So very happy to still be alive.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Hello-

I won't be able to sleep so I figured I'd come here, because that's what I always do to get away from the stresses of real life. I'm still in shock, so I'll just talk about what happened.

At around 4:30AM, someone walked up to the house where I live and shot two rounds directly at my sleeping roommate, who is very, very fortunate to have escaped unharmed. I am very glad that he was not at all injured.

This person sleeps 10 feet away from my own bed, and all that separates us is some drywall. The bullets penetrated the window of his bedroom, the wall behind his head, the hallway wall to the bathroom, and they ended up in the bathtub. They were fired at about chest level and were angled downward to the bed, and they ended up at around knee/ankle level. This means that the person fired at almost point blank range of the window itself, aiming directly at my roomate. They could only have missed his head by an inch or two, the impact on the wall was head level, right where he was sleeping on the bed.

There was no mistake, there was no other way the angle could be that way unless they were standing outside his window trying to murder him. The house is on sort of a hill, so the only downward angle could have come from would be standing right there. The police found the casings and will be checking for fingerprints. We think it was a former roommate that might have had a drug problem. I have no idea really, my hours make me work so late I get in and out when everyone else is sleeping or at work. I never knew this other person who, if this is the guy, slept in the bedroom next to mine with only a thin wall separating us.

I was in my bedroom at the time and I sleep right next to a window as well, so if this person was after my roommate but didn't know which window was his, it could easily have been me, and I may never have been able to talk to any of you guys again. If they had fired at a different angle, it still could have hit me because the bullet passed through a window and two walls, and that's as much separation as I had from what happened. Where the bullets ended up, I was less than 10 feet away.

I've never been this close to that kind of real violence, and it's surreal.

I'm thankful to still be here and I am very thankful my roommate is still here as well. I will of course be moving out as soon as humanly possible and relocating to a safer neighborhood.

Thanks for listening to my story.

[phonicsmonkey]

I'm very glad you're ok!

[Visor]

Same here. Move out ASAP.

[Ironside]

Good to hear that you're alive and well.

[Askthepizzaguy]

I'm very glad you're ok!

Thank you.


I'm just going to jibber jabber for a while until I calm down.

It doesn't sound like the gunshots you hear in movies; all I heard was two thumps and some glass shattering, I thought one of my roommates dropped something heavy. I didn't even realize they were gunshots.

Oh, it was loud, yes, but it didn't sound like gunshots. It sounded like maybe a roommate was moving out and dropped a TV or something. I didn't hear screaming or anything, and I keep my door deadbolted as a precaution, and didn't wish to open it up if there was a danger like a home invasion, but I honestly did not sense any danger.

That's the extremely scary thing about all this; even after it happened I didn't know it had happened. There was simply no way to predict it was going to happen and nothing would have prevented it, so far as I know; and I've never been shot at in my life and no one I know ever had been.

It's insane. All I can think about is how different reality is from the fiction. It's sudden, and no warning. It hits you out of absolutely nowhere and there is no way to prevent it. You can't really count on someone being there like the police, or a doctor, or a loved one.... none of those things would have been available here.

I can't imagine the story of my life ending suddenly without even a good-bye, but that was an inch away from being the case with this person I know, and one wrong window away from happening to me.

Real life sometimes makes no sense to me and I come here because the people seem friendlier and saner and nothing really bad can happen to you here.

I have no idea if I'm making any sense right now either. Forgive me if I sound dazed or if I'm rambling; this is helping me get over it.

[Husar]

Woah, that's scary!

Glad you and your roommate are okay though.

Might indeed be time to move out, hope the police catch the would-be-killer as well.

[Askthepizzaguy]

And yes, please, it's okay to make the joke, given the game several of us are in. My feelings are not going to be hurt. The reason I come here is because of the humor and the friendly people, and being able to laugh is very helpful to me right now. I'm okay and everyone is okay, so therefore the joke isn't tasteless from my perspective. I know exactly what kind of jokes are going to be coming my way and it's fine. It's okay. I would much rather hear the joke than not hear the joke, in a situation like this. I would much rather laugh it off than the alternative.

Thanks for making me laugh, Montmorency. Thanks also for sending it via PM just in case, that was very thoughtful of you.

[Husar]

It doesn't sound like the gunshots you hear in movies; all I heard was two thumps and some glass shattering, I thought one of my roommates dropped something heavy. I didn't even realize they were gunshots.

Could be the acoustics, the other room would be like the body of a guitar and make the shots sound more voluminous etc.

I keep my door deadbolted as a precaution, and didn't wish to open it up if there was a danger like a home invasion, but I honestly did not sense any danger.

Ah, yes, despite the low gun crime here it's still good to live on the first floor in a house with almost 30cm thick stone walls. If someone wanted to shoot through the window, they'd have to at least bring a ladder.

That's the extremely scary thing about all this; even after it happened I didn't know it had happened. There was simply no way to predict it was going to happen and nothing would have prevented it, so far as I know; and I've never been shot at in my life and no one I know ever had been.

I know that feeling, I went over a road at a green traffic light one day when suddenly a big black truck came towards me from the left, it bounced off my left arm (no really it had a huge dent and looked really damaged (j/k, I had a strain in my elbow, so got away lightly)) as I moved backwards but it was really close and out of nowhere.

It's insane. All I can think about is how different reality is from the fiction. It's sudden, and no warning.

Hehe, did you expect some tense music beforehand?

It hits you out of absolutely nowhere and there is no way to prevent it. You can't really count on someone being there like the police, or a doctor, or a loved one.... none of those things would have been available here.

Well, yes, that's the way it is, the improvement lies in the fact that police and doctors can usually be made available much faster and help much better than for example in the middle ages, but absolute security doesn't exist. I think that's a fact we just have to accept.

I have no idea if I'm making any sense right now either. Forgive me if I sound dazed or if I'm rambling; this is helping me get over it.

It's fine, I hope you don't mind me replying with some of my perspectives.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Could be the acoustics, the other room would be like the body of a guitar and make the shots sound more voluminous etc.

Yeah. It definitely won't always be that stock sound of gunshot firing. If it happens IRL it may sound very different. They don't tell you that in movies or TV shows.

Ah, yes, despite the low gun crime here it's still good to live on the first floor in a house with almost 30cm thick stone walls. If someone wanted to shoot through the window, they'd have to at least bring a ladder.

I could use some stone walls right now. Cheap drywall does not make me feel very safe at all.

I know that feeling, I went over a road at a green traffic light one day when suddenly a big black truck came towards me from the left, it bounced off my left arm (no really it had a huge dent and looked really damaged (j/k, I had a strain in my elbow, so got away lightly)) as I moved backwards but it was really close and out of nowhere.

Yeah.... in movies stuff is scripted and expected, you have the anticipation of the event which adds entertainment value to the audience.

IRL there's no warning and it happens in the middle of your otherwise normal day for absolutely no reason or explanation, and ends just as quickly.... hopefully.... or dramatically rewrites your life.

A few months back, a friend of mine I had been telling to wear her seatbelt got into an accident. She was wearing her seatbelt, and it may have saved her life. Now she always wears one.

I know this stuff feels silly because "it will never happen to me" but I never expected anyone remotely near me to ever be shot at. Life is completely weird and I guess we should take more of an effort to expect the unexpected.

Hehe, did you expect some tense music beforehand?

I know, right?

Well, yes, that's the way it is, the improvement lies in the fact that police and doctors can usually be made available much faster and help much better than for example in the middle ages, but absolute security doesn't exist. I think that's a fact we just have to accept.

I certainly will take this as a cue.

When I settle down and have a family, I'm going to make sure the walls are good and thick and the children are nowhere near first floor windows. This experience, however minor it might be in the scheme of things, has taught me something that could be very valuable. Security is often an illusion and needs to be backed up with something more real. I didn't have that today, and neither did my roomate, and that could have been tragic.

It's fine, I hope you don't mind me replying with some of my perspectives.

Heck no, I'm happy to be talking to anyone and everyone right now.

I don't think I will be able to sleep until tomorrow night. I'm certainly wide awake now.

[The Stranger]

Seems like someone received the Luck trait for real :P

good to hear you are ok.

[SwordsMaster]

His breakfast never tasted so good... From now on, sleep in the car.

[Andres]

Glad to hear you're ok.

Gunshots are of course more dramatic, but I think I know how you feel right now. A few years ago, my wife and I nearly died in a car accident on the highway. Some moron just switched into our lane unexpectedly, for no apparent reason, while he was driving much slower than us. My wife avoided him, but we were going straight to a concrete wall at 120 km/h. I was sitting next to her and reached to give the wheel a quick turn to avoid the wall. We avoided the wall, but started slipping. Another fast going car avoided us and ultimately, our car stopped in the middle of the highway, our nose in the opposite direction. I stared directly in the face of a woman, driving a Mercedes which had missed us at an inch. We could've died in three or four possible ways, yet we somehow managed to get out of it without even a scratch on our car.

We couldn't just stand there, so she just started the engine, drove to the next exit and there we stopped for a long while, not really sure about what had happened. It all went so fast and I'm actually surprised I remember all the details. It's also weird that we hadn't actually been afraid and that we didn't have a problem to just jump in the car again and continue our journey as if nothing had happened.

