In broad daylight, in what most people would think is a very “safe place.” I live in Cincinnati, in a neighborhood where such things are considered unheard of. It’s a place where on a summer evening people are out jogging, walking dogs, pushing strollers, working in the yard, sitting on the porch or just hanging out and talking. The sidewalk is always busy. Traffic is very heavy too, cars constantly going by on the main street in front or our house.
I was on the sidewalk beside our house a bit after seven in the evening. I’d just come home, was taking stuff out of my car, putting things in the recycling bin when a car passed me by. I thought nothing of it other than to note it driving a bit fast and that was an unusual color, a bright dark lime green. It went a few doors up the street, pulled into a driveway and turned around, came back and passed me again. It stopped at the stop sign about 40 feet from me (I live on a corner lot). Out the passenger side door came a young man running straight at me. As he ran he pulled a long barrel brown revolver from his waist and stuck it in my face. It’s an odd feeling to stare down the barrel of a gun pointed at you in earnest.
“Give me your wallet.” I froze, I was stunned. I did nothing other than look at him and his gun in astonishment. It didn’t seem quite real. I did and said nothing, just stood there. Then out the other door of the car came the driver who ran up and showed me he too had a gun, a black semi-automatic. He didn’t point it at me, simply held it in his hand for me to see and said “give us your wallet or we will shoot you.” I made a disgusted face and gave them my wallet. At that point what else could I do? They ran back to their car.
Oddly, they then had to sit for several seconds at the stop sign waiting for traffic to pass so as to pull out on the main street. As they did I stood and studied their car, tried to memorize the license plate which was clearly visible and other details of the car as well.
They turned the corner, I fumbled with my phone (which they did not take) and tried to call 911. It took me a bit to gather my wits and make the call, the police were there in minutes. I talked to them, called the bank to deactivate the cards , and then posted my story on Facebook where it got a good deal of attention, including that of the Mayor John Cranley who lives only a few blocks away. The police were seriously on the case today.
My wallet had maybe $40 in it. And of course the variety of cards one accumulates over time, driver’s license, proof of insurance, three debit cards, (one mine – the other two my employer), health insurance, dental insurance, AAA, COSTCO, my now 50+ year old original Social Security card, an expired library card and other cards I don't even remember. Also , several un-cashed paychecks.
I’ve had several people suggest it all would have been different had I just had a concealed carry permit. No. Those forty dollars in my wallet are worth neither my life nor theirs, but what happened last bothers me a great deal.
Today I’ve spent a good deal of time thinking about all that. My employer is the County Democratic Party. The reason the paychecks were un-cashed is the Party often can’t afford to pay them. I’ve spent a lot of time online in the last month online trying to draw attention to both Ferguson and Beavercreek where young black men were gunned down in my view without any reason. Both stories are very troubling. But as you may have guessed by now, the two young men that I confronted last night with guns in their hands and in my face were black. I’m not.
Today, I pondered, spent a couple of hours figuring out how to replace my driver’s license, stop payment on the paychecks, trying to figure out the model of car they were driving talking to the police. I figured out that the color is probably not something the manufacturer offers, so even thought its nearly new its been repainted. That suggests it's a stolen car. Most likely the two hand guns were as well.
I also spent time wondering if there was anything I could or should have done differently. Both of these young men were well dressed, good looking, good hair cuts, well spoken, the car they were driving was far nicer than mine.
They were both around 20 (plus or minus). While they were obviously very reckless and foolish, but they did not strike me as unintelligent. They struck me as young men who could see no future for themselves, so they would take as much as they could as fast as they could, consequences be damned. At the moment they are probably amped up over their “success.” They struck me as having done the same before as they did to me, and probably will do the same again.
The end will not be pretty. It’s all very sad and I don’t know the answer other than to strive to build a society where all can believe they have a real future, not just a temporary one.
I've thought in retrospect, what if I had simply offered up the cash and said "do you really want to do this? Put the guns down, can I offer you a beer, come on up lets talk."
Or more likely it would have gotten me shot.