Have shootings ever happened near you?

[maestrobranson]

While I've never been around shootings or armed robberies, I do tend to work in the worst places it seems. I also am an audio engineer and the gigs always seem to be in the darkest seediest places. It doesn't help that my work "days" tend to end at 0100 or later. My church also is in a bad part of town. A man was in our church offices early one week and was arrested later that week for stabbing a man. These are a big part of the reason I got a CHL, so I could protect my family and myself if and when the unthinkable occurs. I just hate having to work gigs that are in bars, because I can't carry, and because I hate having to clean beer and worse off of my gear. luckily, I am working more theatre events and less and less bar gigs.

[johnson0317]

I was out shooting my 20 ga, somewhere around 1978. I heard some popping noises and turned around to see some jerk, about 400 yards away, shooting a rifle at me. I have no idea what the caliber was, and I did not hear anything landing around me. I fired off a round in his direction, and he took off in his car. Now, I understand what you are thinking...a 20 gauge was not going to reach that far. I think I did it just to try to scare him, and it seemed to work. The strange thing is that I really don't remember being scared. I guess the phrase, "21 and bullet proof" has some basis in mental reality.

RJ

[Medic218]

I have been close to two semi-high profile shootings.
The first was when David Arroyo opened fire on the Smith Co courthouse in Tyler. I was about 3 miles away when he took off and fled north. If he had driven south instead I could have been very close to where he met his demise.

The second was more recently when that wacko opened fire on the McKinney PD from the treeline near the college.

I already had my CHL at that point but thats when I really started to consider a truck gun.

I was never in any immediate danger but still both instances were too close for my comfort.

[Heartland Patriot]

The recent Hollywood shooting has put me a little on edge again. I used to work a few blocks from that intersection and would frequently have lunch at the Baja Fresh that is right there at that intersection. For some reason I seem to be a magnet for shootings. They seem to happen with alarming frequency either near me or in places that I was regularly frequenting. Am I the only one that has this many associations with shootings? I'll list them out and let everyone decide if I'm being a drama queen or does this seem to be strangely more frequent with me. For something that is supposed to be very rare for the average Joe I sure have been around a few of them.

In chronological order...

1. Shot at late one night in Venice Ca. leaving the studio I worked at
2. ATM where I would get money in Venice had a major armored car robbery go down. Blind luck I wasn't there.
3. Shooting outside the backstage entrance to the Pantages theatre in Hollywood shortly after the show let out. Bullet holes in stage door.
4. Box office robbed at gunpoint in St. Louis while the show was running.
5. Stage manager and I leave a bar after the show in Cleveland but stay at different hotels. He gets robbed at gunpoint. I took a different route for some reason.
6. Whole company has to get off bus and walk to the hotel because of the crowds during Indianapolis "Black Expo". Shooting occurs less than 50 yards from us and we almost get trampled in the stampede.
7. Random huge guy decides I know the person driving the car he just stepped in front of and corners me in the Pantages parking lot. Threatens to shoot me. He was probably serious. Security intervenes.
8. Another shooting outside the stage door of the Pantages. More holes in back security gate.
9. Guy gets shot at the Burger King across the street from the Orpheum theatre in San Francisco. I had bought dinner there just moments before. Police said it was a gang hit.
10. Random guy shoots at people at Vine and Sunset. I live in Texas now but I used to be there alot.

Am I being overly dramatic about this or does it seem like I have had things occur near me a bit more often than the general public. The few times it has come up talking with co workers and friends they are a bit amazed and have told me nothing like this has ever even remotely happened near or to them. I work as a sound engineer and stage hand so I work with some shady people and tend to be downtown late at night alot. I don't go looking for this stuff but it seems to find me. Whats y'alls take on it? Have any of you had similar "close" calls. None of these incidents would have warranted me drawing a gun but they were all still a little too close for my liking.

I knew a guy years ago when I was a young airman just starting out in the USAF. His name was Vincent (Vinny). He had the uncanny knack of people wanting to whoop him. Now, I heard some of his stories and figured he was doing something to tick people off. But, I finally did see one incident that made me change my mind. We were sitting in a quiet little bar ON THE BASE. Vinny had his back to a table of guys that neither I nor the third guy at the table had seen before and Vinny later swore he didn't know any of them, either. For some reason, they kept staring at our table. We weren't talking loud, or talking trash, just telling stories about fixing airplanes (its what aircraft maintainers do when you get two or more of them together). When Vinny got up to go to the bathroom, two of the four guys at that table got up and followed him. He didn't say anything to them beforehand nor bump into them, didn't even walk right by their table, nothing. After a minute, the other guy, Bill got up and said he was going to check on Vinny and to sit tight (Bill was a big guy)...and then the other two guys at the other table followed him. Meanwhile, here I am, young guy at a table with half a pitcher of beer and no one to drink it with. So, after a couple of minutes, I went looking for them. They were gone, Vinny, Bill and the four other guys...I made my way back to the barracks, got to Vinny's room and not three minutes later here come Vinny and Bill, out of breath and laughing, and bleeding from minor cuts/scratches. Sure enough, those guys jumped them outside the building and they had to handle things. I asked Vinny what he did to get them going and he said "Nothing"...he just had the bad fortune of people getting ticked off at him for no apparent reason. I guess they just didn't like the way he looked. So, to wrap this overly long story up, maybe like Vinny (in a way) stuff just happens around you and all you can do is react the best you can.

[jimlongley]

I was leaving my ship, in Brooklyn NY to go home for a weekend, and having plenty of time before my bus, I decided to stop in a local bar frequented by sailors for a beer or two with shipmates. As I walked in the door I saw a sailor standing near the door, and another standing the length of the bar down the room, and pointing a gun in my direction. I hit the deck and the shooter hit the first sailor I had seen. Love triangle - the shooter's wife was cohabiting with the other while her husband was away on cruises. There were LOTS of witnesses, so I figured I didn't beed to stick around and went and caught my bus.

[DLBConductor]

Yes.

In 1964, at the age of 21, I toured throughout the Far East in a USO group entertaining the troops. Late one evening, we were performing in an open air theater very near the DMZ in Korea. During the performance, one of the MPs stationed at the edge of the stage yelled, "HIT THE DECK!" Every soldier in the audience was on the floor in about two seconds. At first, we (performers) all stood there like sheep until we realized a North Korean Sniper was shooting at us. We also hit the deck and the stage lights were turned off and floodlights turned towards the sniper. After about a fifteen-minute wait, we continued the show. Given that we were so STUPID, YOUNG, AND NAIVE, we were pretty fortunate that none of us were injured.

Believe me, I learned to follow orders after that. "Do what you're told and ask questions later!" That incident was sort-of-a wake-up call for me. I suddenly realized there really are BGs out there!