Ever been robbed?

[Nite_Hawk]

So, this morning my wife and I are sleeping in bed, and we wake up to a loud crack outside our door (We live in a house with a number of other college students and have a door connecting to the patio of our house). Once awake, I see that the door into our room is ajar and my wife leans over wispering to me that there is a man crouching down at the foot of our bed. We wait for about ten minutes wispering in spanish to each other trying to figure out what the heck to do. We eventually say outloud that the backdoor to the house is right outside our room and to please leave. We wait for about another 5 minutes, and say "we're going to get up, go to the kitchen, and get a drink of water. We don't want to get hurt. Hopefully if anyone is still here they will use this as an opportunity to leave". So we get up, and go to the kitchen. We wait for about 3 or 4 minutes, and hear some noises as the door is closed. We go upstairs and wake up one of our roommates to call the police.

It's pretty crazy. Luckily my wife and I have been in some bad situations before (we've run into some trouble while backpacking through central america) and I think it helped both of us keep our cool. Thank god neither of us was hurt, and we were lucky in that none of our stuff was stolen. I think the guy was about as freaked out seeing us as we were seeing him.

So, anyone else here ever been robbed, or had someone break into their house? Did you see the person? It's a pretty wierd experience. Almost a little awkward.

Nite_Hawk

 

[Trawler]

Not a nice situation to be in!

I had a simliar experience (though not so bad). At one stage I was living in quite a dodgy area of north-east London. Our flat was right next door (as in 2 meters away!) from a night club that attracted all sorts of people you wouldn't want to meet.

We always had people peeing on our doorstep or having fights outside our windows (we were a ground floor flat). Had people sitting on my window sill drinking beer on a number of occasions. Once my flatmate caught a couple shagging in the alley way... so he just sat on his bed and watched! He was a dirty bugger though.

Anyway, one night I woke up from a very, very deep sleep (as in I couldn't move for the first few seconds) to find a fella climbing in through my window. I had left the window open a few inches at the top as it was really hot at the time. Didn't think anyone could squeeze through, but that's determination for you!

As I said, I found it hard to move or make a noise at first, and he was scrambling with his arms, trying to pull his way through the window. Eventually I managed to yell out 'F*** OFF!'. With this, he crapped himself, and legged it.

Don't like to think what may have happened if I didn't wake up for another 30 seconds or so!

Moral of the story: Don't live next door to Parkers night club on Seven Sisters Road!!!

 

[Simon F]

Nite_hawk:
Sorry to hear of your experience. Being burgled must be bad enough but finding the b&gger in your house must be horrible.

We always had people peeing on our doorstep

What about buying a small electric fence unit?

 

[Trawler]

We always had people peeing on our doorstep

What about buying a small electric fence unit?

That'd only attract more of these type of characters.

 

[John Reynolds]

Nite_hawk, I'm glad no one was hurt.

I was working at my father's store back in '81 when we were robbed. The robber had a double-barreled sawed-off shotgun that he stuck in my stomach while telling the manager he either gets money or I die. The manager became so nervous she couldn't open the cash register and the robber very calmly said, "Don't make me kill him." It was the tonal absence in which he make that statement that was so frightening. Once he had the money he escorted us to the store's backroom and made us kneel together in a corner facing the wall. At that point I fully expected him to kill us since we were the only witnesses who could identify him, but he closed the door and left. I was barely 17 at the time and started shaking so badly I couldn't drive home that night (my mom had to come get me). I later identified the robber when he was arrested, and subsequently convicted, for murder.

 

[Tahir2]

Wow, these stories are pretty freaky, especially yours John.

I dont know how I would have reacted in either scenario but something happened to our family a few years ago where someone broke one of our front windows, presumely to gain entry. Luckily my mother is a very light sleeper and woke up and started shouting. Whoever it/they were legged it.

At that time it felt like an utter betrayal and invasion.

Finding someone has sneaked themself to your bedroom as you sleep must be incredibly upsetting even if you are used to 'bad situations' Nite_Hawk.

I think the laws in the UK for burglery are still too lenient even though there has been some reform over the last few months. Burglery is a crime that I can see, that can destroy victims even if they are not at home at the time of the event. It just feels so 'icky' even thinking about it.

 

[RussSchultz]

I had some guy steal my umbrella when I was 8.

 

[John Reynolds]

I had some guy steal my umbrella when I was 8.

And he was probably 6.

 

[Humus]

I had some guy steal my umbrella when I was 8.

Lol, that's about the maximum level of criminality I have faced too. Well, I haven't ever been a victim, but I had a guy trying to sell some stolen stuff to me in the subway in Toronto. That's about it.

 

[DemoCoder]

In the 80s, at age 16, my sister (who has been a drug addict for the last 20+ years) had taken dope from a dealer but not paid him. She no longer lived at our house, but the dealer decided to take the money whoever he could get it from.

At around 9pm one night, while watching TV, I heard an extremely loud bang as a guy kicked down our front door. He simply stated that we owed his boss $500 and if he did not get it the next day, we would be paying it from my mom's life insurance. Needless to say, we gave him $500 cash the next day, not calling the police, due to the neighborhood we lived in.

We did have guns in the house, but hurting the dealer's runner would just bring more of them.


Another time, I was going to a friend's uncles house at night, who had just yelled at some dealers to get off his front steps. They got into a shouting match and he was telling us the story. A police car arrived and the police started taking this guy's story, when all of a sudden I heard what sounded like firecrackers, and saw flashes of light. A policeman threw me violently to the ground, my head hit the pavement. I looked up to see some shadowy figures in an alley and more flashes of light. The police returned fire, it went on for about a minute, then stopped. The shooters had ran, luckily no one was hurt. It was one of the scariest experiences of my life.

It wouldn't be the last time I witnessed shootouts in my neighborhood, but it was the first and last time I was caught in a crossfire.

 

[K.I.L.E.R]

DemoCoder... :?

You guys live in America right?

I'm never even going to visit the USA.

In Australia I have never been robbed.

 

[RussSchultz]

I had some guy steal my umbrella when I was 8.

And he was probably 6.

Nope, at least high school, maybe older. Just took it from my hands and drove off. Jerk.

 

[John Reynolds]

Nope, at least high school, maybe older. Just took it from my hands and drove off. Jerk.

I got jumped by three older kids who took my comic book money ($1) as I was walking from the grocery store where my mom was to the 7/11 across the street. Very traumatic getting 'rolled' like that at the age of 9.

 

[RussSchultz]

Idn't it though? Of course, not quite as traumatic as your story or Democoders. Sadly, I'm a whiteboy that grew up in a whitebread neighborhood.

 

[DemoCoder]

DemoCoder... :?

You guys live in America right?

I'm never even going to visit the USA.

In Australia I have never been robbed.

America is a large country. I was unlucky to be born in Baltimore City. Some areas are crime ridden, other areas are largely devoid. Depends where you live.

To show the differences, if you live in Vermont (or Maine, or Connecticut, Rhode Island, and most of the New England area), the murder rate is 1.5 per 100k. If you live in Louisana, it's 15.7 per 100k. US average is 5-6 (depending on year)

When I moved from Baltimore to New York City, I moved to a much safer city, but then I moved to Montgomery County MD and I lived in an area rated a "1" in safety (most safe) vs a "9" (Baltimore). There wasn't a single murder the entire 3 years I lived there. There was one major crime, a grocery store hold up at like 3am.

Now I live in Silicon Vallery, and again, the area I live in has next to no crime. I never fear for gun battles, pick pockets, mugging, robbery, etc. There are perhaps one or two "big" crimes in this area on the news, but nothing like the daily murders coming out of Baltimore or Oakland.

This is the problem and illusion that foreigners are under when they watch American media. They think that because they can get CNN and FOX, and see American cops and robbers shows, or MTV gangters, that this somehow represents American life - the perception that the US is a war zone of crime.

Do yourself a favor if you travel to the US and don't do the "touristy" thing for once. Take a drive along I-5, Route 1, or Route 66. Visit the north western coast, or Oregon, or Vermon and Upstate New York. If you went to Italy, would you confine yourself to Rome, or would you drive through Tuscany and Campania?

I was actually surprised went I first visited Paris, because I had always been programmed by media that France's illustrious welfare system took care of everyone and that homelessness was a US problem, you know, greedy Americans, rich vs poor, yadda yadda yadda. Yet, when I visited the poorer Paris quarters, I felt like I was home in San Francisco, due to the barrage of gypsy panhandlers.

Don't live by Stereotypes.

 

[Clashman]

Hey Nite_Hawk, what neighborhood do you live in?

I live in Seward right now, and lately there's been a rash of people busting into cars. I've probably seen close to a dozen within the past 3 or 4 months. My parents car was broken into about 5 months ago, (I was borrowing it to help move, (although actually ended up staying in the same building)). Other than that, there's been a couple robberies, and a couple murders in the neighborhood recently.

 

[pascal]

I was in a bank when four people were assaulting it

Thanks god it was fast.

 

[jandar]

I have been robbed 3 times.

Never got any money from me though, I dont carry much on me at anytime.

1. Worked at Burger King as a teenager, 2 guys robbed the place.

2. Walking from a friends house home one night. 4 guys in a car, 2 get out behind me and start walking...... needless to say, I ran, jumped into a yard with very big dogs and hoped for the best. I made it....

3. had a gun pulled on me walking home from work one night. they hit me with the gun, threatened to kill me. I showed them I was broke. They got pissed and tried to run over me with their car. I actually cut one with the belt buckle I had on. I wasn't going down without a fight.
I found out a week later that they killed a guy after they tried to rob me for the 50$ that was in his pocket. sad.....


I used to live in an apartment complex, only white guy in it. I made friends with the dealers to make sure I could at least survive. They bailed me out of trouble a few times.

I also drove a cab, and no part of Jacksonville, Florida was off limits to me since I knew how to watch myself.

Now, I live in a decent community, brand new house, two brand new cars. widescreen HDTV, lot of nice items. Things change. While I was robbed a few more times than alot, my childhood/teenage years was probably comparable to many others in other parts.

 

[Sage]

I, being white, have never had any troubble where I live (been here my whole life... and it SUCKS), but I had a black friend whos car broke down in a little town about 15 miles west of the "city" (Ardmore is the so-called "city"- about 25k people, Wilson is the town- about 1.5k people which seems to be about 10-times too high) and the sun was going down, so he knew what he had to do. He hid in his trunk and used his cell phone to call his dad who had a tow truck bring the car back to Ardmore where it was safe for my friend to get out. I'm very glad that he was smart enough to hide in the trunk or else I'm positive that he wouldn't be around anymore, and not because he had done anything to piss off the people in Wilson because he's a really nice and easy to get along with kinda guy, but simply because if they see a black man out there, especially at night, they will take the opportunity. I'm even afraid to drive through there during daytime with my half-Mexican friend in the car, especially on Sundays because we have to drive past the church. Welcome to the south, where the KKK really IS still alive and you see people with rebel flags everywhere and it NEVER means simply "Southern Pride."

 

[PC-Engine]

When I was in my early 20s I worked as a pizza delivery driver. The area where I had to deliver was mostly safe, but our delivery area did boarder Watts in CA. On that unlucky night I had to deliver two pizzas to a residence bordering Watts. Immediately after the delivery, I was approached by three guys while I was getting ready to start my car. They came out of nowhere and the dark unlit streets didn't help either. One of the guys pointed a handgun at the driver side window. They told me to give them the money and to keep my eyes shut so that I wouldn't be able to recognize their faces. I kept my eyes open but I didn't look at their faces only allowing my periferal vision to see their actions. That way I would be able to get out of the way if anything were to happen. At this point I was standing outside away from my truck. Our company policy was to only carry $20 in change. I had $20 plus the money from the two pizzas so total was about $50. After I gave the the money the other guy gets into my truck and tries to drive it away but the 3rd guy told him to just leave the truck alone. So all three guys run off into the darkness and fires a couple of *you better not follow us* warning shots into the air. It sounded like a .22 handgun.