Reflections on Getting Robbed at Gunpoint

Wednesday night, while at a gas station on the way home with the family, I got robbed at gunpoint for my wallet and cell phone. Part of this post will be mental therapy for me as I decompress from the ordeal and the other part are a couple of takeaways for anyone who cares to try to keep themselves out of such a situation. Here are my reflections.

How it Happened

A few weeks ago, I received an invite for a drive-in movie night near downtown Houston. I haven't been to a drive-in theater in nearly 2 decades, so when I saw the event and mentioned it to my wife, we thought it would be something different for the family to partake in. When we travel around town as a family, we tend to do it in my wife's BMW X3, so we piled into the vehicle and drove the movie. This choice would present us with a couple of dilemmas that we would later realize later on.

The first, being the fact that the headlights are difficult to keep off in the dark setting of a drive-in theater. To keep the radio on for the sound to come through from the movie and the headlights off, as required by the drive-in rules, I ended up having to restart and cutoff the engine every 8 minutes for the duration of the 2 hour movie. This was far less than an ideal way to watch a movie. The second was the fact that the gas tank was approaching the low status. On the way back home, my wife mentioned that we might need to get gas so she wouldn't be on fumes heading to her next destination.

Since it was after 11 pm when we left the theater, I decided to get gas closer to our side of town, near Lake Houston, where it was usually fairly quiet at that time of night. When we arrived to the gas station near our home, I pulled in to the very last tank near the exit of the parking lot, where I could fill up the tank and immediately leave when done. After filling up the tank, the pump didn't print out a receipt. As a result, I walked to the inside of the store to get my receipt. While walking back to the car, I tried scanning my receipt for points via my Fetch app and the wind blew it out of my hand, causing me to double back to pick it up off the ground behind me.

As soon as I picked it up and resumed my walk back to my car, a pickup truck drove in front of my path. At first, I wasn't sure if they decided to stop when they saw me walk and were trying to let me by or if they were waiting to see if I would stop so they could keep driving forward. At this point, it had been a long day, so I stopped to let them go by. However, the driver rolled his window down and started speaking to me in a fairly low tone, I couldn't really make out what he was saying, but a second or two later I spotted a handgun that he had out the window and realized that what he was sticking me up.

At first, I told him that I don't usually carry any cash and didn't think I had anything of value on me. He then told me to empty my pockets, which I pulled out my wallet and phone to hand over to him. During all of this I saw a passenger, who I couldn't tell if he was going to stay in the vehicle or jump out, because he appeared to be doing a lot of moving around in his seat. After a couple more requests for my belongings by the driver, and me responding that the only other thing I had on me were the keys in my hand, they sped out of the parking lot.

The Aftermath

I walked the remaining 50 or 60 feet to my car to ask my wife for her phone to call the police because I had just been robbed. Our car was facing away from the store, towards the exit of the parking lot, so she and the kids didn't see the robbery taking place. They only heard the car speed out of the parking lot, but didn't pay it any mind. While on the phone with the police I walked back to let the person inside the store know that I had just been robbed, and noticed someone who appeared to be in a uniform in the car in front of the store. I knocked on the window and saw it was a uniformed security guard and let him know that I had just been robbed about 30 to 40 feet from his vehicle by the truck that had just sped out of the parking lot.

While still on the phone with 911 trying to give them the exact location of the gas station, I went inside the store to let the man behind the desk know that I had just been robbed in the parking lot. The 911 operator told me to ask if there was security video from outside the store, which the man behind the desk replied that I would have to check back in the morning. After having a short exchange with the man about needing the video immediately, the 911 operator let me know that the deputy on the way would address the video situation when he arrived and to go ahead and cancel any credit or debit cards I had in my now stolen wallet.

I spent the next 45 minutes trying in vain to cancel my debit and credit cards via my wife's phone, while waiting in the parking lot for the Sherriff's deputy to arrive, largely because the numbers provided on the common debit cards we had together kept directing me to automated lines, chats, offices that were closed, and operators that would ask for things like our business tax ID numbers, which neither of us know off the top of our heads. When the Sherriff's deputy did arrive, I gave him a quick run down of what happened, after which he informed me that they had another call of a robbery with two suspects in a pickup truck that fit the description I gave happen about 15 minutes from where we were.

