My family (my mother, younger brother, and I) run a small convenience store in the Capitol Hill district of Seattle. Our hours are from 8 am to 2 pm (the state mandated cut-off time for alcohol sales).
We recently put one of our desktop computers from home at the store. This is why I've been able to keep up a little on the boards for the past several weeks.
The following events happened today (Monday, October 15th) around 2:30 to 3:00 pm.
I opened the store at 8 am this morning. It was like any other boring day. I served customers, I browsed the CHUD boards, prepared the order forms for the week, and restocked inventory. The usual bums and weirdos came in and out of the store along with the normal middle-class folk.
As I read about the messed up girls that some people on the boards have had relationships with, I notice someone at the corner of my eye. I look outside the store window and see what I presume to be a bum walking around in a ski-jacket, a hat, sunglasses, and a surgeon's mask.
Weird. But not all that weird, I thought. The day continued.
My mom and brother came to the store around 2 pm. It's when they arrive that I can take a restroom break comfortably before heading out to Costco and/or Cash & Carry for more inventory. I also usually stop by the bank to deposit the previous day's earnings. I decided to make a quick trip to the bank first as I wanted to say hi to the Bank of America employees that I'd gotten friendly with over the past year.
At the bank, I realize that I didn't bring all the deposits for today. So I go back. I couldn't have been gone for much more than 5 minutes...
I come back to the store to find a group of people outside all in a controlled commotion. I approach the store entrance and am greeted by the sight of my younger brother. His face and sweatshirt are dripping with blood. I look inside the store. There is a path of blood leading towards the back of the store. One of the people outside are on the phone describing what was going on. My mother is going to piece inside.
I have no idea what's going on.
Eventually I learn that in the 5 minutes I was gone, the man with the surgeon's mask entered the store and went directly behind the cashier's counter and held my brother up at gunpoint. He tells him to open the cash register but must've realized that my brother was not alone. He doesn't even give my brother a chance to obey. He forces him out from behind the counter and has his arms around his neck with the gun in his other hand.
My mother, stocking the frozen foods in the back of the store, comes to see what the commotion is about. My brother struggles the whole way through and even tries to grab the gun from the robber's hands when our mother is in danger! That's when he uses the butt of the gun to knock my brother's head.
They are shoved back to the corner where my mom was stocking the cooler. My mother holds my brother for dear life. The man starts back towards the register, presumably to take the money. But unbeknownst to him, a customer had just entered. Seeing the customer, the guy made a break for it and left.
I came back as the patrons of the fitness center next door were helping to treat my brother, console my mother, and call the authorities. I had no idea how to react. I wasn't in shock. I wasn't emotional. I felt like time had completely jumped forward without me know it.
What I explained above is what I could gather from everything I had heard the witnesses explain as well as the footage from our security cameras. As I scanned through the footage with the police officers after my mom and brother were carted off in an ambulance, I finally started to feel something. I saw my brother struggle. I saw him try to grab the gun. My heart pounded.
Was it wise for him to struggle? Most definately not. But when I saw him go for that gun, I couldn't help but swell with pride for my brother. But I felt nothing but shame for myself. Shame that I wasn't there for them. It makes no sense to feel this way, I know. The guy probably even waited until I left to make his move. But none of this changes how negligent I feel.
Just now, I even learned that it was my mother who was able to give chase to the guy as he left the store and shouted for anyone to take note of him and call the police. As she tells it, she shouted up a storm. She followed him far enough to see the Lexus the guy drove off in. And she got his plate numbers. The plate numbers that led to the police tracking the guy and taking him into custody. Even in that state of shock and anxiety, she was able to do this. Cut the swell in pride for my family.
It was only when it was all over that she broke down. That was the state I saw her in. She tells me, had she been next to the wine section when the incident occurred, she would've had at him. She chalks it up to those maternal instincts kicking in.
So yes, the guy was apprehended, the police informed me. And the gun was real. My brother thought it was a fake. I have no idea if it was loaded. I had plenty of support from my friends, though it wasn't I who needed it. But it was nice to have two buddies hang around while I ran the store all day. It's these moments when you remember that you shouldn't take family and friends for granted.
It's 1:37 AM now. I put this here so that I could record my thoughts and feelings on today's events (that I had no part of) and show off my badass family. Perhaps this kind of incident isn't surprising at all given that you read of worse things happening all the time. But this is the first time anything like this has ever happened to my family, so I felt like sharing.
