lie down. Or worse.

by Carpal on Oct 6, 2008 11:34 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

The two gunmen knew someone in the house. Always, always, always.

by Tommy7 on Oct 6, 2008 11:59 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

by Simco on Oct 6, 2008 12:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think he's saying..

..this wasn’t random and when the shit hit the fan, they bailed.

by Blackout612 on Oct 6, 2008 12:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Best wishes to everyone

What an awesome commercial for MMA as self defense. Very, very lucky.

by subo on Oct 6, 2008 11:46 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

For sure..

..but it should be viewed cautiously. I always hope that events of this nature don’t motivate regular men to become ninjas if, for example, their till gets held up. Like Luke said, it’s a testament to his unique abilities..

by Blackout612 on Oct 6, 2008 12:46 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Wow...

awful story but it’s great to know that no one (except hopefully the gunman) was hurt.

Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

by Brent Brookhouse on Oct 6, 2008 11:53 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

First of all, that was brave (foolish?) of him to try and disarm the gunman. Glad it worked, but man..if he had been shot who knows what would have happened to his wife and others around. Was a VERY risky move. Again, glad it worked and I have never been in that type of situation. I would assume he thought the risk was grewat enough that if he hadn’t tried to take the gun away he felt he was at risk of geting murdered, etc.

Glad to see it worked out and nobody was hurt.

Of all the houses to rob they pick the house of one of the greatest submission fighters in the world. LOL.

by lbk on Oct 6, 2008 12:33 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

foolish?

Which is more foolish? Letting someone who just broke into your house and is robbing you, control the situation or you controlling the situation. Every single time you hear about a robbery that was foiled by someone taking action you have some pacifist stand up and tell everyone how foolish it was and begin speculation about what would have happened if he had failed.

Listen we martial artists ( I am assuming many readers have martial arts backgrounds) train our whole lives for that one moment when we cannot hesitate, when our lives and our loved ones are on the line, where we can decide to plead for mercy or act. Lloyd Irvine acted. He used his training. He survived.

Don’t listen to those that tell you to comply. The graveyards are filled with people that comply.

by The_Vig on Oct 6, 2008 1:13 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

What would police recommend?

Couple of links here:

http://www.co-asn-rob.org/CrimeInfo/RobberyTips/during.htm

http://www.ci.madison.wi.us/police/armedrob.html

A lot of variables, of course. If Irvin thought this guy was about to kill him, maybe he did the right thing. But if someone has a gun pointed at my kid, I’m not sure I do anything sudden unless I can disarm THAT guy. My life is secondary compared to his.

by Beau Dure on Oct 6, 2008 2:04 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Graveyards are filled by everyone.

by Eugene Schelfaut on Oct 6, 2008 2:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

In some situations, sure. In this situation, I have no idea why the second gunman didn’t just start shooting people as soon as he heard his partner was disarmed. It would have been very easy for the second gunman to take back control of this situation.

by Carpal on Oct 6, 2008 1:28 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Because

Irvin got luckily (from the info we have, as Beau Dure says, there are ‘a lot of variables’), and the robbers probably just wanted an easy robbery. Murder is a much larger step.

Note to Vig: The foolish one tries to take the gun away from one man, while the another man has a gun aimed at his family.

I’m glad the family and Vera are ok, and none of then got hurt but this is against every recomendation by law enforcements agencies on what to do.

by mythbuster on Oct 6, 2008 2:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

That, too, was my concern while reading the story

Dangerous situation, to be sure..

by Blackout612 on Oct 6, 2008 2:14 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agree,

but we can only speculate at this point what was going thru Irvin’s mind about this situation? Did he get the feeling or believe that these a-holes were truly going to let him & his family go or were they going to rape, torture, murder all of them? While I do agree it is not the smartest of moves in a lot of these sort of situations, I think that any of us would do ANYTHING we thought would stop this from happening if that kind of threat presented itself.

by dnevil001 on Oct 6, 2008 2:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

True

Too many unknowns at this point to make any definitive statements.

by mythbuster on Oct 6, 2008 2:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Definitely myth,

I would hate to believe that if this was only “material things protection” (strange wording I know) or pride that would trigger this kind of response but I can understand a man doing whatever he deems necessary to protect his family/loved ones.

by dnevil001 on Oct 6, 2008 2:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Like a lot of people have already mentioned …
The variables are always different & everyone has to know what they are capable of doing or not doing.

That said …
If these guys were intent on murder, they would have shot somebody from the break to set an example. The article says that Mstr. Lloyd was in the bedroom & far enough away from the other guy to decide it was an opportunity to control the situation.

Once the first guy was disarmed, I’m sure the other guy did not want to get into a shooting match.
Think about it … Ya – you have a gun, but not you’re facing down a man that disarmed your partner.

He probably didn’t know that the magazine was out & had to think quick …
If he was stupid enough to shoot someone, his death was guaranteed …
He decided to run away, live, & hopefully not try to rob anyone anymore …

On top of that, anyone that has seen Mstr. Lloyd in person knows that he’s not small.

by SamP on Oct 7, 2008 10:31 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs