Violence

It was hot and humid that day. I hurried out of the office to meet Jimbo for lunch. Usually we packed our lunches but we'd had a long week and needed a break from it all and nothing seemed better at that time than a shared meal consisting of a greasy quarter pounder with fries.

I pulled into the parking lot and he was waiting for me. We walked in together, ordered and took our seats. I can't recall exactly what it was we talked about but I'm sure it had something to do with plans for our future (we were not yet married) and that conversation led to us being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

A nice jewelry store was located in a building directly next door. We had some time left before we had to return to work and decided to go in and take a look at their wedding rings. We were ushered to the very expensive section with platinum and diamonds but quickly made our way to the rings more within our price range. As we were leaving, one of the women handed me a brochure for the diamonds they are licensed to sell. These diamonds are special because of the cut that illuminates each individual ray of light that touches it.

I was scanning the inside of the booklet and didn't notice the man walking inside. I just saw a shadow really and as force of habit made my way to move so he or she could pass by. I looked up when that little instinct we all have took over to let me know he was still directly in my path.

I cannot tell you what the gun looked like, or what kind of gun it was, or if it was even big or small. From the moment I saw it pointed at me, nothing computed. I just simply stopped and stared down the barrel while dozens of thoughts ran through my mind. The moment was beyond surreal.

The man had a bandanna tied around the bottom half of his face and a cap on his head. The only feature I could see were his eyes and I made sure not to look into them. I'm not sure why but I just knew somehow he might feel threatened and begin shooting us all. He motioned all of the people in the room into a group. I huddled behind Jim, terrified and kept thinking "wake up!!!" as if I were locked in some god awful nightmare.

"If any of you move I'll kill you, I swear to god!!" He repeated this over and over again. I began to shake violently and I felt a wave of regret that I wouldn't be able to tell my family, my Mom, Sister, Father or Niece that I love them. I wondered if my niece, then 1, would even remember me.

The man quickly went through the glass cabinets and displays, yanking gold chains and jewelry out and shoving them into the bag being held by one of the women that worked there. The entire robbery took place in under 3 minutes but it felt like an eternity.

When he was done, he fled quickly through the doors all the while still threatening , "if you call the cops I'll come back here and kill you all, I swear to god!" and ran out the door into the hot midday sun. We all stood in shock until one of the staff ran and locked the glass doors and hit the panic button. I collapsed to the ground and began to shake and cry. I finally stopped when the police arrived.

This happened to me several years ago. My carefree days of walking into a store, or any pubic place, was forever changed in those 3 minutes. The first few months I was terrified to go anywhere on that particular busy street again. I attempted to go to that came McD's a few months later in an effort to "get over it" and had to leave with food in hand. I've never eaten there again.

It's so sad and so wrong when violence touches so many, even those just trying to do their job and live their lives. I should also mention that, while I didn't know it at the time, I was pregnant with our first child.

Thanks ernursey. for sharing your story. I'm glad that you stood up for what you believed in and took a stand. We never did find the person that committed that crime but I like to think that eventually his lifestyle caught up to him. The police believed it was a "crack head" looking for a "fix".

Jimbo and I moved into a house in the country shortly after and a stay at home Mom was born.