NavyStyles
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- Mar 2, 2002
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I figured this would be the best place to put this, since it happened after I left a party Saturday night...
Interesting night, last night. And it wasn't over until 6:00 this morning, against my will.
So, three of my friends threw an end-of-the-year "Party on the Roof." One has "adoptive parents" here through the Catholic Center, and they live in an apartment in the Warehouse District. I got pulled in to call up some friends and invite them, which I did. Most of them were staying in because of rain. Though, it turns out, maybe it was better the girls decided not to come.
The party was, as you may have already guessed, on the roof of the apartment. It offered an incredible view of the Central Business District (CBD + French Quarter = downtown). The weather turned out to be nice, as well. We got a keg beforehand along with some other drinks. The party started off with about 10 people or so. After a while, more people showed up, and I called a good friend of mine and his girlfriend to come over. All in all, about 30 people showed up. It was a good time, though -- the entire night -- I kept having second thoughts about being there.
So, after my good friend and his girlfriend had been there for about 2 hours, we were getting hungry. Another friend decided she was also ready to go. The four of us decided we might as well go to Cafe du Monde or some all-night diner, since we were so close to the Quarter. We went downstairs and outside the entrance, which was protected by a passcode and cameras. We were only two blocks away from Poydras Street (which is always well populated), so we walked instead of worrying about finding a parking spot and paying a fee.
We started walking down Commerce in the direction of Poydras Street. As we got on Commerce and started walking, we noticed two black males turn from a side street and parallel us on the other side of the road. We all figured that they were coming from a bar a block over that had a band that night. As such, I figured the worst we'd have to worry about were their drunken cat-calls at the girls. I wish.
After walking half a block, there was a dumpster on their side of the street. We didn't notice until later, but one of the guys went behind the dumpster while the other guy lingered at the far end of it. Once we got to the other end (almost at the end of the block), the guy who had gone behind it reappeared wearing a goofy Halloween mask and toting a shotgun. He yelled, "Get down. Take your wallets out, and empty your pockets." After that, he cocked the shotgun that was now pointing directly at me from only 5 feet away. We crawled to the ground, and took out our stuff. Luckily, I noticed they were rushing things and really only cared about getting a couple of things, so I kept everything but my wallet. Everyone else lost cell phones, keys, and purses. Because I was able to keep my phone, we could get some help. We all didn't care about the cash we lost, and if they had taken just credit cards, we cancelled those, anyway. The most annoying thing is shutting down accounts and opening up new ones. Basically disabling everything you have going, getting a new driver's license (which has my social on it), accomodating for no Tulane ID (which I need to get into dorm/cafeteria/fitness center), changing locks, and all that crap.
After they collected everything on the ground, they ran off in the direction we'd just come from. We started to stand up to run away towards Poydras, but one of them yelled "Stay down." They then got into a car and drove back by us. When they got close to us, they slowed down and rolled down their windows. They threw one of the girl's car keys on the ground near us and drove off, but the license plate was hidden, so it was obviously planned. We immediately went to my friend's car (thankfully, she had been pleading for her keys while we were facedown on the ground). From there, we drove straight to the 8th District Police Station. After being there for 3 hours and retelling this story to a detective and the file officer, we finally got to go back to campus.
It's really frustrating to have something like this happen. If you have any faith in mankind, lose it. Humans aren't capable of reaching any type of perfection. Yes, I know we're lucky to have our lives. I'm just pissed off that these scumbags get to keep theirs unscathed. I keep rethinking every little thing and how I could've done it differently. But there isn't any use. It's over. And the bad guys won.
Interesting night, last night. And it wasn't over until 6:00 this morning, against my will.
So, three of my friends threw an end-of-the-year "Party on the Roof." One has "adoptive parents" here through the Catholic Center, and they live in an apartment in the Warehouse District. I got pulled in to call up some friends and invite them, which I did. Most of them were staying in because of rain. Though, it turns out, maybe it was better the girls decided not to come.
The party was, as you may have already guessed, on the roof of the apartment. It offered an incredible view of the Central Business District (CBD + French Quarter = downtown). The weather turned out to be nice, as well. We got a keg beforehand along with some other drinks. The party started off with about 10 people or so. After a while, more people showed up, and I called a good friend of mine and his girlfriend to come over. All in all, about 30 people showed up. It was a good time, though -- the entire night -- I kept having second thoughts about being there.
So, after my good friend and his girlfriend had been there for about 2 hours, we were getting hungry. Another friend decided she was also ready to go. The four of us decided we might as well go to Cafe du Monde or some all-night diner, since we were so close to the Quarter. We went downstairs and outside the entrance, which was protected by a passcode and cameras. We were only two blocks away from Poydras Street (which is always well populated), so we walked instead of worrying about finding a parking spot and paying a fee.
We started walking down Commerce in the direction of Poydras Street. As we got on Commerce and started walking, we noticed two black males turn from a side street and parallel us on the other side of the road. We all figured that they were coming from a bar a block over that had a band that night. As such, I figured the worst we'd have to worry about were their drunken cat-calls at the girls. I wish.
After walking half a block, there was a dumpster on their side of the street. We didn't notice until later, but one of the guys went behind the dumpster while the other guy lingered at the far end of it. Once we got to the other end (almost at the end of the block), the guy who had gone behind it reappeared wearing a goofy Halloween mask and toting a shotgun. He yelled, "Get down. Take your wallets out, and empty your pockets." After that, he cocked the shotgun that was now pointing directly at me from only 5 feet away. We crawled to the ground, and took out our stuff. Luckily, I noticed they were rushing things and really only cared about getting a couple of things, so I kept everything but my wallet. Everyone else lost cell phones, keys, and purses. Because I was able to keep my phone, we could get some help. We all didn't care about the cash we lost, and if they had taken just credit cards, we cancelled those, anyway. The most annoying thing is shutting down accounts and opening up new ones. Basically disabling everything you have going, getting a new driver's license (which has my social on it), accomodating for no Tulane ID (which I need to get into dorm/cafeteria/fitness center), changing locks, and all that crap.
After they collected everything on the ground, they ran off in the direction we'd just come from. We started to stand up to run away towards Poydras, but one of them yelled "Stay down." They then got into a car and drove back by us. When they got close to us, they slowed down and rolled down their windows. They threw one of the girl's car keys on the ground near us and drove off, but the license plate was hidden, so it was obviously planned. We immediately went to my friend's car (thankfully, she had been pleading for her keys while we were facedown on the ground). From there, we drove straight to the 8th District Police Station. After being there for 3 hours and retelling this story to a detective and the file officer, we finally got to go back to campus.
It's really frustrating to have something like this happen. If you have any faith in mankind, lose it. Humans aren't capable of reaching any type of perfection. Yes, I know we're lucky to have our lives. I'm just pissed off that these scumbags get to keep theirs unscathed. I keep rethinking every little thing and how I could've done it differently. But there isn't any use. It's over. And the bad guys won.