Thanks for reading this far.
We recently put one of our desktop computers from home at the store. This is why I've been able to keep up a little on the boards for the past several weeks.
The following events happened today (Monday, October 15th) around 2:30 to 3:00 pm.
I opened the store at 8 am this morning. It was like any other boring day. I served customers, I browsed the CHUD boards, prepared the order forms for the week, and restocked inventory. The usual bums and weirdos came in and out of the store along with the normal middle-class folk.
As I read about the messed up girls that some people on the boards have had relationships with, I notice someone at the corner of my eye. I look outside the store window and see what I presume to be a bum walking around in a ski-jacket, a hat, sunglasses, and a surgeon's mask.
Weird. But not all that weird, I thought. The day continued.
My mom and brother came to the store around 2 pm. It's when they arrive that I can take a restroom break comfortably before heading out to Costco and/or Cash & Carry for more inventory. I also usually stop by the bank to deposit the previous day's earnings. I decided to make a quick trip to the bank first as I wanted to say hi to the Bank of America employees that I'd gotten friendly with over the past year.
At the bank, I realize that I didn't bring all the deposits for today. So I go back. I couldn't have been gone for much more than 5 minutes...
I come back to the store to find a group of people outside all in a controlled commotion. I approach the store entrance and am greeted by the sight of my younger brother. His face and sweatshirt are dripping with blood. I look inside the store. There is a path of blood leading towards the back of the store. One of the people outside are on the phone describing what was going on. My mother is going to piece inside.
I have no idea what's going on.
Eventually I learn that in the 5 minutes I was gone, the man with the surgeon's mask entered the store and went directly behind the cashier's counter and held my brother up at gunpoint. He tells him to open the cash register but must've realized that my brother was not alone. He doesn't even give my brother a chance to obey. He forces him out from behind the counter and has his arms around his neck with the gun in his other hand.
My mother, stocking the frozen foods in the back of the store, comes to see what the commotion is about. My brother struggles the whole way through and even tries to grab the gun from the robber's hands when our mother is in danger! That's when he uses the butt of the gun to knock my brother's head.
They are shoved back to the corner where my mom was stocking the cooler. My mother holds my brother for dear life. The man starts back towards the register, presumably to take the money. But unbeknownst to him, a customer had just entered. Seeing the customer, the guy made a break for it and left.
I came back as the patrons of the fitness center next door were helping to treat my brother, console my mother, and call the authorities. I had no idea how to react. I wasn't in shock. I wasn't emotional. I felt like time had completely jumped forward without me know it.
What I explained above is what I could gather from everything I had heard the witnesses explain as well as the footage from our security cameras. As I scanned through the footage with the police officers after my mom and brother were carted off in an ambulance, I finally started to feel something. I saw my brother struggle. I saw him try to grab the gun. My heart pounded.
Was it wise for him to struggle? Most definately not. But when I saw him go for that gun, I couldn't help but swell with pride for my brother. But I felt nothing but shame for myself. Shame that I wasn't there for them. It makes no sense to feel this way, I know. The guy probably even waited until I left to make his move. But none of this changes how negligent I feel.
Just now, I even learned that it was my mother who was able to give chase to the guy as he left the store and shouted for anyone to take note of him and call the police. As she tells it, she shouted up a storm. She followed him far enough to see the Lexus the guy drove off in. And she got his plate numbers. The plate numbers that led to the police tracking the guy and taking him into custody. Even in that state of shock and anxiety, she was able to do this. Cut the swell in pride for my family.
It was only when it was all over that she broke down. That was the state I saw her in. She tells me, had she been next to the wine section when the incident occurred, she would've had at him. She chalks it up to those maternal instincts kicking in.
So yes, the guy was apprehended, the police informed me. And the gun was real. My brother thought it was a fake. I have no idea if it was loaded. I had plenty of support from my friends, though it wasn't I who needed it. But it was nice to have two buddies hang around while I ran the store all day. It's these moments when you remember that you shouldn't take family and friends for granted.
It's 1:37 AM now. I put this here so that I could record my thoughts and feelings on today's events (that I had no part of) and show off my badass family. Perhaps this kind of incident isn't surprising at all given that you read of worse things happening all the time. But this is the first time anything like this has ever happened to my family, so I felt like sharing.
Thanks for reading this far.
