Have you been in any shoot-outs?

[Biggirl]

There was a thread in MPSIMS (that I am waaaay too tipsy to try to link to) that challenged other posters to find the one false statement in three that a poster made about themselves. I participated in that thread and one of my statements was that I was involved in 3 shoot-outs before the age of 20. No one picked that particular statement as true about me even though it was.

This got me thinking: Am I really that unique? Am I the only poster on this messageboard with such experiences?

Here are my "Holy Shit!!! They're fucking SHOOTING" experiences

1. When I was around 6 or 7, my aunt befriended a woman with a crazy husband. This woman was having a very bad medical problem. Apparently, she was experiencing much pain due to a fallopian pregnancy. This crazy husband did not want her to see a doctor because he did not want another man messing with his wife's genitalia. My aunt took this woman to the emergency room.
   
   Well, the husband got wind of this, stormed down to my aunts apartment waving a gun. My aunt shoved me and her son (who is a year older than me) into a closet with a telephone. The upshot? One dead wife.
   
   The only thing I actually remember about this episode was crying and being very, very frightened while in the closet with my cousin. He actually dialed 911. Everything else I've said I learned from the retelling of the story.
   
2. My future husband needed to see a man about a dog in an apartment building in The Bronx. I elected to wait in the lobby. Less than two minutes passed when a man came running past me. Immediatley behind him came another man with a gun. Let me say that there are not many places to hide in an apartment lobby. Man with gun ran up to scared man and-- point blank-- shot him.
   
   I was already halfway to the first landing when the gun went off. Future husband was by my side before the gunshot stopped echoing around the enclosed hallway. He had to be very coercive to get me to go back down that half flight of stairs. I did not want to see what I thought was waiting in the lobby.
   
   The only thing waiting in the lobby was the smell of sulfur. No body, no gunman-- not even any blood. Which I thought was very strange because I saw the gunman run up to the shootee and point the gun at the guys neck. The gun was actually touching his collar when I turned and ran. Then-- boom!
   
   What happened was that the shot man ran out the building and down the block before he collapsed. I talked to the police but I was never contacted after the initial on-the-spot interview. I don't know why-- I was the only eye-witness.
   
   
3. I've told this story to so many people I feel a little foolish repeating it here. This was how I originally injured my knee almost 20 years ago. Let's see if I can make this short.
   
   Future husband and I were walking to my aunt's house (different aunt from shooting #1). A guy starts shooting in our direction from across the street. Another guy walking about 5 feet in front of us reaches into his shirt, pulls out a gun and starts busting a few caps of his own. I run one way, future husband pulls the other way. I run 3 blocks before I realize I can't even walk. I fall to the ground and everyone thinks I'm shot.

Three shootings before I even turned 19. I know this is very unusual, but I know people who have not only witnessed more, but have actually been on the recieving end of a bullet. And other posters on this board have lived much more interesting lives than I have. I can't be the only one.

[Lorenzo]

Mrs. Lorenzo witnessed a gang shoot-out in our backyard. The neighborhood was pretty dangerous. My mother would call me every time a violent crime taking place in our block was reported in her local paper, on average about once a week.

We stayed there for many years thereafter, until it started getting personal.

[Severian]

I went into this topic thinking I was going to write something like "Hey, this is the Internet; We all have $500,000 homes and drive Italian sports cars. All the men have 10-inch genitals and the women 36DDs. Of course we've all been in our fair share of firefights."

But, after reading your story, I think I'll simply say that no, I have never been in any shoot outs.

Oh, and just ignore the fact that I wrote my snide remark anyway.

[Biggirl]

Originally posted by Severian
I went into this topic thinking I was going to write something like "Hey, this is the Internet; We all have $500,000 homes and drive Italian sports cars. All the men have 10-inch genitals and the women 36DDs. Of course we've all been in our fair share of firefights."

I'm a 40DDD. Really. I can prove it too!

[Jack Batty]

And I do have a ten inch johnson.





I'm just sayin'.

