I was relating this story recently and thought I would share it on here.
When I was younger I never understood how anyone could be so stupid as to shoot someone over a pair of shoes... then as many things in life go I found out how.
Many years ago a friend lived in a seedy part of town, but it was what he could afford at the time. Anyhow, when he finally got a new place, he asked me and a couple others to help him move. Most things had already been moved, save for a couch I lent him. So him, myself and 2 others went along to grab the couch. Here's where things heated up...
So we arrive in the driveway to find people in the house. He still had a day left to move things according to his contract, but apparently the landlord had already moved some new people in. Shouldn't be a big problem right? Well turns out they had been given the couch to use. Also turns out the guy and gal are gang member wanna-bes. My friend was trying to get a hold of the landlord to figure out what was up, meanwhile the guy, all 5'6" of him kept telling us to leave, while we were trying to explain that not only were we legally entitled to be there via contract, we were also trying to get a hold of the landlord to sort this out.
Well that wasn't good enough for him. He was now yelling, telling us if we didn't leave right then that he would go to his car and get his "piece". Well one of the other people who came along asked if he was threatening him with a gun (he was also a licensed carried). The thug-hopeful repeated that he was going to go to his car and get his peace. Well the exact phrases above mentioned were uttered by both tit for tat with ever increasing fervor. I doubt the jerk KNEW we were carrying, but he was obviously a little unsettled by our almost complete disregard for his threat. By this point both my friend and the other guys girlfriend had called the police but I don't know if they were aware of the full intensity of the situation.
Now I don't know exactly what this guy was thinking, but when he heard the police had been called, he (I think for bravado's sake) shouted the usual tough guy obscenities and indicated that it was too late and started to walk to his car to which both myself (I had largely been quite other than adding the police would be there soon to straighten it out which was met with a STFU and similar intelligent banter) and the other guy who was carrying quickly grabbed our carry pieces but neither one of us pulled, just had our hands on them. He stopped, but I don't think it was because he realized we were carrying, but rather that he was full of it. My friend was freaking out more or less and just as that pause hit, he finally got a hold of the landlord who resolved the situation.
We ended up leaving. I don't know if the police ever did show up. I had drove seperately and when I got down the road a couple miles and the adreneline had cooled off, I realized how stupid that was. Sure the guy was a jerk, but to even think it would come to a fire fight over a COUCH! How absurd. When I had gotten back home the other guy left me a message to call him back. We spoke for a while and confirmed that it was ridiculous and more than a bit shameful. We should have just walked away when we realized the guy wasn't a reasonable human being.
Lesson learned... don't let punks pull you into idiocy.
Now we can look back and laugh at ourselves. We affectionately refer to the situation as the Shootout at the OK Couch. But now we could see how heated exchanges mixed with ample amounts of stupdity could lead to someone getting shot for practically nothing.
Note to the story, the rather irrate thug wannabe was picked up soon after that event for sentencing in a stabbing. Don't know if he really had a gun or not but it was proof the guy wasn't playing with a full deck. I wonder if he ever considered just how stupid the situation was.
When I was younger I never understood how anyone could be so stupid as to shoot someone over a pair of shoes... then as many things in life go I found out how.
Many years ago a friend lived in a seedy part of town, but it was what he could afford at the time. Anyhow, when he finally got a new place, he asked me and a couple others to help him move. Most things had already been moved, save for a couch I lent him. So him, myself and 2 others went along to grab the couch. Here's where things heated up...
So we arrive in the driveway to find people in the house. He still had a day left to move things according to his contract, but apparently the landlord had already moved some new people in. Shouldn't be a big problem right? Well turns out they had been given the couch to use. Also turns out the guy and gal are gang member wanna-bes. My friend was trying to get a hold of the landlord to figure out what was up, meanwhile the guy, all 5'6" of him kept telling us to leave, while we were trying to explain that not only were we legally entitled to be there via contract, we were also trying to get a hold of the landlord to sort this out.
Well that wasn't good enough for him. He was now yelling, telling us if we didn't leave right then that he would go to his car and get his "piece". Well one of the other people who came along asked if he was threatening him with a gun (he was also a licensed carried). The thug-hopeful repeated that he was going to go to his car and get his peace. Well the exact phrases above mentioned were uttered by both tit for tat with ever increasing fervor. I doubt the jerk KNEW we were carrying, but he was obviously a little unsettled by our almost complete disregard for his threat. By this point both my friend and the other guys girlfriend had called the police but I don't know if they were aware of the full intensity of the situation.
Now I don't know exactly what this guy was thinking, but when he heard the police had been called, he (I think for bravado's sake) shouted the usual tough guy obscenities and indicated that it was too late and started to walk to his car to which both myself (I had largely been quite other than adding the police would be there soon to straighten it out which was met with a STFU and similar intelligent banter) and the other guy who was carrying quickly grabbed our carry pieces but neither one of us pulled, just had our hands on them. He stopped, but I don't think it was because he realized we were carrying, but rather that he was full of it. My friend was freaking out more or less and just as that pause hit, he finally got a hold of the landlord who resolved the situation.
We ended up leaving. I don't know if the police ever did show up. I had drove seperately and when I got down the road a couple miles and the adreneline had cooled off, I realized how stupid that was. Sure the guy was a jerk, but to even think it would come to a fire fight over a COUCH! How absurd. When I had gotten back home the other guy left me a message to call him back. We spoke for a while and confirmed that it was ridiculous and more than a bit shameful. We should have just walked away when we realized the guy wasn't a reasonable human being.
Lesson learned... don't let punks pull you into idiocy.
Now we can look back and laugh at ourselves. We affectionately refer to the situation as the Shootout at the OK Couch. But now we could see how heated exchanges mixed with ample amounts of stupdity could lead to someone getting shot for practically nothing.
Note to the story, the rather irrate thug wannabe was picked up soon after that event for sentencing in a stabbing. Don't know if he really had a gun or not but it was proof the guy wasn't playing with a full deck. I wonder if he ever considered just how stupid the situation was.
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