In my creative paranoia, I think I have come up with a way for a thief to 'justify' pointing the gun in a spot like this: make it look like the victim is driving at you first, which will probably mean walking into the way out/around (presumably not far from the planted obstacle).
The recorded method of rushing at the victim is probably a bit more effective and "safe" than baiting someone to potentially run you over, but I think my idea is better if there are witnesses or, perhaps, video recording.