[LifeOnWry]

Originally posted by Biggirl
I'm a 40DDD. Really. I can prove it too!

I saw the photo, and I believe you.

I wasn't directly involved in any shoot-outs, but the kid who lived across the street from me shot himself in the head a number of years ago. From where his body was found, the police deduced that if he'd missed, he'd have shot into my living room. And I once heard gunshots from nearby in my old neighborhood. They were close enough that I hit the floor and crawled out of the room to get to a phone. The police made some arrests that night, but I do not know the details.

As an aside, why is it that whenever you hear a report of gunshots on TV, the witness says "It sounded like a car backfiring" and whenever there's a car backfiring, people say "I thought it was a gunshot!"? Why do gunshots never sound like gunshots, and backfires like backfires?

[Biggirl]

Originally posted by LifeOnWry

As an aside, why is it that whenever you hear a report of gunshots on TV, the witness says "It sounded like a car backfiring" and whenever there's a car backfiring, people say "I thought it was a gunshot!"? Why do gunshots never sound like gunshots, and backfires like backfires?

When the guy across the street started firing his gun my first thought was "whose light those strange sounding firecrackers?" Gunshots on TV and in the movies sound a whole lot more dramatic than real life gunshots.

[Kalashnikov]

Most people who aren't gunowners themselves simply haven't heard many real gunshots, whereas some of my friends could tell you what caliber a shot was. Certain calibers such as .223 are quite distinctive, and of course a shotgun sounds much different from a rifle or pistol.

I have had people shoot toward me..... but there was a berm between us. It was interesting because you hear it in reverse time - first the impact, then the shot.

[monster]

I was at a party when I was about 20 or 21 years old. It was a huge party held out in this huge storage facilty. Some guys came in and caused some trouble and got into a fight. So, the owner of the property kicked the guys out. About 1/2 hour later, they came back and did a drive-by. I think they had several different types of guns, because my car had a huge bullet hole in it just above the rear tire. The bullet went through the car and lodged into the back of the front passenger seat.

About 5 or 6 people got shot with was seemed to be a BB or pellet gun (I don't really know the difference). One of my friends was stoned, and he came up to me with his arm held out. He said, "Dude, I think I got shot." He had blood on his forearm. It was pretty weird. I ended up taking him to the hospital.

Of course, the weirdest thing was that my friend, John, actually shot back. (How the hell did he get a gun??) Very scary situation at the time, which seems amusing in a surreal way now.

[Johnny L.A.]

The O.J. Simpson trial was going on over in the other courthouse. Meanwhile, I was cooling my jets in the big jury room in the L.A. County Courthouse. I heard a pop. "That sounded like a gunshot," I said to myself. *Pop! Pop!* "Small caliber. Maybe a thirty-eight." People in the jury room started panicking and running about. "Now that's just wrong. Doesn't that person know the effect of firing a gun indoors around people who aren't used to hearing guns?" I was offended. Not scared. Offended. How dare someone be so rude as to cause a panic like that! "I wish I had my Beretta, just in case he comes in here. No. He's not going to come in and start shooting at random. Still, I wish I had it. Just in case." By now almost everyone had taken cover where they could. I shrugged and got off of the bench and knelt down beside it. After a few seconds I thought, "This is just silly," and got up and sat back down on the bench.

Turned out there was a divorce case going on. The woman won the car in the settlement, so the guy shot her in the hallway in front of their eight-year-old daughter. Must've been some car. Anyway, I was offended by this man's lack of civility and by his rudeness, and I was and am disgusted at the kind of mentality that would cause him to do such a thing -- especially in front of a little girl.

I've lived in my apartment for longer than I care to think. Gunshots in the alley outside of my bedroom window (which is elevated above the carports) were not uncommon. Since I had a paper route at the time (I delivered The British Weekly and the L.A. Rock Review on Saturday mornings -- very early -- I decided that the next time someone fired a gun in the alley I would shout, "Do you mind? People are trying to sleep!" About the time I made this decision the Crips and the Bloods came to a truce. There has only been shooting once since then, and I couldn't find anyone to yell at.

