Today...Guns Flashed in Convenience Store Parking Lot....What Would Other Freepers Have Done?

self | 11-08-02 | wardaddy

[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.

[wardaddy]

Thanks....prior neighbor. I'll tell my MOM you pinged. They still haven't built on yall's old lot yet but I hear it's supposed to be a showplace....ostentatious...lol..that was tacky of me wasn't it?

Regards

[weikel]

Your right.

[toddst]

You have me mixed up with the guy who started the thread. I'm well beyond the age to start having kids.

10-4. Got going too fast, meant for wardaddy.

[wardaddy]

LOL...funny thing ...aside from the US Flag, I have no stickers on the Suburban...it's my wife's car. My old Land Rover leaves no doubt where I stand on politics....or guns.

[sneakypete]

I've reconsidered. I think you screwed-up. Instead of calling 9-11,you should have called the "Million Mommies",and had them come over to disarm these thugs and give them a stiff lecture on how dangerous guns are.

[wardaddy]

Thanks...I'm going to the hospital to fetch them for home in about 30 minutes. I've the 2 year old hellion napping Thank G-d!

[wardaddy]

Thanks.

[Congressman Billybob]

The car parked the wrong way (nose out) made me think as I read your description that these "youths" were planning to rob that 7-11. However as things turned out, it seems that the action was elsewhere.

Or maybe the guy in the red sweatshirt was there to conduct a major to someone else in another vehicle in that parking lot -- a deal big enough to want others with artillery in case things went bad. That, too, would explain why the car was parked nose out.

Bottom line, you handled a potentially life-threatening situation as well as anyone could, and with a presence of mind that many people could not muster under such circumstances. Not letting them realize that you'd seen the weapons was the most important thing. Getting the clerk to lock the door and give you the phone was the second most important.

Your wife has a level-headed husband. Your two children have an wise father. Congratulations.

Congressman Billybob

On American Politics

Click for "to Restore Trust in America"

[MightyMouth]

Oh, aren't you CUTE? We're all SO impressed with your b.s., dear.

[Hal.009]

" I damn sure wished I had had one about then."

Get your CCW for goodness sakes.

Telephones and cell phones, while useful are rated somewhere near the bottom of the list for good defensive ability.

By the way, cudos for keeping a clear head, not panicing and remembering to get the license plate number.

Congratulations on the new little one.

Her dad is a special guy!

[wardaddy]

Thanks Cat.

I am so grateful I did NOT have my two year old boy with me. He was with a David Lipscomb student sitter. Had he been with me....geez...I shudder honestly. It would have been way too hairy.

If your children are with you when things get amped up, it makes it worse by about 100 fold. That has only happened to me once with my entire brood in a mall parking lot....I just got the hell out of there ....but no guns were shown that time...just hostility.

[sneakypete]

By the way, I always carry a gun with me, so do me a favor and don't call the police on me, all right? Then again, I'm white, so you probably won't.

HorseHillary! What you are doing in a round-about way is call him a racist because these thugs were black. If you don't see anything wrong with 3 or more obvious gang bangers sitting outside a store with at least 1 Mac-10 in plain sight,there is something wrong with your perceptions. EIther that,or you realize this and are just playing the race card.

[MightyMouth]

Whose mocassins are YOU wearing today?

[wardaddy]

I will avoid parking next to banger cars...yes. I'm usually pretty saavy...I always leave wiggle room in a traffic stall...stuff like that....I just wasn't paying attention.

[goldilucky]

wardaddy....always trust your instincts. I carry myself armed everywhere I go because of what you experienced.

If I were in your shoes, I would not have parked next to that suspicious looking vehicle. Upon first seeing those kind of thug looking types and what they were partially concealing, I would have immediately driven away in a cool calm and collected manner to not arouse their attention. Then, I would have made contact with the police in a location nearby where the Suburu was parked. I would also have gotten a make and/or model of the car, a license plate number and a brief description of them such as how many and what race they were.

For the most I am amazed you came out of it alive. However, I would never have gone into the seven eleven knowing that they could possibly shoot up the place while I was in there. You see, these types don't want witnesses for the crimes they commit. They finish them off in cold blood.

Finally, congratulations on the arrival of your newborn. May you live long enough in this crazy world for it to takes its baby steps.

Be careful

[wardaddy]

Thanks....I'm a gun-person so I do indeed notice guns....especially guns like a Mac style piece..loaded in the open....under these circumstances.

[wardaddy]

My wife would argue that...lol

[wardaddy]

Thanks Angel.

[Joe Brower]

Overall, it sounds like you did good -- didn't waste time and got the police there as soon as humanly possible. Even if you had been carrying (whether or not this is approved by the "authorities"), your actions were preferable. Outnumbered and outgunned, anything you may have had would have only been viable as a final option.

You did run a serious risk factor in the possibility of being seen speaking to the clerk, his confusion, and then you being on the phone. Depending on what these goblins were hanging out there for, things could have gone quickly south, locked door or no. If you had a cellfone, (did you?), you could have departed and phoned while rolling, although this too could have been seen by the otherhumans and prompted a hostile response. Not being there, I'm purely guessing. I'm damn glad things worked out OK.

Did the goblins get nabbed, by the way? If they did, or even if they didn't but saw you, there may be a risk of being recognized at a later date.

[TigersEye]

I've the 2 year old hellion napping Thank G-d!

2 yr olds? Newborns? Four of them in all? I don't know why you're skeered of anything! LOL

May all blessings be upon you and yours.