merry fucking xmas

So...we got robbed at gunpoint last night around 9 at 26th and H street.  We were walking back from dinner. It happened really fast. A guy ran towards us with a small revolver and ordered us to get on our hands and knees and give him our wallets, keys and cell phones. We did it really fast and I said I didn't have my phone.  I was worried that would piss him off but he didn't say anything.  He took our stuff and told us to walk away and not look back. He yelled at sm to pick up his keys and he did, but he didn't pick up mine and the guy was like "yo, bro, your keys". So I got mine back too.  I didn't see, but sm saw that there was another guy with him across the street and that they both ran towards J st.  More after the jump


We ran the block to our house and called 911, which by the way in Sac actually does route you to the CHP, which delays things, so you should program the sac emergency number into your phone (916 732 0100).  If he had gotten my phone or taken our keys we would have been so screwed cuz when someone steals your wallet you realize that they have your address. Never thought of that.  Luckily, he didn't take our wedding rings.

Anyway, cop comes after a bit, we hear a helicopter which I guess was related. He was courteous but clearly didn't feel any sense of urgency. Was not phased by the presence of a gun, which I thought would make it pretty serious.  He helped us look for our wallets, which he told us the guys would ditch, but no luck.  He said that we shouldn't worry about the address thing, that he had never heard of guys using that to target anyone.

It really was not that scary.  The guy was not being very threatening and my fear with the gun is that some accident would happen. SM has actually been robbed at gunpoint before and said that the guy was so apologetic that that wasn't scary either, and I had always wondered how the hell that was possible.

The biggest reason it sucks is that now I feel like I can't walk around my neighborhood, but I will again at some point.  SM calls me walker texas ranger because I walk around so much.  I still choose to do that.  If someone wants to target you for a crime there's really not much you can do. I'm always really aware of my surroundings when I'm walking alone but in this case that wouldn't have done shit because this guy knew exactly what he was doing.  We've lived here 6 years with no incidents so I'm going to assume this is a fucked-up blip.

SM's mom had sent us a boulevard park association email two days ago about how there has been a rash of robberies in our neighborhood, including, duh, one right where we got robbed exactly.  I answered back to her that we'd be careful but that these guys would be fools to hit the same spot.  Now that it's happened to me I wonder why more people don't do this, it seems so easy and these guys will never get caught. Perhaps a new career is in order for me?   But yeah, going to take it easy on the walking for a bit because I think the word might get out that this is a good spot for robberies.

Here are my tips for you to minimize your pain if this happens to you. The "funny" thing is that I do all these things in  Mexico, but not here, even though I'm probably statistically wayyyy more likely to get robbed here than in most Mexican cities.  The cool thing in Mexico is that you don't ever have to carry your ID or passport, so you don't have to worry about that, either
1) don't carry much cash.  I used to worry about this more but have become complacent about it.  We lost almost 200 bucks between the two of us
2)don't carry all your credit cards and your atm at the same time.  I had two credit cards and my check card in my wallet, including one credit card that I NEVER use.  It would have been nice to have that at home
3)back up your phone numbers

that's about it.  all the things the cops tell you wouldn't have helped in this case, like don't walk alone, walk in well-lit areas, etc. all routes to our house go past dark blocks with no businesses.  the idea that a gun could help you in a case like this is so ludicrous. the only thing it could have done is gotten us killed. I'm not telling you guys that, just thinking about the arguments of gun nuts.

major bummer. much worse for sm since he lost his phone, which has probably 5 times the numbers that mine had and that he uses for his work.