Before the shootings stopped, a man was passing in front of the building. Someone drove by and fired at him. He ran into the courtyard to escape. After that, we got a locking security fence.

The only time I've had bullets flying in my direction was when I was in high school. I got a job during a two-day target competition and was in the pits, pulling targets. I did not expect the bullets to be so loud. Like most people, I assumed that the noise was mostly caused by the muzzle blast. But the main racket is caused by the shockwave coming from the supersonic bullets. Even when the shooters were a thousand yards away, it sounded as if I were standing right next to them. The only time it got a little scary was when one guy was hitting everything but the target. He hit the wooden rails and the berm that was behind the pit. He hit the flag pole and you could hear the ricochets spinning off the-gods-know-where.

I would say that I am fortunate not to have ever been a target myself, but saying I'm "fortunate" would imply that shootings are much more common than they are. So like most people, I have not been targeted, and I'm glad of that. I'm also happy that I've never been put into a situation where I would have to use a firearm in anger.

[Chimera]

When I lived in the bad neighborhood;

A friend who lived 4 blocks away moved out after a gang shooting left a dead body on the side of his garage.

Had seen several people running with guns in their hands.

Missed (by less than 2 minutes) two shootings at the same corner involving people just getting off the same bus, in seperate incidents about 3 years apart. (and people kept asking me why I refused to take the bus to work...)

Had been threatened with a gun. My mouth was bigger and the guy backed down. (It was 2am and I was damned angry. I guess that surprised the hell out of him!)

Displayed (but never pointed or discharged) my own pistol five times to prevent morons from breaking into my house when they knew I was there! Heck, one of those guys heard me call 911 - didn't stop him trying to break down the door. Then saw me with a butcher knife in my hand - again didn't slow down, so I went and got my .357 and displayed that. He finally turned and ran.

Oh, and the cops never showed up. Here I'm calling 911 because someone is breaking down my door - and the cops never come by!

But I've never been involved or near an actual shooting.

[Foolonthehill]

Grew up in Hell's Ten Acres.
Went to Viet Nam.
Dealt drugs in L.A. in the early 70's.
Can't remember a time in my youth when guns weren't de rigour.

Funniest story however comes from later in my life. I met a good woman, got married and reproduced. Decided that I didn't want to raise my kids the way I was raised. Moved to the "country," got a straight job, and went about becoming a stand-up citizen.
Sitting in a bar one afternoon after work playing shuffleboard. One of the guys at the bar is a real low-life; wife-beater, bigot, bully, etc, etc. His finally fed up wife drives by and sees his truck outside the bar, goes home and gets her .357 and drives back. Whoops, she forgot bullets, drives to the local market and picks up a box, (Rural America; where you can buy bullets when you buy your milk and bread). Pulls into the parking lot, puts four bullets in the gun, comes in the back door and fires all four bullets in hubby's direction. 2 of them hit him, but they're not fatal, he's crawling across the floor trying to get out the front door. She goes out the back door, reloads, comes back in and puts 3 more in him finishing the job. Sits down orders a vodka and waits for the police.
This woman would be the first woman to successfully use the "Battered woman's syndrome" as a defense.

[Foolonthehill]

Grew up in Hell's Ten Acres.
Went to Viet Nam.
Dealt drugs in L.A. in the early 70's.
Can't remember a time in my youth when guns weren't de rigour.

Funniest story however comes from later in my life. I met a good woman, got married and reproduced. Decided that I didn't want to raise my kids the way I was raised. Moved to the "country," got a straight job, and went about becoming a stand-up citizen.
Sitting in a bar one afternoon after work playing shuffleboard. One of the guys at the bar is a real low-life; wife-beater, bigot, bully, etc, etc. His finally fed up wife drives by and sees his truck outside the bar, goes home and gets her .357 and drives back. Whoops, she forgot bullets, drives to the local market and picks up a box, (Rural America; where you can buy bullets when you buy your milk and bread). Pulls into the parking lot, puts four bullets in the gun, comes in the back door and fires all four bullets in hubby's direction. 2 of them hit him, but they're not fatal, he's crawling across the floor trying to get out the front door. She goes out the back door, reloads, comes back in and puts 3 more in him finishing the job. Sits down orders a vodka and waits for the police.
She would be the first woman to successfully use the "Battered woman's syndrome" as a defense.

