Keep Your Head Down!

I usually write pretty random useless stuff in this blog but what I'm about to write is going to serve a purpose. I want to remember what happened yesterday in detail for future reference.

My sister and I were shopping in Best Buy yesterday when a gun was pulled, a shot was fired, and chaos broke out.

Melissa came down to visit me for the weekend because she had a, thing... that she had to go to and needed a place to stay. Well, she stayed last night just to keep me company I guess. In any case we were trying to think of something to do around 3:00 when we decided to go to Best Buy and grab a season of "Ghost Hunters" on DVD. If you've never heard of that TV show I highly suggest you click the link and check it out. They usually don't find anything but when they do, it's creepy, and you get some good stories regardless.

So we know that Best Buy is going to be the only store in town that would carry a relatively obscure Sci-Fi original series like that. Once we're there I convince her that she needs to go back to the back and check out the little TV sets since she might want one for Christmas. She goes back with me. We're looking at some nice HD LCD sets in the satellite TV section when we hear a commotion up towards the front of the store (this is waaay in the back). It gets quiet and I hear a loud bang. Looking over the shelves (thanks to my height), I see smoke rising up. There is a moment...maybe three seconds...where nothing happens except some yelling at the front. Someone yells "Get down," then all heck breaks loose. It takes a while for it to hit me that someone has a gun at the front of the store and that it's probably a robbery. I move slightly forward against the river of people scrambling towards the back of the store. I hear Melissa freaking out (just a little) behind me. I knew our best bet was to get as far away from guy with gun at front, since if it was a robbery; the money was at the front. We had to walk towards the front to get out of the TVs, then around them to go back towards the back. Melissa stopped to put Ghost Hunters down and told me to wait up. I grabbed her hand and started moving. It was crazy, just like in a movie; people were huddling over their children, jumping into shelves, and running and screaming. All I said was "It's going to be ok" as I led Melissa through the back isle until we came to the storeroom. Several associates had just opened the storeroom and were letting people out the back. We booked it to the sidewalk.

Once outside we waited for a while as several police cars streamed by. It was only about 5 minutes later that we got word that the guy was arrested. As far as we know (according to an associate) he was trying to steal 2 cds and got caught. When the doormen tried to take him into a holding room he pulled a gun. One of the Best Buy guys grabbed his arm and pushed it down as he pulled the trigger. They held him and the police got him. Hooray for Best Buy!!

All I could think about on the sidewalk after we knew we were safe was "I wonder if circuit city has Ghost Hunters." Melissa loves giving me a hard time about that. We did go to Circuit City, they didn't have it, and then we came back to the apartment. The store was open later, though, and we tempted fate again around 6:00. Needless to say, we watched some Ghost Hunters that night.

You see this kind of stuff happen on TV all the time and you never think it will happen to you. Well, I guess it can. Stay safe you guys and don't freak out if something does happen, you reduce your chances of survival!

update! Looks like the rumor mill got a couple of details wrong, but the people being interviewed here were at the same place we were. He is the official report...
Gunshot fired at Best Buy; teen charged with robbery | StarNewsOnline.com | Star-News | Wilmington, NC