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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.

...sounds like you might have a bit more to be thankful for in that area than a lot of us...but I don't think you can realistically claim connection with a lot of those...betcha you don't have trouble maintaining situational awareness...betcha some of our servicemen think that list's kinda short...thanks, fellas!!!

speedsix wrote:...but I don't think you can realistically claim connection with a lot of those...

I'm not trying to say I am connected with some of those I'm just pointing out that what is supposed to be a rare thing has happened frequently in places I frequent. Its not like I'm in the ghetto or a war zone where this kinda thing is expected. With the exception of #'s 2, 5 and 10 all these things happened either immediately near me or within 10 minutes of me being there. I guess I'm coming off a bit like a drama queen but that wasn't my intent. I was more looking to see if others have had similar experiences and find out if its a little more common than I think.

I hope you'll not take offense, if I decline to hang out with you!

The problem was you were in CA. A land where only the cops and robbers have guns. Not that shootings dont happen in Texas. Good that you left there. When I lived there I herd and read about a few shootings in my area but none as close as your experiences.

Sounds like California gun bans work great!

It's not just the bullet with your name on it. You have to watch out for the ones addressed to Occupant.

All joking aside, if there are too many shootings where you hang out, maybe factor that into your decision about where to hang out. Many problems can be avoided by following three simple rules.

Don't do stupid things.
Don't go to stupid places.
Don't hang out with stupid people.

bayouhazard wrote:It's not just the bullet with your name on it. You have to watch out for the ones addressed to Occupant.

All joking aside, if there are too many shootings where you hang out, maybe factor that into your decision about where to hang out. Many problems can be avoided by following three simple rules.

Don't do stupid things.
Don't go to stupid places.
Don't hang out with stupid people.

Thats my point. I was at most of these places due to work and they were, for the most part, all perfectly respectable downtown theatre districts where thousands of well heeled theatre goers were present. I was not doing stupid things with stupid people in stupid places.

These experiences also span about 15 years and geographical distance, so its not like this all happened one epic wild night.

I'm gathering that this is not typical of everyones experience. I honestly expected quite a few people to have had similar moments that have given them pause and be told to get over it. These close (some really some not so much) calls have been very instrumental in my desire to get my CHL and I carry when ever and where ever I can.

For the record nothing has even remotely happened since I moved to Texas save one road rage driver giving me the bird...

olafpfj wrote:

bayouhazard wrote:It's not just the bullet with your name on it. You have to watch out for the ones addressed to Occupant.

All joking aside, if there are too many shootings where you hang out, maybe factor that into your decision about where to hang out. Many problems can be avoided by following three simple rules.

Don't do stupid things.
Don't go to stupid places.
Don't hang out with stupid people.

Thats my point. I was at most of these places due to work and they were, for the most part, all perfectly respectable downtown theatre districts where thousands of well heeled theatre goers were present. I was not doing stupid things with stupid people in stupid places.

These experiences also span about 15 years and geographical distance, so its not like this all happened one epic wild night.

I'm gathering that this is not typical of everyones experience. I honestly expected quite a few people to have had similar moments that have given them pause and be told to get over it. These close (some really some not so much) calls have been very instrumental in my desire to get my CHL and I carry when ever and where ever I can.

For the record nothing has even remotely happened since I moved to Texas save one road rage driver giving me the bird...

What better place for the BGs to congregate? Where thousands of well heeled people are present. If you are going to rob someone rob someone that has something valuable.

Shootings? none I currently recall.
Gun at my head by armed robbers forcing me to the floor-only two so far
armed robbers in a room with me while various stores being robbed, total of 7 armed robbers so far.

I moved from Houston to the Country now, and watch for rattlesnakes and rabid skunks n other critters

I used to eat lunch all the time at the Subway sandwich shop across the street from the North Hollywood Bank of America that got shot up by those two fools a few years back. I wasn't there when it happened, but I was on the phone while it was going down with someone who was a couple of blocks away at the time. On the phone it sounded like every siren in America was going by.

Never been in combat, but I have been shot at accidentally by someone who was unaware of my presence down range from where he was shooting on a rural hillside in SoCal. Scared the bejabbers out of me. And while working in the ER at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, I helped treat lots and lots of shooting victims over the years.

And, an old girlfriend of mine when I was in high school was shot in the arm by some kid with a .22 who was playing sniper in the attic of his home and "didn't know the gun was loaded."

Yes.
46 years ago was the first. I was walking with a friend through a local shopping area. The door to a small indy liquor store was propped open,
on the floor lay a man crying and calling for his mother...... he had tried to rob the store and the owner shot the BG in the stomach. My friend and
I got there before the police of ambulance. It happened about 30 seconds before we walked by.
Jump to 1972. In a folk singing type restaurant/bar (yea they used to have those back in the day). Two men arguing at the bar. Suddenly pop,pop.
One man backed away and slowly slid to the floor. He too had been shot in either the stomach or abdomen area...... he simply said "you shot me Ray,
you shot me". Turns out, they were brothers.
Fast forward to 1992 - 1995 (I don't remember the specific year) I was married w/ kids. My wife and I had taken our kids to the State Fair of Texas.
Super big mistake because it was HS day at the fair. Evening set in, we were exiting the midway with one kid walking and one in a stroller. Appeared to be gang types filling the aisles and the Gang Unit Popo were becoming more apparent, so the wife and I were trying to leave asap. Exiting closest to the rodeo area. One or two muffled pops, screams, kids running away making a circle around the kid that got shot. We very quickly left. Here's what's strange.... my wife had a asthma attack due to dust, going into the animal barn etc. She was taken to Baylor. Turns out the kid that got shot was in the next bed, curtain separated them. We could hear everything. The kids grandmom showed up and she chewed his rear-end off like a she bear. Interesting conversation.
Several years passed. Several weird encounters with weird folks. Finally, I get threatened by a 18-22yo kid at a gas station, "what are you looking at you white Mister Ferguson, I ought to pop a cap in your rear"..... within 7 days I had enrolled into a CHL class .... and the rest is history.

**Edit: BTW, we searched the papers for a crime report or story regarding the shooting on the Midway. We found none.

I never did witness any shootings but I saw a rather interesting brawl outside of a bar where one man really put a whooping on 3 attackers. Unfortunately he chased after 2 of them and the third caught up to him and stabbed him to death. This was infront of no less than 40 people. I think the cops got him the next day.

This is why they say "when it's over, it's over"

Heard a pistol unloaded in a warehouse area about a mile away when walking into work one morning. Reported it to security who asked if I would like to see the bullet holes in the building's exterior walls. I called 911 after that. There have been 3 murders, several armed robberies, and untold burglaries within a half-mile. Ledbetter - Cockrell Hill area of Dallas.