[brassplayersrock²]

I'm taking a self defense course, and an assignment is to ask people who have been shot at to explain the situation. Did they run, did they try attacking the shooter, how they felt during the experience. ECT

Thanks ahead of time for your replies.

[subego]

I've been close-by.

Bang! Bang! Torrent of people running down the street screaming.

I wasn't particularly scared. This was gang related, I'm not in a gang, didn't look like I was in a gang, and was (working) with a bunch of other people. Safety in numbers I guess.

Two days later, just me and my boss were stuck there overnight with a broken truck. No shooting, but there were some threats. I was pretty freaked out.

OTOH, some production assistants who lived in the neighborhood took pity on us and brought some of the best damn taquitos I've ever had.

[Laminar]

No, but one time someone car jacked me at gunpoint.

[SpaceMonkey]

Similar to subego, I've never been the target of shooting, but I've been in the immediate vicinity of a shooting.

[voodoo]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

No, but one time someone car jacked me at gunpoint.

Gunpoint isn't the safest place in the world, you should know people get robbed there every single day.

[Gankdawg]

Only in video games, thankfully.

[Atheist]

I had a guy jump out of a moving car and come running up to me waving a gun in my face. When he realized I wasn't the guy he was looking for he ran off. It was all very odd. The weirdest part? It was Halloween and I was dressed as Superman.

I kid you not... this really happened. Luckily, not shots fired.

[turtle777]

Happens all the time, dude was looking for the other Superman

-t

[OldManMac]

No, but I do carry most of the time, so hopefully I can defend myself.

[beorning]

Was canvassing in a dodgy neighborhood after dark and came upon what I assumed was a drug deal - so I just passed on by. The car came up to me further down the street and the passenger leaned over the driver and stuck a gun out the window and demanded to know who I was and what I was doing. I told him and expected him to back-off, since I was doing social work.

He asked for my wallet and since I don't keep anything in my wallet other than my license and business cards (for just such an occasion) I told him "OK." I was moving slowly to give it to him and he pulled the trigger. At first I thought it was a blank or a rubber bullet or something, because it hit me but didn't hurt. But when I looked down I saw my shirt turning red. It was all rather surreal, but I knew I wasn't badly hurt.

I dropped to the ground and started shouting for help. The bad guy got out of the car and I thought I was in trouble now as he came around the car and walked up to my back. I was ready to get shot in the back, but he just reached into my pocket and took about five dollars.

People in the neighborhood (lots of them knew me) started to come out of their houses and the bad guy got back in the car and they drove away. I got up and walked under my own steam to a place to get help.

Thankfully he was carrying a .22 and it hit my rib and never entered the chest or I might not be telling you about it.

Gotta love Texas!

[ghporter]

I can tell you that Clint Eastwood was right in "Heartbreak Ridge," an AK-47 does make a distinctive sound when fired at you. It wasn't at me in particular, just nearby. This was in Panama in early 1989. It pissed me off, but not as much as having Noriega's thugs track my wife and infant son every time they drove by a police station-which just happened to be on the only street one could use to get from where we lived to the bridge across the canal...

I have no other really direct experience of being shot at, though I did have something happen that later turned out to be a Bad Thing. When I was about 17, I used to take long walks at night before going to bed. Late one night I apparently surprised someone by walking past where he was parked - he must have thought he was completely concealed. I noticed the car sort of back in the trees as I walked by, and didn't think anything of it until I heard the door open and a loud POP!!! I turned to see a guy jumping back into that car and driving away really fast. It didn't occur to me until later that maybe he'd actually shot at me... Much later, with first hand firearms experience, I realized that what I heard actually had been a gunshot from about 75 feet away, and that I should have been really scared instead of just really startled.

[Brien]

Originally Posted by beorning 

Was canvassing in a dodgy neighborhood after dark and came upon what I assumed was a drug deal - so I just passed on by. The car came up to me further down the street and the passenger leaned over the driver and stuck a gun out the window and demanded to know who I was and what I was doing. I told him and expected him to back-off, since I was doing social work.

He asked for my wallet and since I don't keep anything in my wallet other than my license and business cards (for just such an occasion) I told him "OK." I was moving slowly to give it to him and he pulled the trigger. At first I thought it was a blank or a rubber bullet or something, because it hit me but didn't hurt. But when I looked down I saw my shirt turning red. It was all rather surreal, but I knew I wasn't badly hurt.

I dropped to the ground and started shouting for help. The bad guy got out of the car and I thought I was in trouble now as he came around the car and walked up to my back. I was ready to get shot in the back, but he just reached into my pocket and took about five dollars.

People in the neighborhood (lots of them knew me) started to come out of their houses and the bad guy got back in the car and they drove away. I got up and walked under my own steam to a place to get help.

Thankfully he was carrying a .22 and it hit my rib and never entered the chest or I might not be telling you about it.

Gotta love Texas!

I had a friend who was shot (and killed) when I was in elementary school. He must've been 9 or 10. The reason? They stole his bicycle. Guess to some of these people a human life isn't worth much. Sad really.

