Posted on 11/08/2002 3:35:41 PM PST by wardaddy
This happened to me today. It rattled me, I'm not going to lie. I used to think I didn't rattle too easy but I found myself in a percieved hairy situation today and would like to know how other FReepers would have handled this.
This morning about 11 AM, I was on my way to visit my wife and our newborn son(#2) who was born last night at the hospital in midtown Nashville.
I decided to stop at a 7-11 style store near the hospital to pick up some drinks and stuff for my wife. Upon entering my parking lot, I chose to park my Suburban next to a Dark Green Yukon with "pimped-out" rims and whatnot. I didn't think a lot about it at the time except to think it was either bangers or a pro-athlete except that the car was backed in rather than the usual parking of nose first. As I got out of my car right next to the Yukon, I noticed 3 large "baggy urban clothed" young black males in the car with tinted windows in the back. It set off some mild alarms but not too much. I deal with bangers in my businesses frequently.
Anyhow, as I turned to close my door, I happen to look down right into the driver's lap where in one hand was a cell phone and the other hand cradled an open-bolt Mac-10 style machine pistol....the bolt was open and I could see by the brass that it was indeed loaded. I turned away by then very very alarmed and my thoughts racing...as I did , I noticed the passenger in front had a Sig or Glock cradled in his hand as well. I did my very best to appear that I had not noticed since I was to be sure in easy fire range thru the open window. I wasn't sure whther the Mac was selective fire or semi-auto.
I immediately made the decision to go ahead and enter the store not sure whether they were planning to hit the place or what in the hell but I sure did not want to spook them. A Yukon full of bangers sitting back asswards in front of an urban convenience store with guns in their laps in broad daylight was sort of overwhelming.....kind of like Neil Young's Powderfinger "it sure don't look like they are here to deliver the mail"....
I got in the store and immediately told the store clerk (an Indian of course who could barely understand a damn thing I said).....he stammered about a bit and I yelled at him to lock the "GD" door now damn it!...he complied and I took his phone to call the cops. I asked him if he had a gun to which he expressed befuddlement. I damn sure wished I had had one about then. I called 9-11 and told them what I'd seen. The dispatcher was quite nice and asked for a description and a tag #. I complied.
As we were waiting for the cops, another young black man in a red hooded sweatshirt came up and spoke to the driver and the driver got out with his gun under his coat and the new guy took over driving and the original driver got in and they pulled off about 10 seconds before the cops arrived. When the cops arrived, I ran out into the lot and told the cop which direction they headed and he thanked me and radioed the other units and told me he was on it and screeched off. I went back inside to try to chill out the clerk who by then had called his relatives and was sort of freaked out by me as much as anything I suppose.
Now, I've lived all over the damn world, been shot accidentally, been shot at on purpose and done a fair amount of living. The danger I immediately felt by the circumstances made me feel quite vulnerable. I simply was not sure what was going down but it sure didn't feel too good. I mean ....how many folks sit in front of 7-11s brandishing fairly serious handweapons in public in a parked car in the middle of the day?
I knew I was not about to walk past those guys again to get back in my car with the driver's window open and me a perfect target if I had spooked them if they thought I'd made them.
What kind of idiot's show their guns in public in that manner? I don't think these were CCW fellows.....
Anyhow. That's my story. Glancing down at that Cobray style pistol rattled me a bit.....It was damned surreal. I thought for a second that after all these years and rebuilding my life, I might just get clipped in some crossfire by some chickensh!t gangbangers over some bad dope deal or grudge.....it didn't seem fair. Does it ever?
The cops were pretty prompt to their credit.
I don't like calling the cops over anything to do with guns or RKBA but this situation just had a real bad feeling to it.
Any fellow FReepers care to lecture me on the right way to have handled it or just maybe I should have minded my own business ...feel free to fire away.
There is actually an interesting story behind my gun. Believe it or not, I traded it even for a Korth revolver at a pawn shop. About a year later I got a phone call from an ATF agent, who btw was very pleasant, wanting to know what I did with it. I told him and then asked what happened to it and he said it had been used in a crime in Texas by some illegals. He didn't tell me how they got it.
That's good, sounds like you didn't let them know you saw anything. You should give a call back to the police letting them know you were the one that called and you want to know what went down later. They weren't up to robbing the store, they were there for some criminal business meeting in a conspicuous place.
You want to know what went down later, because you're curious, but most importantly whether, or not the criminals were stopped and suspect you as the cause of their present(?) difficulties. You are just acting to avoid and prevent any retaliation.
I used to work in the "bad" part of town.Lots of panhandlers and near the jail. One morning I was extra early and was parked and waiting for someone to arrive and open the store. About a block away, two 20 something "day worker" looking types were loitering.There was no real reason anyone would be in the area, no restaurants, no bus stop, not a well known cross street for a pick up location. After a few minutes,they started walking towards me. I got that funny feeling, and turned the car on, whipped it into forward and looked them in the eye as I gunned the engine.
They kind of shrugged their shoulders,nodded at me as if to say sorry, bad judgement, turned around and walked out of sight.
Always listen to that funny feeling.
I spend a lot of time doing just that...staying as far away as possible! :-)
Peaceable citizens don't sit armed and ready, as in standing guard in a 7-11 parking lot within city limits. They weren't an anti-terrorist neighborhood watch group.
Cool.
Absolutely. Would've spooked 'em.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.