HOSTAGE CRISIS IN PHOENIX - 1993

Per requests via facebook, I'm going to try to recall everything that happened on that fateful night.

I was 19 when this happened, so it's possible I may leave something out, but I remember it pretty well and since I'm almost 38, this was literally almost 20 years ago.

When I was 19 years old I worked for a local convenience store called Circle-K for those out-of-staters that may not have any idea this store exists. Anyway, it was my day off, however this other guy that worked there was a friend of mine at the time, so I'd go in from time-to-time to see him, even on my day off, as it was about a 2 block walk to the store I worked at. I'd also play video games on the arcade machines this particular store had. My personal favorite was Street Fighter II. On that night the store was packed. It is in a hispanic community, so Jay and I were the only caucasians in the store. I am only mentioning that because it will be relevant to the story later on. I'd say there were probably 35 people in the store that night including the two of us as this store was essentially the local grocery store for the community, as well as one of the local hangouts.

So I was standing at the counter talking to Jay about nothing important when this hispanic gentleman goes over to the vendor chips display and throws it down to the floor muttering something. I told Jay that guy just throw the display down and he said something like it was probably an accident. I told him I'd seen the whole thing and it was NO accident.

The guy then goes outside and starts flipping off any patrons he saw, as well as the gas pumps and 16th Street. We were laughing about it, because he was flipping everything off backwards. Basically, he was flipping himself off instead of others. I thought it was pretty funny to be honest, and I'd laugh again if I saw some idiot doing that. Well, this guy was deranged for sure, and it was pretty evident when one of the patrons in the store yelled "He's got a gun!". It appears he had a truck parked in front of the store, and had decided to get the gun and point that at the gas pumps and 16th Street instead. Unfortunately he didn't point that at himself like the bird.

Obviously by now Jay is on the phone with 9-1-1 and everyone in the store is either ducking behind display cases or in the walk-in-freezer. I'd say most of the group of people in the store ran into the walk-in-freezer. Jay tells me "Dave! Lock the Door! NOW!!!" so I run over to lock the door. The problem is by the time I'd gotten to the door to lock it (top of the door, middle, and bottom) this guy is now walking toward the front doors and has his gun pointed to the temple of another caucasion. He sees me trying to lock the doors and points the gun directly at me, so I back away slowly as he walks in with this guy.

He then tells the person to get down on his knees. I felt really bad for the guy because I could see tears welling up in his eyes and I can only imagine what he was thinking. I know what I was thinking, and it wasn't to be a hero. I'll be honest; I was SCARED SH*TLESS!!! Either way, I will never forget what the person said next:

"I AM THE SON OF JESUS CHRIST. I WILL KILL EVERY ONE OF YOU WHITE MOTHERF*CKERS IN HERE!!!"

Whoa! Did I just hear what I thought I'd heard? Last I saw, there were three of us white motherf*ckers in the store, and one of them was on his knees in front of a madman with a gun. I did something I'm not proud of, but I immediately ran into the back room of the store and locked the door. The whole time I'm in there I'm wondering if I should bolt out the back door and set the alarm off. I figured if I had done that, the guy would have heard and chased me down. I just kind of sat there in shock to be quite honest, or I think I would have moved somewhere else in the room. I was waiting to hear any gunshots and I would have bolted for sure.

The shots never came. In fact, it was eerily silent, so I peeked out of the door to see what was going on. By now it's getting tense, as the guy still was pointing the gun and appeared to have cocked it. He said something that I couldn't make it and the guy on the floor begged for his life. By this time, two drunk hispanics somehow hobbled over and knocked the guy down and grabbed his gun. Seeing as how I worked there, I figured I'd step in and told them to give me the gun as I worked there. They did, and this is of course when about 15 police officers came busting through the front door. They pointed their guns at ME and screamed "Drop the Weapon! Get on the Ground! Get on the Ground!". I tried to tell them I wasn't the guy when they told me again if I didn't drop the weapon I'd be full of holes. I of course dropped the gun and got on the ground.

By this time, Jay is no longer hiding behind the counter (he was the whole time) and tells the cops I was not the guy. I found out after the cops took this guy away that the person he almost killed first had seen him outside pointing the gun at a busy street and had run to a pay phone outside to call 9-1-1 and the guy saw him and grabbed him. I had also found out after the incident that the guy meant business. He had a full clip and a bullet in the chamber.

The gun was a 45 caliber pistol, so I can assume it would have done some damage.

It's actually hard to write this after so many years, especially knowing this maniac is probably out on the streets again by now. Anyhow, that is the story. Again I wrote it because I've been asked a few times to write about my "hostage crisis".

Thanks for reading....