[Eve]

Two of 'em, both in Baltimore (I was an innocent bystander in both, not a gunwoman). One was when a disgruntled customer shot at my neighbor (a drug dealer), and one was a bank robbery.

Ah, Baltimore . . .

[NurseCarmen]

I had a round from a Colt AR-15 zip past my head. The moron I was shooting with had hair too long, and it blocked his scope. He fired anyway, and hit a railroad track. Twice. It took a few seconds for my buddy to realize what was happening, and he grabbed the gun away from the fool. After the first shot, he didn't recognize the Hollywood sound effect ricochet? (Sounded just like it, only slightly deeper. And the bullet flying by sounded like a hummingbirds wings) The bullets dented the railroad track. The dents were about a centimeter away from each other, so at least he was consistant.

I'm more like a Biggirl alter ego. I arrive after the violence. I've found 3 dead people. What's more disturbing and unpleasant is discovering the nearly dead ones.

I've called 911 over 20 times.

[jacksen9]

I am a coach. We were in a bus riding up to a school for a game. I saw a group of 13 - 15 year old boys running toward us. We were approaching a 4-way stop. My first thought was, wow, look at that cross country team running. Goodness they don't even have work out clothes but they all managed to get themselves dressed in white t-shirts and jeans. At least they are all dressed the same / similar. Then out came Mr. Pistola. I almost wet my pants. We turned right and I watched this lady walk out to the edge of her porch with a baby on her hip, waving a finger and fussing at these guys. I do not know how many of them were armed. I saw only one up front with the pistol. No shots fired however. I couldn't believe the woman standing out there fussing at this gang. Unbelievable.

[TV time]

Journalist - get paid to be in the wrong place at the right time.

Viet Nam - got drafted to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[benson]

A friend of mine was walking home from work one night about 9 pm. Some guys drove by and shot him with a pellet gun. He was fine, of course but I still wonder why they decided to do that.

[Cheesesteak]

Closest I ever got was hearing shots on the #4 train coming into Grand Central while I was on the platform (shared with the #4) waiting for the #6. Not being a gun guy, it sounded a bit like construction noise, as if someone dropped a big metal object on another metal object.

Everybody crowded around behind the steel columns, so I did too, wound up standing with my heels right on the edge of the platform, a sea of scared people in front of me, the #6 tracks behind me. That was scarier than the shots, I should've just stood out in the open.

[summerbreeze]

My father was an investigative reporter who made a gangster mad. He sent his "boys" to our house on Christmas Eve the year I was four. My brother answered the door, they asked for my dad, he slammed the door & they opened fire. Neighbors called police. No one hurt, gang members pursued & caught. Santa brought me a beagle puppy & a red bicycle.

[KRC]

I've never been in the midst of a shootout, but I came close to one. About 18 years ago I lived in a rough part of town near UNM. Our neighbors were drug dealers and were frequently staked out by the police who I guess were searching for enough evidence to make an arrest. These neighbors made little attempt to conceal their illegal activities; they were loud and frightening to the point where my room-mate and I rarely went outside if they were around.

One evening we were informed by another neighbor that there had been an argument at that house--something to do with a drug deal gone bad--and that there might be a shooting soon. We figured that one day as we walked past the house on the way to the University bullets would suddenly start flying everywhere. Days passed as we waited nervously for the shooting to begin.

