Being Held Up at Gun Point

For all of you accustomed to my normally funny/whitty/satirical blogs, you will be surprised to read a very serious blog I am posting.

The title is true in every sense of the word. I was held up at gun point after entering my house at 1am on Saturday morning, April 4, 2009. There were many events leading up to this, and it has seriously led me to believe that I either have a guardian angel, as I have been told by a girl I was dating back in 2005 (and I thought she was crazy at the time), but definitely do believe that God is looking down on us at all times.

I started off Friday like always, coming home from work. This day I got home around 3pm because, like most Fridays, it is rather slow and there are not a lot of surgeries or Docs around to talk to after 12pm. I had already made up my mind that I was to go up to Keystone to go snowboarding with my cousin, Walter. They were staying up there for the weekend anyways, and he said I might be able to stay up there with them on Saturday night. So I had already made up my mind to get up to the Mountains. There are only 2 more weekends before the resorts all close anyways. So, normally I try to get to bed early on Friday night so I can wake up at 5:45am to make the drive up to the mountains without hitting any traffic.

Well, I didn't go out with my friend Jackie because she said she was having a Girls Night Out, and I didn't want to hit anyone else up so I could get into bed as early as possible. I was watching VH1's "One Hit Wonders of the 80's" and also "The Girls of the Sunset Strip," which got me all the way to about 10pm. Then I watched some more TV and before I knew it, I was going up to my room about 11:30pm. I had failed in my attempt to go to bed early. So I texted Jackie, "Damn! The whole point of me not going out 2nite was 2 b in bed by 10:30 2 get up @ 6am so I can snowboard, n here it is 11:30... FAIL!!!"

She texted me back and said her friends and her were at Rock Bar if I wanted to go out. The bar is only like 2-3 miles away and not Downtown, so parking is not an issue. I decided to head over there. I left the house at around midnight and met up with her and her friends. I attempted to get a drink at a severely packed bar, and got so fed up with waiting that I didn't even care anymore. Danced with Jackie for a little bit, and then around 12:45am I was ready to head out. I drove her to her car at her friends place, and then headed home to get my snowboarding gear ready.

At around 1am I get home and unlock the deadbolt on the front door, and walk in. The only light on in the house is the front entry-way light. Todd (the home-owner/Amy's Brother) was not home, and his car was not there. He had gone to go skiing in the mountains, but I thought he said he'd be back Friday night. I hear noise coming from upstairs, which is where my room is. I start to wonder if Todd is home. I stand and listen some more, and I hear more noise coming from upstairs. I start to think maybe Todd is home, and his car is just not there. He had been having trouble with his car and was talking about getting rid of it anyways, so that was in the back of my mind.

Let me caution everyone: if you think that something just doesn't seem right, you should trust your instincts! DO NOT go investigate!

I'm thinking that something is fishy about this. I thought I heard papers ruffling around, and now that I think about it, it was still dark upstairs. So if Todd was home, he would've had the lights on. I yell out from downstairs, "Hello?!" No answer so I walk up the stairs (like an idiot), and yell out one more time, "Hello?!"

As I look down the hall into Todd's office, a black male, about 5'9" and maybe 200-220 lbs comes into the doorway down the hall. He is down the hall about 20 feet away. He points a silver pistol at me. I was looking down the barrel. He says in a really deep bass voice, and quietly yet forcefully, "Yeah. Give me your wallet."

I'm like, SHIT! No way is this happening! Why did I feel the need to go upstairs and find out what was happening? Why did I not just get the hell out and call 911 when I thought something was not right? My hands are up in the air and I had my wallet in my left hand and my keys in my right hand. Homeboy walks towards me and says, "Go down the stairs." I have my wallet in my hand walking down the stairs kind of holding it towards the intruder so he can take it. He says, "Throw the wallet on the stairs. Get down on the ground, face down." I get on the ground with my keys in my right hand, and I'm face down on the ground. "Are you calm," he asks.

"Yes," I respond.

"Good! Stay calm, lie down there, and no-one gets hurt."

He walked around me towards the back door. I was lying down, thanking my lucky stars to still be a living organism on this planet. I stayed lying there for a few minutes, listening, and I hear nothing. No sound at all. So I call out, "Hello... Hello?" It is apparent that he is not in the house, so I get up and visually check the back door and see that it is creaked open. So he must've exited out the back door. I feel ok at this point. I want to leave, but I start to fear he may be outside, so I check out front to see if he's there. I don't see anything, but I wait for a few more minutes and check again. Still nothing. I go out the front door and drive to Jackie's place. It is 1:30am at this point.

She's asking me if I'm ok and stuff... I tell her yes, I'm ok, but then it dawns on me that I should call 911. I hang up with her and call 911. I was fully intent on driving straight to her place, but I am told there are cop cars already on the way back to my house. I turn around and go back to meet the cops at home. I call Jackie and tell her that I am not going straight to her place, I have to meet the cops. But I am not sleeping at home tonight, so she can expect me later.

I meet the cops back at home, tell them everything. They go in and sweep and clear the house. They come out and tell me to come inside. I was on the phone with Navy Federal while they were sweeping the house, cancelling my bank/credit cards with them. I didn't even have cash on me. This guy didn't really get anything out of taking my wallet. I go through the house with the officers. Todd's room is tore apart, my room is tore apart, and Todd's laptop was taken from the office. The intruder did not have a bag with him because he emptied out my backpack and it was missing, so he must've put the laptop in my backpack.

I find out Sunday that a pocket watch I got for being in my friend Grant's wedding was taken also. Ironically, I am moving out of this house and moving this week into a much nicer and safer neighborhood. I will not even be here next weekend!

The cops say that the intruder came in by busting through the back door. This was the only door in the house that was not dead-bolted. He couldn't have been there for maybe 15 minute before I got there. I don't really think this was a thought-out, meticulous robbery. Just a smash and grab. I am lucky I was not sleeping in my bed when this happened. I would've freaked out probably! Somehow I didn't get to bed early enough, and Jackie invited me out. And what's more, I was wrestling with the option of either going to bed or going out at the time Jackie texted me back. Someone made up my mind for me to leave the house. Too bad that same someone didn't make up my mind for me to get out of the house the second I heard noises from upstairs, but I guess there's only so much a guardian can do.

ALWAYS DEAD-BOLT your house! ALWAYS! Granted, Todd lives in a sketchy, ghetto, neighborhood, but still. After this experience I will have everything bolted from now on.

Talking to some people, they say that they probably would've panicked or freaked out if it happened to them. Luckily, and I mean this... I'm me. I'm pretty calm and collected, and I was able to just deal with the situation as calmly as possible. I didn't know what to expect after the guy told me to go face-down on the ground, but I just trusted that he didn't want to shoot me. THANK GOD! I have been talking to a lot of people about it to get it out. I can't bottle this up, and now you all can read it, and hopefully take a lesson from it...