It can sometimes go so fast and unexpected. If my wife hadn't avoided the car coming into our lane, if my reflex while we're heading straight to that concrete wall would've been a fraction of a second later, if the other car wouldn't have avoided us and that other car wouldn't have stopped, I would have been buried a few years ago already. Or at least sitting in a wheelchair or so. Yet here I am, in perfect health.

Allthough it wasn't our fault, I'm more careful when driving nowadays. Apart from that, it hasn't really changed my life or changed my way of thinking about things in life.

It was more like "Bam!" then a bit of shock, not really sure about what happened, and then you just pick up your life again and carry on

[Askthepizzaguy]

Glad to hear you're ok.

Gunshots are of course more dramatic, but I think I know how you feel right now. A few years ago, my wife and I nearly died in a car accident on the highway. Some moron just switched into our lane unexpectedly, for no apparent reason, while he was driving much slower than us. My wife avoided him, but we were going straight to a concrete wall at 120 km/h. I was sitting next to her and reached to give the wheel a quick turn to avoid the wall. We avoided the wall, but started slipping. Another fast going car avoided us and ultimately, our car stopped in the middle of the highway, our nose in the opposite direction. I stared directly in the face of a woman, driving a Mercedes which had missed us at an inch. We could've died in three or four possible ways, yet we somehow managed to get out of it without even a scratch on our car.

We couldn't just stand there, so she just started the engine, drove to the next exit and there we stopped for a long while, not really sure about what had happened. It all went so fast and I'm actually surprised I remember all the details. It's also weird that we hadn't actually been afraid and that we didn't have a problem to just jump in the car again and continue our journey as if nothing had happened.

Yeah, I had a similar experience up in New Hampshire.

My aunt I had been staying with temporarily was driving me to get some clothes, or something... the highway was slick and the guy in front of us in a different lane started sliding, and slipped completely sideways, with one end of the vehicle flying toward the passenger side of the car I was sitting in, where I was sitting.

My aunt quickly reacted, turning left and avoiding the vehicle, but at the rate of speed we were moving and the sudden drop in speed from the other guy, if she had even been momentarily distracted I could have died or been crippled for life. There was absolutely nothing that could have been done on my part, even bracing myself wouldn't have helped.

I do remember watching it happen like it was a scene in a movie. Didn't even click that I could have died, even when I started telling myself hey, I could have died. Where's the reaction? No reaction.

It's really odd to me, that in a situation like that where your instinctive fear and panic and whatever, whatever it might have been useful for, doesn't even kick in because everything's happening too fast for you to have an emotional reaction to it other than surprise.

It can sometimes go so fast and unexpected. If my wife hadn't avoided the car coming into our lane, if my reflex while we're heading straight to that concrete wall would've been a fraction of a second later, if the other car wouldn't have avoided us and that other car wouldn't have stopped, I would have been buried a few years ago already. Or at least sitting in a wheelchair or so. Yet here I am, in perfect health.

Allthough it wasn't our fault, I'm more careful when driving nowadays. Apart from that, it hasn't really changed my life or changed my way of thinking about things in life.

It was more like "Bam!" then a bit of shock, not really sure about what happened, and then you just pick up your life again and carry on

Yeah, traffic is one of those everyday life or death risks we accept as a necessity. If we had a more patient and sane society, we'd have plenty more space between oncoming traffic and your own lane, and really sturdy concrete or guard rails in between. It's just more convenient to accept the risk.

It's scary to think how vulnerable we really are. If someone really wanted us dead, there's hardly anything we could do. They just catch us off-guard in broad daylight, if they wanted to.

I never really thought about this before. I mean I've always had some lingering paranoia that bad things will happen to me, I don't know why... just life experience has taught me that the next disaster is always about to strike, but there are some things even a paranoid guy like me never considered.

I'll be okay, and I'll be able to write this off as an interesting yet scary incident, but I cannot imagine how my roommate feels. Somewhere out there, someone is still running around who tried to end his life. I couldn't imagine sleeping very well after that, and I am glad he concurs that moving is a necessity right now.

This still doesn't seem real to me, but it's not like a dream either... it just feels like a disconnected reality, like I'm watching it happen but I'm not as involved in it as if it were really real. Yet I know it's all true.

I wish I could put that writing ability people claim I have to good use and express how it feels better than I am doing right now; best I can say is unless something similar has happened to a person, it's difficult to describe. It would be like describing a rainbow to someone who has always been blind. Without a common frame of reference, words fail.

Thanks for sharing your story, Andres. I appreciate hearing about your experiences, and how you've coped with it and moved on.