And then one day I woke up in the morning and noticed it was unusually quiet next door. I asked my room-mate's brother where the neighbors were and he said that there had been a shooting at their house that night; the police had moved in quickly and arrested them. I had somehow managed to sleep through it. I don't know what became of the man who was shot--he ran away but the landlord thought he later died. We weren't terribly sad to see the neighbors go, just sorry that someone had to get hurt before the rest of us on that street could be free of them.

[sleestak]

I was held hostage at an NA meeting by a maniac who was whacked out on PCP.

The back story. A woman got sick of drugs and got into NA to get clean. Her live in boyfriend didn't like the idea so she left him. He kept using. He got really pissed that she left him so he came to an NA meeting armed with a .357, a .45 and a shotgun.

My story. I was sitting there listening to someone when there was a boom from the back of the room. I looked around and saw a guy standing in the doorway holding a shotgun. I then looked around in the other direction and saw that just about everybody had dropped to the floor. At that point I decided that was a good idea. So I dropped.

Anyway, Maniac Shotgun Man (MSM) walked around my side of the room. I heard him walking around to my side of the room. At this point I tried to curl up in a little ball and disappear. That didn't work.

I didn't know this at the time but the woman I was sitting next happened to be MSM's ex. So I hear this guy walking around my side of the room. The next thing I know I feel MSM put the barrel of the shotgun against the back of my neck. He kept it there and it seemed like hours but it was probably less than a minute. He then walked down to the end of the room.

Remember, at this point I had no idea why the guy was there or that I was sitting next to his ex.

At this point there were about 40-45 people in the room. Everyone was under the tables and MSM was in a corner where he could see his ex, who happened to be behind me.

Fastforward a bit. MSM was ranting. He was really pissed and loaded on PCP. He kept yelling and twice fired the shotgun into the roof above my head. He also shot the piano three or four times with a gun. (Note, pianos make *really* interesting noises when shot) During this time the cops showed up and a couple of people who knew MSM tried talking him down. It didn't work.

During this time some people moved around. I managed to move a couple feet away from where MSM was shooting.

I managed to move next to a guy named Manny I knew pretty well. After I ended up next to Manny he started whispering to me that he had a gun. Manny wanted to take a shot at MSM. I whispered to Manny that taking a shot wouldn't work. It was a long shot and if he missed MSM would open fire and hurt or kill alot of people. Manny, thankfully, thought it through and agreed.

A bit later the cops showed up and then called and started negotiating with MSM. About an hour and 45 minutes into this little mess MSM agreed that everyone but his ex could leave. A couple of people who knew MSM well stayed but I ran my ass right out of there.

When I got out the cops had a bunch of questions for everyone. I answered the questions and was let go about an hour later. I got into my car and drove home.

Now for the whacky part. I got home at about 10:20. I was 17 at the time and my parent and I had an agreement that I would be home before 10. When I got home my parents were pissed. I explained to my parents what had happened but they didn't believe me. (Note, I was a jerk in my teen years so I don't fault them for their disbelief). Then my Dad turned on the TV. The TV reporter was "Live from the hostage situation". My parents believed me after that.

A note on after effects. About a week later me and my friend Mike, who also happened to be in the little hostage situation, went to the mall. We were walking through the mall and someone popped a balloon. Mike and I both dropped to the ground. That balloon scared the hell out of both of us.

Slee

[county]

when i was in my early 20's a guy came into a room with several of us and fired at me point blank with a "blank"
i still have the scar on my arm from the little piece of metal that holds the powder in

when i was in my early 30's a guy who owned a bar was holding a pistol behind himsefl while having a heated discussion with me - he fired the gun into the floor to intimidate me

[karomon]

Some guy in my building was amassing beefs from the local "organizations". One night, someone decided to do something about it. They rang his bell, and when he came downstairs, they just blasted away. I was in my room, doing my 5th grade homework. The thing is, the hallway where the guy was shot and my room were seperated by a flimsy wall. I guess one of the bullets got way off course and went into my bedroom. I was nowhere near the shot, fortunately.

The guy continued to live, but I never saw him again. He just up and ran off.