I've never been shot at, but one time I was walking home and saw a few gang members selling guns out of the back on an SUV. One of them, the stereotypical Mexican with a wifebeater and gold chains, told me "you better run homes", so I did. I was probably 19 or so at the time.

[Doc HM]

Originally Posted by Brien 

Guess to some of these people a human life isn't worth much. Sad really.

True. A man local to us was killed a while back. Another man stabbed him in the back of the head with a screwdriver in order to steal his iPhone4. It's pathetic. Just threatening would almost certainly have got it.

My brain simply cannot process how another human being can equate an iPhone in value with taking a life.

People are bizarre.

[ebuddy]

When I was young, myself and friends would often pool-hop. My neighbor at the time had a lap pool setup in his front yard and apparently my friends decided to take a dip without me on Friday night. The next day my neighbor called me over to tell me that he had a gun pointed at my back and that I'm lucky he recognized it was me. Except... it wasn't me. He claimed the tracks of wet-feet led behind my house, but again... it wasn't me.

None the less, I'm glad he recognized "me" and didn't kill any of my friends.

[BlueSky]

Walking toward my car while my friend was walking towards hers parked in front of mine. I heard pop pop pop and ignored it because it was the 3rd of July, figured it was fireworks. I finally looked up and saw a car with mexicans stopped in the middle of an intersection, one guy aiming and firing a gun. I literally dove behind my car and it seemed to take an eternity to do so.

[abbaZaba]

We were leaving a bar, walking to a friend's apartment when I heard POP POP POP. I don't know how far away it was but people started running and my friend starts yelling that he had been struck. He said that pieces of cement had hit his leg from the bullet hitting the ground. This was in a really crowded, popular bar area of Pittsburgh. As everyone was yelling and running around me, I didn't believe that it was gunfire. I've never shot a gun nor have been nearby when a gun was fired so I didn't recognize how close to danger I was. I was also skeptic because my friend was drunk and blabbing about how he felt debris hit his leg. we made it home fine and I chalked it up to a lot of drunk people being scared of backfire or something. I tried to look up a police report or something the next day but I didn't come across anything.

this thread made me try a search again and I found this article: Man faces charges after South Side shooting

that's the same night and time and that bar is quite close to where we were; probably no more than 50 feet. that is quite scary considering how close I was and the fact that I was just standing there looking around with zero sense of urgency. thank goodness my naïveté didn't get me injured or killed.

[SSharon]

When I was studying abroad the year before college I was living in a dormitory in the northeast corner of Jerusalem. One day someone from one of the surrounding villages approached the parking lot where we were playing football and unloaded his handgun all over the place. He hit a bunch of cars, but thankfully no people. The people closest to the building ran inside to alert our guard who went chasing after the guy with his own weapon drawn.

I also have a highschool classmate who was shot in the leg in Chicago during a hate crime incident where a black football coach was unfortunately killed.

I've had my life threatened before, but no other shooting incidents.

[Face Ache]

Walking through a park when I was nine, I felt a sting in my leg and looked down to find a small bleeding hole with something silver in it. Gave the wound a squeeze and a pellet popped out. Presumably just from an air rifle, but it freaked nine-year-old me out that someone was shooting at me (I never saw who).

While retrieving some bond money for my sister from a crooked and uncooperative landlord, I took along two of my more persuasive scabby mates. We were having a chat to the landlord in the carpark when someone pulled a rifle on us. This angered my mate Craig (a man mountain covered in tattoos - including his face), who yelled "YOU! PUT THAT ****ING TOY AWAY!" and rifle-dude quickly locked himself back in his apartment. That was enough to encourage the landlord to fork over the cash.

The scariest was having a loaded crossbow pointed at my chest (by some idiot who was disarmed by the cops a few minutes later). Somehow the thought of a crossbow bolt sticking out of your chest seems much scarier than a bullet.

[bstone]

While not being shot at, a man held a gun to my head while he stole my car. I got carjacked at gunpoint. Most horrifying experience of my entire life.

[Paco500]

Originally Posted by Brien 

One of them, the stereotypical Mexican with a wifebeater and gold chains

Racist. Stereotypical Mexicans have sombreros, long mustaches and ponchos.

[Laminar]

And maracas.

[SpaceMonkey]

[subego]

Originally Posted by Face Ache 

While retrieving some bond money for my sister from a crooked and uncooperative landlord, I took along two of my more persuasive scabby mates. We were having a chat to the landlord in the carpark when someone pulled a rifle on us. This angered my mate Craig (a man mountain covered in tattoos - including his face), who yelled "YOU! PUT THAT ****ING TOY AWAY!" and rifle-dude quickly locked himself back in his apartment. That was enough to encourage the landlord to fork over the cash.

I know a guy, you could call him a scabby mate. A 350 pound, worked at the steel mill, rugby playing, scabby mate.

He was in a bar fight (not uncommon with him) and the bartender pulled out a shotgun. His response was to tell the bartender "I don't like guns", as he reached across the bar and yanked the shotgun out of the bartender's hands.

