SCENARIO/DISCUSSION
Scene
Late, late night fairly sketchy concert club, ~3:30 am or so. A couple fans, the bar staff and the band (your band) are left in the club, about fourteen people total milling around. Band is still breaking down after the gig, some on stage lazily putting gear away, some having a drink, some chatting. You are alone outside loading your gear out of the club and into your car parked in the alley, like you've done, literally, a thousand times.
Contact:
As you push a hand-truck carrying your amp towards your waiting car, an old-style SUV, possibly a Bronco or Suburban, backs up to the front door of the club and the doors swing open. You don’t take much notice at first, then you see three men in black and red ski masks exit the vehicle fast. One shotgun, one matte-finish revolver, one an unknown longarm - he heads inside and one of the remaining two spots you alongside the building. They approach quickly and shotgun guy levels at you at yells through his mask “Get the **** back inside!†in an accent that could be Filipino or maybe Hawaiian. You go back through the door into the club as ordered.
Inside:
They start yelling to intimidate and control the club “Get the **** on the mother******* ground!â€
“Get down!â€
“Put your ****ing hands behind your backâ€
Everyone is having shotguns stuffed in their faces as they take control of the club in a hurry. One of your bandmates jumps off the side of the stage farthest from the entrance, down into the pit with the monitor console. There’s a door back there, but before he can recover from the leap, he has a weapon leveled at him and is pushed back onto the stage.
At this point you realize there are actually four of them, although with your face two inches from the carpet it’s hard to tell what’s going on. They start to bind people’s hands with white zip-tie cinches. Your turn. Your hands are bound tight. Your keyboard player has a gun pointed at her and is told “B****! Put your hands behind your back!†In the confusion and fright she puts her hands behind her neck instead and the masked thug thrusts the gun at her and screams “What are you ****ing STUPID!?†as he grabs her hands and binds them behind her. Your trombone player next to you whispers “They have walkie-talkies.â€
All fourteen people are now bound and facing walls or floor as the team takes the club owner back into the office and, you suspect, makes him open the safe. It is obviously not the first time he has had a shotgun in his face, and he’s eerily calm. The thugs spend about five minutes taking the cash, the money in the safe, your keyboard player’s purse. Other than that, you’re not sure. You assess your chances of surviving this, and then wait, wait, wait for a shotgun blast to the spine that never comes.
“Stay on the ground!â€
“Don’t get shot!†One yells, leaving it up to you to think about what actions might lead to you getting shot.
“Don’t be a hero!â€
Then they back out of the club, car doors slam shut and you hear the truck, unmuffled, pull away...and then it’s quiet.
“Are they gone?†someone finally asks.
Your trombone player has managed to get his hands free and frees you next.
The Man Arrives
911 is called and five minutes later the cops arrive. One car, lights no siren. He walks through the front door and starts asking questions, another car shows up, then another. After a while the trombone player has to go upstairs and take a leak, but is scared to death. Nobody checked upstairs. Cops tell him not to worry about it, and he reluctantly goes on up.
Statements are taken from some of the witness/victims. Addresses and phone numbers are taken from everyone.
Everybody gets sent home.
As you leave the club heading for your car, your guitar player turns to you and says, “I’m thinking maybe I’ll get a job.â€
Questions:
Keeping in mind that it is illegal to carry a pistol into a club, CCW or not:
1) What would you have done had you been armed alone?
2) What would you have done had you and a friend been armed (at initial contact, you were outside and he would have been inside)?
- Gabe
PS: This actually happened. In Seattle. Just last week. This is a sketchy club, but it's not in the 'hood. I have spent many many nights there mixing bands when I lived on the west coast.
The ‘you’ in this story is a good friend of mine. He does not own a pistol. This is my presentation of the story as related to me by phone the morning after, only hours after he returned home from the scene.
Not all details are certain or necessarily complete, but it should be pretty close to the mark based on his account.
Scene
Late, late night fairly sketchy concert club, ~3:30 am or so. A couple fans, the bar staff and the band (your band) are left in the club, about fourteen people total milling around. Band is still breaking down after the gig, some on stage lazily putting gear away, some having a drink, some chatting. You are alone outside loading your gear out of the club and into your car parked in the alley, like you've done, literally, a thousand times.
Contact:
As you push a hand-truck carrying your amp towards your waiting car, an old-style SUV, possibly a Bronco or Suburban, backs up to the front door of the club and the doors swing open. You don’t take much notice at first, then you see three men in black and red ski masks exit the vehicle fast. One shotgun, one matte-finish revolver, one an unknown longarm - he heads inside and one of the remaining two spots you alongside the building. They approach quickly and shotgun guy levels at you at yells through his mask “Get the **** back inside!†in an accent that could be Filipino or maybe Hawaiian. You go back through the door into the club as ordered.
Inside:
They start yelling to intimidate and control the club “Get the **** on the mother******* ground!â€
“Get down!â€
“Put your ****ing hands behind your backâ€
Everyone is having shotguns stuffed in their faces as they take control of the club in a hurry. One of your bandmates jumps off the side of the stage farthest from the entrance, down into the pit with the monitor console. There’s a door back there, but before he can recover from the leap, he has a weapon leveled at him and is pushed back onto the stage.
At this point you realize there are actually four of them, although with your face two inches from the carpet it’s hard to tell what’s going on. They start to bind people’s hands with white zip-tie cinches. Your turn. Your hands are bound tight. Your keyboard player has a gun pointed at her and is told “B****! Put your hands behind your back!†In the confusion and fright she puts her hands behind her neck instead and the masked thug thrusts the gun at her and screams “What are you ****ing STUPID!?†as he grabs her hands and binds them behind her. Your trombone player next to you whispers “They have walkie-talkies.â€
All fourteen people are now bound and facing walls or floor as the team takes the club owner back into the office and, you suspect, makes him open the safe. It is obviously not the first time he has had a shotgun in his face, and he’s eerily calm. The thugs spend about five minutes taking the cash, the money in the safe, your keyboard player’s purse. Other than that, you’re not sure. You assess your chances of surviving this, and then wait, wait, wait for a shotgun blast to the spine that never comes.
“Stay on the ground!â€
“Don’t get shot!†One yells, leaving it up to you to think about what actions might lead to you getting shot.
“Don’t be a hero!â€
Then they back out of the club, car doors slam shut and you hear the truck, unmuffled, pull away...and then it’s quiet.
“Are they gone?†someone finally asks.
Your trombone player has managed to get his hands free and frees you next.
The Man Arrives
911 is called and five minutes later the cops arrive. One car, lights no siren. He walks through the front door and starts asking questions, another car shows up, then another. After a while the trombone player has to go upstairs and take a leak, but is scared to death. Nobody checked upstairs. Cops tell him not to worry about it, and he reluctantly goes on up.
Statements are taken from some of the witness/victims. Addresses and phone numbers are taken from everyone.
Everybody gets sent home.
As you leave the club heading for your car, your guitar player turns to you and says, “I’m thinking maybe I’ll get a job.â€
Questions:
Keeping in mind that it is illegal to carry a pistol into a club, CCW or not:
1) What would you have done had you been armed alone?
2) What would you have done had you and a friend been armed (at initial contact, you were outside and he would have been inside)?
- Gabe
PS: This actually happened. In Seattle. Just last week. This is a sketchy club, but it's not in the 'hood. I have spent many many nights there mixing bands when I lived on the west coast.
The ‘you’ in this story is a good friend of mine. He does not own a pistol. This is my presentation of the story as related to me by phone the morning after, only hours after he returned home from the scene.
Not all details are certain or necessarily complete, but it should be pretty close to the mark based on his account.