[LouisB]

During a boyscout campout, we were all sitting around the campfire when some jerk of a kid tossed a box of .22 rifle shells into it. When those things started cooking off, it was like being in a shootout, or so I would imagine---bullets were zinging in all directions, guys were hiding wherever they could and there were a lot of threats yelled at the guy who did it. But, no one was hurt and when it was all over, we laughed about it. The scout master took it up with the kid's father, but I don't know that the father did anything.

[Lizard]

Originally posted by Foolonthehill

She would be the first woman to successfully use the "Battered woman's syndrome" as a defense.

Nope. Making multiple trips to buy ammunition, reloading, calmly sitting down and ordering a drink afterward are signs of premitation and lack of remorse. Battered she might have been, but this situation is premeditated murder. She'd be lucky to ever get out of prison.

[Tony Montana]

Originally posted by LouisB
When those things started cooking off, it was like being in a shootout, or so I would imagine---bullets were zinging in all directions

Sorry to deflate your baloon, but FYI bullets dont go flying in all directions when they're tossed into a fire.

Look here...

[vasyachkin]

hehe, that's why biggrl most people try to stay out of the kind of neighborhoods like one where you apparently live

of course if your entire family lives there it would be kinda hard ...

[presidebt]

I have encountered violent incidences involving guns twice in my life, though neither were "shoot outs."

When I was 18, my friend and I were walking in one of the finest neighborhoods in Louisville (seriously). Of course, it was 3:30 AM, but still, we were walking from her house to her car when were approached by three men. I'm a little more street smart that she is and I opened the door of the car and jumped in, locking the door immediately and loudly whispering to my friend to do the same. She tried, god love her, but one of the men grabbed the corner of her car door at the same he was asking, "Hey, do you know the time?" As if he really wanted to know! Good lord. Anyway, she struggles to get away from him as he grabs her and tries to pull her purse off her shoulder, we hear a *pop* and they run. He's knocked off her glasses (blind as a bat, poor thing) and she's sitting in the driver seat, two blocks from the major thoroughfare. She says to me, "I think I've been shot." She says she doesn't know if she can drive, since she can't see. I tell her, "B, you've been SHOT! I think if you hit a car or two on your way to safety, people will understand. Get to the major thoroughfare (and away from these guys) and I'll drive the other two blocks to the police station (much closer than the hospital)."

It ends up she's okay, though she's shot in the thigh, but the doctors tell her the bullet (small caliber, I forget) was just centimeters from her femoral (?) artery, and could have killed her.

About a month later she and I and a group of about three other people are hanging out the library downtown (a beautiful building with lots of cool statues and a place kids used to hang out at night) when were approached by another man. He's "panhandling," explaining to my boy friend that he needs to get away from someone trying to kill him, so he needs money to catch a greyhound. He pulls a gun out of his pants and starts waving it around, explaining that he's gonna kill "that muthahfuckah" if he sees him. The man is obviously whacked out crack or some other dangerous drug, but I am completely oblivious to the fact that we are being mugged until I try to be helpful and show the man that all I have in my purse is about 60 cents. I open my pillbox purse wide for him to see when my friend grabs my hand and jerks me behind him, whispering, "We're being mugged!" At which point I finally "get it" and get scared as hell. Luckily, the man leaves after we tell him all we have is $5 between us and we give it to him. I can't believe I was so oblivious, but I was 18, and on drugs that were not dangerous enough to cause whacked out violent criminal behavior, but which I don't indulge in anymore (in case the DEA is lurking ).

Incidentally, we were in the middle of a heatwave in the midwest that year, and all sorts of undesirable consequences were making themselves known. We had the highest murder rate we'd ever had that year (though we might have outdone ourselves since).

We were attacked once more that summer, though it didn't involve a gun, it involved a fist in my face and the loss of three teeth. If I ever see that guy again, I'ma kill the "muthahfuckah."

[Tony Montana]

Originally posted by Foolonthehill
Sits down orders a vodka and waits for the police.

So.

The bartender hung around during all this, then took her order?