EDIT: It's now been about 3 hours since the incident and I would love to distract myself with things that don't matter, I think the usual escapism of watching Star Trek is in order. Thanks for talking to me everyone... I'll be back later today probably feeling much better.

[naut]

It's stuff like this that makes me both appreciate what I've got and also how boring it is.

Very glad to hear that you are only shaken.

[johnhughthom]

it could easily have been me, and I may never have been able to talk to any of you guys again.

Typical of your sense of priorities, a near death experience and you're worried about how Capo is going to run without you.

Seriously, glad you're okay mate.

[Peasant Phill]

Glad your OK Pizza. We take life for granted and are shocked when that ilusion is shattered. I can't imagine being confronted with such kind of violence.

My moment was when I crossed a busy crossroads with my bike about 10 years ago. I had foolishly driven through a red light. I was able to avoid a few uncoming cars but then was scooped up and landed on the windscreen of a car probably going around 90 km/h. My bike was absolutly wrecked but I had nothing.

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

Yeah... probably want to move ASAP.


Maybe to a Cashew and Milk Carebear run hotel?

[Nowake]

Good to read you're safe and sound. Keep buggering on!

We take life for granted

That is especially true before we hit 30 - I still have a few years to it.
It is actually difficult to permanently take into consideration that even the slightly older persons you're dealing with are living with the increased realization of the fact every day. It completely changes perspective, particularly an out-of-time feeling.

[White_eyes:D]

Well, I am glad your ok physical at least. I don't think that guy well be coming back anytime soon, but I imagine your pretty shaken up.

I have never been shot at before, the worst that has ever happened is that someone I trusted jumped me and pinned me down. I was half-asleep as I was always the guy in my family who made sure if people were going to drink, I would watch them and make sure nothing bad happened, like fist-fights and the like. I was dead tired that morning having been up for about 36 hours watching them and my younger cousins and I really wanted sleep after they left. My auntie was not happy that I didn't listen to my mom over something very trivial, I was half-asleep and just said "I don't care" while walking away to my room to sleep.

What happened next is the reason I told my whole family "no more of this" and moved out on my own. My aunt tackled me to the floor while my back was turned. She pinned me real good as I had my arms under her and she weighs 180 pounds. She grabbed my head and started twisting it while demanding that I tell her what swear word I said to her.

Now this was before I started playing mafia games, I was a pretty honest guy before that.

She kept asking but all I could tell her was what I said and that was not good enough in her mind and she kept twisting it more. Someone heard what was going on and pulled her off me and then she proceeded to try and beat them down but they just throw her out. I tried not to move my neck for a while but I heard my aunt sending all kinds of threats and felt I had to get up and arm myself.

I still didn't sleep for about 5-6 hours but I just had to at some point, once the adrenaline wore off. Sad part about this other then everything?

I was really close to my aunt, she was like my second mom when I was young and it broke my heart that she almost or even tried to killed me.After that I was never around her drunk and I still don't turn my back to her even when she was in the hospital.

Point is Pizzaguy that this well have an effect on you, not trying to be morbid or anything and I hope you won't do anything drastic, like I did and still do.

But I am glad nobody was hurt and hopefully they catch that guy before he harms himself or others.

[Gregoshi]

I'm glad you are okay Atpg. Just one thought: Kevlar pajamas, curtains and bedsheets.

[Populus Romanus]

Thats pretty scary. Why would anybody want to shoot your roommate?



Did he not pay his internet bills again?
j/k

[Fragony]

Scary stuff AtpG, you may want to talk about this with someone

[CountArach]

Glad you are fine and that everyone escaped unscathed

[Kagemusha]

I am happy that you are fine and your room mate as well. Terrible thing to happen.

[rajpoot]

Good that you're safe and trying to get over it with humour, and that your room-mate's safe...how's he taking it?

And I'm surprised that this -

Thats pretty scary. Why would anybody want to shoot your roommate?

Has been asked so late. Why would anyone shoot your roommate? Does he have any clue? Is he a part of some gang? Over some girl? What?

[Vladimir]

Wow. No pizza for that guy!

[seireikhaan]

Glad you're okay, Pizzaguy. Can't even imagine...

[TheLastDays]

Oh wow, only stumbled over this thread just now. Man, I'm really glad you and your roommate are ok!

[Gregoshi]

And I'm surprised that this -

Has been asked so late. Why would anyone shoot your roommate? Does he have any clue? Is he a part of some gang? Over some girl? What?

Seeing that Atpg was trying to calm down, it didn't seem prudent to start asking a bunch of questions or make observations that might ramp up the anxiety level again.

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

Seeing that Atpg was trying to calm down, it didn't seem prudent to start asking a bunch of questions or make observations that might ramp up the anxiety level again.

The man was just curious dude. Legit question.