He wasn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, but as you may surmise, his side "won" the fight that evening.


More on topic, now that I think about it, I know someone who had a gun pointed at them. He wasn't shot at (he took a big risk and ran), but found out later from the cops that the M.O. of these people was to march someone into a store at gunpoint as a diversion, rob the store, and then shoot everyone. The (most obvious) psychological result is that he became pretty obsessed with his own death for awhile. For instance, he's an artist, and his work became uncharacteristically violent, and his author surrogate characters ended up getting shot to death. Interestingly, he didn't even realize it. It needed to be pointed out to him.

[MrsLarry]

Originally Posted by ebuddy 

When I was young, myself and friends would often pool-hop. My neighbor at the time had a lap pool setup in his front yard and apparently my friends decided to take a dip without me on Friday night. The next day my neighbor called me over to tell me that he had a gun pointed at my back and that I'm lucky he recognized it was me. Except... it wasn't me. He claimed the tracks of wet-feet led behind my house, but again... it wasn't me.

None the less, I'm glad he recognized "me" and didn't kill any of my friends.

This story is infuriating to me. How can anyone think that some neighborhood kid sneaking into your pool is an offense punishable by a bullet in the back??

[The Final Dakar]

Jesus, I never noticed this was a poll.

Public fail, as usual, though.

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Jesus, I never noticed this was a poll.

Public fail, as usual, though.

It's not public.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by imitchellg5 

It's not public.

...and that's why it's a fail.

Do try to keep up with forum memes that have been around for 5 years.

[subego]

Originally Posted by MrsLarry 

This story is infuriating to me. How can anyone think that some neighborhood kid sneaking into your pool is an offense punishable by a bullet in the back??

I knew a guy who was an armorer (the guy who takes care of guns on movies). I'll call him Al, 'cause that was his name. Whenever Al would work for some two-bit project, he'd tell "the story", which involved him paying a visit to delinquent clients with two loaded Uzis under his trenchcoat.

Moral: Al always got paid.

I have a feeling this was similar. I'm gonna guess ebuddy and co. started skipping that pool, henceforth.

[Railroader]

I've never had a gun pointed at me other than BB gun fights as a kid or paint ball.

They only time I've heard guns fired other than during practice, a competition, or hunting was when I was getting into my car after work on evening to go home. This was in Flint, MI. All I heard was a couple distinct pops that sounded very distant.

I am amazed at the number of people who claim on here to have been fired at.

[mattyb]

Originally Posted by bstone 

While not being shot at, a man held a gun to my head while he stole my car. I got carjacked at gunpoint. Most horrifying experience of my entire life.

I think that you had already brought this up in another thread, and I had a long, drunken talk about the subject with my family (cousins and whatnot) a while ago. Our general opinion was that we would just cower, and cry silently.

Originally Posted by Railroader 

They only time I've heard guns fired other than during practice, a competition, or hunting was when I was getting into my car after work on evening to go home. This was in Flint, MI. All I heard was a couple distinct pops that sounded very distant.

Somebody shooting at Michael Moore?

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Railroader 

I am amazed at the number of people who claim on here to have been fired at.

It's the internet. Everything happens more here.

[ghporter]

There's also a wider variety of people available to converse with here. Military experience, living in "a bad part of town," all sorts of things can come out when you get such a big group together.

[ebuddy]

Originally Posted by MrsLarry 

This story is infuriating to me. How can anyone think that some neighborhood kid sneaking into your pool is an offense punishable by a bullet in the back??

Well for one, it was friend(s) pool-hopping his pool, but it may have had something to do with the fact that he was robbed badly several years prior. Someone ballsy enough to pop over your fence to swim in your pool may be friggin' looney bins, hopped up on drugs, or both. And in case you're curious, the answer to your next likely question is yes... to both. Just because you're pulling a gun doesn't mean you're firing it, but it might be a great way to get a bunch of uninvited people out of your pool quickly.

I'd at least have a baseball bat wouldn't you?

[SSharon]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

There's also a wider variety of people available to converse with here. Military experience, living in "a bad part of town," all sorts of things can come out when you get such a big group together.

And the natural self selection of members who have been involved with guns/shootings choosing to chime in here. I'm sure the poll data here can't be extrapolated to all of MacNN.

[freudling]

Lots of gun fire in my neighbourhood.

Luckily, they haven't shot me yet.

One time, though, I did find myself with a gun pointed at me. But he didn't pull the trigger. Go figure.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by SSharon 

And the natural self selection of members who have been involved with guns/shootings choosing to chime in here. I'm sure the poll data here can't be extrapolated to all of MacNN.

Of course not. But of the whole MacNN population, there's bound to be some sort of experience with a very broad array of different life situations. It doesn't guarantee there's lots of experience with everything, but it does help provide more than just "what you and your friends experience in your neighborhood."

[glideslope]

To be honest, I'd like to see a reverse poll. "Have you ever shot at a person"?

[Cold Warrior]

We haven't had a Dark Confessions thread in a while. That might fit the criteria.