Wow, nerves of tungsten....

[LouisB]

Originally posted by Tony Montana
Sorry to deflate your baloon, but FYI bullets dont go flying in all directions when they're tossed into a fire.

Look here...

Well, I don't have a baloon but something was zinging. I have never bothered to think of what it might have been---bullets, cases or woodchips. Bear in mind that we were like twelve years old and it scared hell out of us. Besides, in your linked post, I saw no conclusive proop that such an act isn't dangerous.

[Magickly Delicious]

Never.

(and oh my Lord now I'm afraid to move to a real city for a job. Thanks Eve!)

[Blackclaw]

Originally posted by LifeOnWry
I saw the photo, and I believe you.

As an aside, why is it that whenever you hear a report of gunshots on TV, the witness says "It sounded like a car backfiring" and whenever there's a car backfiring, people say "I thought it was a gunshot!"? Why do gunshots never sound like gunshots, and backfires like backfires?

Because it seems so unbelievable that your hearing gunshots, that's it's sometimes easier to believe it's a car backfiring. That's what happened when I heard a fellow empty a 9mm into a car parked outside my small house. I woke up to the sound, told myself is was just a car backfiring, and went back to sleep. But in the back of my mind I knew that it wasn't.

Turns out these two fellows had swapped wives. One fellow was happy with the resulting arrangement, the other wasn't. Unhappy fellow wanted to get his old wife back, but happy fellow refused. So unhappy fellow emptied a 9mm into the happy fellow's unoccupied car. Fortunately for me, the rounds were all stopped by the engine block. Otherwise, I would have been hit.

[dorkusmalorkusmafia]

I saw the serial sniper shooting at 7 corners in the DC area just last year. There is a thread about it here somewhere.

[WillSantini]

Yes, while on a patrol in the Philippines almost 9yrs ago.

[El_Kabong]

Not a shootout, but some drunk yahoo let one loose in my general direction in Denver one night back in the early '80's. I was driving down Pearl St. one night and the guy, who was backing out of his driveway, had to stop short. For some reason this sent him into a blind rage and the next thing I know, he's charging his car at me and trying to run me off the street. A friend who is a bit, shall we say, volatile, happened to be driving behind me at the time and decided to chase the guy down.

Two blocks later, they pulled up on opposite sides of the road. Foolishly, I stopped between them and rolled down my window only to find myself staring at one of those pissant nickel-plated .25 autos. Well, that was enough for me and I peeled out, while yoyo screamed something incoherent and let a round off, apparently without hitting anything. I often had fantasies about coming back, finding the guy's car and spraypainting "unregistered handgun inside" all over it, but nothing ever came of it.

[Davebear]

[nitpick] Unless I missed something, none of you, except the ex-military folks, have actually been shot at. I believe that's the first requirement for saying you've been in a gunfight. The other requirements being that; A) you shot back, and B) you survived to say so. [/nitpick]

I have not been in a gunfight, either. But, I have been shot at. And, I have a world of admiration for those who have survived a genuine firefight in the service of their country. But, I don't envy them that experience, and don't think any of this is something to brag about. But, this is my story, for what it's worth.

Centuries ago, when I was eighteen, I worked as a Night Manager (glorified title for a clerk who is trusted to balance his own register at the end of the shift) in a convenience store. One Saturday night two stoned women come into the store at about 2 AM. The store's pretty empty, but not entirely. They wander the whole store, twice; up one aisle and down the other. This is pretty normal behavior, for the stoned, so I think nothing of it. Then I look up from doing something to see them both standing in front of me, with the brunette holding a 9-inch barrelled .38 special about two feet from my face.

Blondie demands all the money. I tell them, "No problem", and take the entire cash tray out of the register and put it on the counter. Blondie produces a bag and dumps the money into the bag. Blondie heads for the door as the Brunette continues to hold the gun on me. Once Blondie determinces the coast is clear, the Brunette turns to go. At the door, she decides she really doesn't like me, or maybe she just liked loud noises.

