Hammock Parties
07-03-2010, 06:03 PM
So I had a phone conversation with my uncle today, and it was pretty scary. It made me realize that even if you think you are safe and nothing bad could ever happen to you, shit can still go down. It's a scary world we live in.
My aunt and uncle live in an upper-middle-class neighborhood. They are surrounded by well-off people, lots of families. There is a high school not a mile down the road. There is a police and fire station right around the corner. Basically they live around lots of rich white people who have never committed a felony in their life, in one of the safest suburbs in America. They are about as far away from the ghetto as you can get short of living in a private, gated community.
Last Wednesday morning my uncle was robbed at gunpoint.
In his own driveway.
It was 5:30 AM and he was getting in his truck. He had his back turned to the street, when he heard someone say "turn around, please."
He turned around and a 6-2, 300-pound black man wearing a ski mask was standing in the driveway. At first, my uncle thought it was some kind of joke, or a SWAT team was in the area and taking care of a problem. When he realized it wasn't, and realized the guy had a gun, he told the guy "get out of here."
The thief pointed the gun at my uncle and asked him for the money in his wallet. My uncle gave him $40, and then the thief said "get in your car. We're going to the ATM."
Knowing that getting in a car with this guy and going anywhere probably wasn't a great idea, my uncle activated the alarm on his car. The thief then produced a knife and brandished it at my uncle, telling him to turn off the alarm. He did so.
Clearly, this guy wasn't going to be chased off so easily. But my uncle still wasn't dumb enough to get in a car and go anywhere with a criminal. This is where he apparently began thinking about how to escape the situation.
"My debit card is inside."
He led the thief inside. Then, as he passed the window of the room where his dog sleeps, he shouted the words "BAD GUYS!" This is the command for his dog to go berserk.
As soon as his dog went off, barking so loudly and angrily it woke up the neighbors, he ran for his bedroom, slammed the door, and grabbed his shotgun. He pointed it at the closed door and yelled "IF YOU TRY TO COME THROUGH THIS DOOR, I WILL SHOOT TO KILL."
The dog stopped barking and my uncle came out of the bedroom (after his wife called 911). The thief was gone. The police arrived, but were unable to find the escaping thief despite the fact they had secured the neighborhood exits (there's a small forest that leads to a back road behind my uncle's house, that's probably where the guy went).
Anyway, my uncle was lucky to escape only $40 poorer. His dog was praised by the police, and his neighbor now owns a mastiff. Other neighbors bought guns. My uncle and aunt are getting concealed weapon permits and installed new lighting around their home. Now my aunt watches my uncle leave for work with a gun in one hand and a phone in the other.
Because even in one of the safest neighborhoods in America, you can be robbed at gunpoint IN YOUR OWN DRIVEWAY.
My aunt and uncle live in an upper-middle-class neighborhood. They are surrounded by well-off people, lots of families. There is a high school not a mile down the road. There is a police and fire station right around the corner. Basically they live around lots of rich white people who have never committed a felony in their life, in one of the safest suburbs in America. They are about as far away from the ghetto as you can get short of living in a private, gated community.
Last Wednesday morning my uncle was robbed at gunpoint.
In his own driveway.
It was 5:30 AM and he was getting in his truck. He had his back turned to the street, when he heard someone say "turn around, please."
He turned around and a 6-2, 300-pound black man wearing a ski mask was standing in the driveway. At first, my uncle thought it was some kind of joke, or a SWAT team was in the area and taking care of a problem. When he realized it wasn't, and realized the guy had a gun, he told the guy "get out of here."
The thief pointed the gun at my uncle and asked him for the money in his wallet. My uncle gave him $40, and then the thief said "get in your car. We're going to the ATM."
Knowing that getting in a car with this guy and going anywhere probably wasn't a great idea, my uncle activated the alarm on his car. The thief then produced a knife and brandished it at my uncle, telling him to turn off the alarm. He did so.
Clearly, this guy wasn't going to be chased off so easily. But my uncle still wasn't dumb enough to get in a car and go anywhere with a criminal. This is where he apparently began thinking about how to escape the situation.
"My debit card is inside."
He led the thief inside. Then, as he passed the window of the room where his dog sleeps, he shouted the words "BAD GUYS!" This is the command for his dog to go berserk.
As soon as his dog went off, barking so loudly and angrily it woke up the neighbors, he ran for his bedroom, slammed the door, and grabbed his shotgun. He pointed it at the closed door and yelled "IF YOU TRY TO COME THROUGH THIS DOOR, I WILL SHOOT TO KILL."
The dog stopped barking and my uncle came out of the bedroom (after his wife called 911). The thief was gone. The police arrived, but were unable to find the escaping thief despite the fact they had secured the neighborhood exits (there's a small forest that leads to a back road behind my uncle's house, that's probably where the guy went).
Anyway, my uncle was lucky to escape only $40 poorer. His dog was praised by the police, and his neighbor now owns a mastiff. Other neighbors bought guns. My uncle and aunt are getting concealed weapon permits and installed new lighting around their home. Now my aunt watches my uncle leave for work with a gun in one hand and a phone in the other.
Because even in one of the safest neighborhoods in America, you can be robbed at gunpoint IN YOUR OWN DRIVEWAY.