Mom, Iraq war vet takes action when would-be carjacker approaches. She points a gun in his face and says, 'It's locked and loaded.'

A Louisiana mother and 15-year Air Force veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan jumped into action recently when a would-be burglar attempted to steal her car.

What happened?

Taylor was on her way to pick up her husband in New Orleans on Friday, Feb. 11, when she and her 2-year-old son got stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on Interstate 10, according to WDSU-TV.

A group of people in a truck motioned for her to let them into her lane. The next thing she knew she was being confronted by one of the men in the group who had run up to her passenger door and begun tugging on the handle.

"So, as he comes up he's close and he's pretty aggressive trying to get the car door open. [And as he] makes eye contact with me, he's still trying to get it open a couple of times," Taylor said.

That's when the veteran's training kicked in. She pulled out her gun and pointed it directly at him.

"It’s locked and loaded," she recalled saying.

Taylor didn't fire but said she was ready to if the situation required it. Faced with his target's resolve, the would-be carjacker cut tail and ran.

'It’s locked and loaded': Mother, Iraq veteran pulls gun on man trying to get into carwww.youtube.com

What else?

"You shouldn't have to navigate your own city like a war zone. It's un-American," Charise Taylor remarked to WDSU after the harrowing experience.

"The crime is out of control and it's terrifying. At this point, having to use the same tactics in an American city that you use in Iraq and Afghanistan simply to navigate through the city, it's scary, and I'm not the only mom feeling this way," she added.

Taylor filed a police report but said she was incensed when she learned the New Orleans Police Department listed the incident as only a "disturbance."

In a statement, the department said, "The NOPD is actively investigating a disturbance that occurred on Interstate 10 West at the Canal Street exit on February 11, 2022, at about 5:20 p.m. The incident classification is based on the available information regarding the incident at the time the report was written. We do not have any additional information to provide this time."

As of Tuesday morning, no arrests had been made in the case.

Taylor said she is urging others to drive with their doors locked and their windows rolled up. She hopes no one else has to go through the same experience that she endured, but she credits her military training for helping her act quickly in the time of crisis.

"The emotions honestly your body takes in a different form I stayed in my body of course but everything transformed I'm trained to do this I've gone to classes I'm prior military if I have to pull this trigger that's what I have to do," she said.