Whatever the reason, she decides to pop one off at me. Now, I don't know if these women were really stoned, or just acting like it. They seemed pretty together during the robbery, itself. So, I can't say whether she intended to put that bullet between my eyes, or just wanted to scare me. At the time, I wore my hair roughly shoulder length. The breeze generated by the bullet's passage tugged at my hair as it passed. I lived, but most of a carton of cigarettes lost their lives.

On preview, I see El_Kabong has been shot at, but the point of the nitpick still stands.

[MrMyth]

Never involved in a shootout, but saw them starting early. First one I had to have been no more than six or seven. Witnessed a blue beat up Olds careen around a corner, a guy in a hat/trenchcoat whip out a working Tommy gun, and kill a kid standing in the doorway of our apartment building three floors below. I thought this was a dream but my mother verifies the story.
In my teens I saw a kid get his life's knowledge plastered all over the curb and sidewalk on Division and Pulaski. The shooter walked past all of us while putting on a hood like he had no cares in the world.
My oldest brother had a stalker follow him back from Atlanta. This guy sent black roses to my mother's job, harassed my grandmother, and generally made a pest of himself. One day I stayed home sick from school, and woke up about ten in the morning to someone working on getting the back door to the apartment open. I called my brother (second oldest, decidedly less than savory), who rushed over. By the time he got there, Stalker Boy had moved to the front door. I let my brother in the back way, and he yanked open the front door. I ran into my mother's bedroom and heard him empty a full clip from a .32 over the course of the next five minutes. He chased Stalker Boy down two flights of stairs and out into the courtyard, firing when he had a shot. The building was U-shaped, so the shots fired outside had an echo to them. He then trotted back upstairs, explained to my bug-eyed face that he wasn't really trying to hit the guy, took a box of cereal from the kitchen, and left.
Stalker Boy never bother us again.

[Tony Montana]

Originally posted by LouisB
I saw no conclusive proop that such an act isn't dangerous.

[Nit-pick]

That wasn't my nit-pick....

[/nit-pick]

[Turbo Dog]

Sticking with non-military stuff, I got shot in a crappy part of Detroit (I know it sounds like an ox-moron, but there really IS a crappy part of that town) by some POS cuz he wanted my three dollars and I was enough of an ass to argue with him. (Typical Irishman.. bring a mouth to a gunfight).

After that, I lived in a less than respectable part of both Santa Ana and Anaheim, CA (two ox-morons for the price of one there) where shots outside the window were common enough that it didn't bother anyone. Anaheim really wasn't so bad, but I hated living in Santa Ana. I never felt comfortable there.

And a whole lot of BB gun wars as a kid.

[Skerri]

I once sat on my front porch and watched a drive-by shooting. I was staying in Savannah with the ex, and we were sitting on the second floor porch of the house. (Actually, you can see the house in the movie "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil".) There was a chinese restaurant on the corner that was owned and operated by a bunch of black guys. They were really cool, and they had some damn good soul food on the side.

Well, apparently someone either working there or eating there pissed someone else off. We watched the car roll up our street really slowly, which was kind of odd, as most kids on the street hauled boogie until the stop sign. He/she pulled across the intersection, and a shotgun came out of the passenger window. It all seemed like it was happening in slow motion. They shot the guy almost point blank, as he was only a few feet away from them. It was scary as hell.

I've also had a friend that was tripping on acid pull a loaded .357 on me and put it up to my head. (You know how people hold hostages in movies? That's what it was like.) He told me that he thought it would be really cool to see my brains go flying across the room. It took my other friends 20 minutes to convince him that his idea was not cool. That's why I don't like guns.

[LouisB]

What the heck is "proop?" I must have meant "proof." I hope I meant "proof," anyway.

Let's not nit-pik anymore, ever. It is just a waste of time.

[kniz]

Someone came after me with an AK47, but was stopped by the chief of police of a small town. The chief was shot 19 times and died. I did not witness this, but it is as close as I've been to being involved in a shooting.