After I got home I was able to cancel all of my debit and credit cards, thankfully without any new charges on them. Although, I was informed that one of my credit cards was attempted that evening, but didn't go through. Also, after unsuccessfully trying to locate my phone via the findmymobile.samsung.com website, because I had never turned on the find my mobile feature on my phone, I had the service to my phone turned off.

Imaginably, the family was a little shaken up by the ordeal, especially my 10 year old son, who tends to go zero to 100 quickly when it comes to tense situations like these, but I was mainly glad that no one was hurt. I have also now been inconvenienced in having to get a new phone, when I had just gotten my last phone a few months earlier, as well as new credit/debit cards, a new drivers license, a new law license, a new license to carry a handgun, a new AAA card, and probably a few other cards that I have yet to come back to my recollection, but it's still nothing worth getting too bent out of shape over.

Lessons Learned

Almost immediately after the incident took place, I began thinking back to what could I have done to avoid such a predicament. The way they used their truck to cut off my path back to my car made it difficult not to engage with them and at that point I wasn't in a position to do much without running a higher risk of getting shot in the process. However, I did note a couple of things I could have done differently to keep from making myself such an easy target.

Going to the gas station late at night is usually something my wife warns against, especially when we're alone. Although, I tend to get gas at night more often than not, I'm typically in my Toyota Camry, not my wife's BMW X3. I also tend to be a little more on guard when I'm by myself. My guess is there is a slight bit of false security that occurs when we travel in groups. It was part of the reason my wife noted that she also didn't feel as worried about going to the gas station at night on this occasion, because we were all together.

Another big misstep I realized was going inside for the receipt, especially since I had parked about as far away from the front door as possible. I pulled up to the pump from the door furthest from the door, because it was nearest to the parking lot exit and I thought it would make the stop quicker to leave from. However, taking the time to walk into the store to get the receipt from that distance gave the robbers a longer window to stop me as they eventually did. Additionally, it is always said to remain vigilant when out in public places at night, but I was anything but vigilant that night. Trying to scan my receipt with my phone, kept my eyes looking down, as opposed to noticing my surroundings. Had I spotted the pickup truck with the shady individuals in it, I might have had the chance to take note of them zeroing in on me as I walked both from and back to my car.

Other Points of Consideration

You might have noticed that I have yet to mention the race of the suspects in this recap. I purposefully delayed that point, because in this case it really didn't matter or make a difference to me. However, I did notice a couple of people inquired about it when I posted about the ordeal on my Facebook page. The robbers in this story happened to be Hispanic males who appeared to be in their 20s, but l didn't want that to color anyone's perception of the rest of story.

Another thing I was asked, by the deputy that showed up to the scene and others on social media, was did I have a gun on me? I did not, and even if I had, by the time I realized the situation it would have been too late in this case. I was not in a position to reach for it without risking getting shot in the process and/or causing a shoot out near my family, who were only a dozen or so yards away.

I also noticed someone commenting on my Facebook post about September 1st coming soon and people robbing folks needing to beware. At first the comment went over my head, but later realized that they were referring to the recent passing of House Bill 1927, which will allow the carrying of handguns in Texas without a permit. I'm not as optimistic that the recent law will make criminals think twice about robbing people or will make anyone safer. As already mentioned, I have a license to carry, but don't think having a gun would have helped in my particular situation. I also can't see how having more handguns on the street, for both legal and illegal means will do much more than cause more bullets to fly, which again in my particular situation would have had the potential to put my own family at risk. I have in the past been a vocal opponent of many of the relaxing of the restrictions on gun laws in Texas and like the majority of Texans, didn't favor this recent bill either, mainly because I just see it as contributing to more guns in a population with way more than enough already.

Conclusion

In the end, while inconvenienced, irritated, and incensed by the ordeal, I like many have already noted on my post on Facebook, am mainly just happy to be safe. All of my things taken can be replaced, but by life and wellbeing cannot. I'll definitely be more cautious in the future and hope that this retelling of the story can help you do the same.