Unfortunately there will be no photos online from this event - I was robbed at gunpoint while using the ATM at my local Bank branch early this morning. By the time the Antioch Police had finished taking statements from myself and witnesses it was too late to make the 350 mile trip south from the Bay Area to do any real shooting at the track today. During the incident I had no thoughts of misguided heroics - but maybe it was the photographer in me that made me throw the cash down in front of the bank's handy ATM camera. The Antioch PD should have a nice photo of this parasite picking up his ill-gotten gains as soon as my bank opens this morning. I guess I was "lucky" - my hooded assailant decided to save the ammo in his large semi-automatic handgun for another occasion...

It's a jungle out there folks - take care! ........ Ian

Update 1:

Six hours after the robbery, the Antioch PD had not even called the bank to ask them to secure the surveillance tape, let alone found the time to make a visit in person. The Bank Manager used my ATM receipt's time stamp to find the section of tape, confirmed that it showed the full sequence of events and called Antioch PD with the case # the officers had given me earlier, and asked if they would like to drop by and see it.

Update 2:

The overworked local Cops showed up to view the video and stated that it was of too low quality to give them much info on the identity of the perpetrator - just another gangling youth in dark hooded jacket and ill-fitting baggy pants who looked like something straight out of a "gangsta' rap" video - only grainier...

The catharsis continues:

I consider myself to be very fortunate under the circumstances - as the unsavory possible alternate endings to my adventure this morning flash through my mind, I am reminded of how numb we can become to the everyday nature of such occurrences. There seem to be so many of these young predators, who think so little of life and the consequences of their actions that, short of locking yourself in the house with a loaded shotgun on your lap, it is now impossible to avoid exposure to them completely.

( Oops! - I forgot - we have home-invasion robberies here too... )

The sun was up, and the crime happened in a busy local strip shopping Mall - which faces onto a main road full of early morning commuter traffic. The entrance to a large Raleys store is 100 yards away, the Bank's ATM wall faced a busy Donut shop 30 yards across the parking lot! As I pulled up next to the ATM in my vehicle, I had noticed the kid leaning on the plate glass window of the donut shop jawing to someone on his cellphone - there were lots of people inside and I didn't think that much of it. In the few seconds it took me to walk across the sidewalk to the ATM and perform a quick "Fast Cash" withdrawal, he had apparently sprinted across the parking lot, jumping out from behind my Land Rover as I was putting the cash in my wallet. Sadly the patrons of the Donut shop were less attentive than one might have expected - a number of them turned out to be killing time waiting for the local methadone clinic to open at 7.00AM!

( Unfortunately - and contrary to popular mythology - none of the Donut shop customers were Cops! )

I usually make the long, boring drive south down Highway 5 to these events overnight, but my family is always grinding on me that it is too dangerous to make that journey without a proper night's sleep and they worry about what might happen to me if I take a nap at one of the stops along the way!

After today - I think I prefer being a "night owl"...

Stay safe everyone - don't let your guard down!

- Ian