Way Too Much Drama for a Friday Night

At 8:45, Scott and I went over to GameStop to pick up a drum pedal for our Rock Band drum.  As we were pulling up to the store we saw a guy go running into the store.  I said to Scott, "I wonder what he's running for?"  Scott said, "Maybe he's got something expensive in his car."  We got out of our car and were standing there when three guys ran out of the GameStop.  Wearing dark hoodies.  With the hoods pulled up.  With bandanas covering their faces.  I thought to myself, "This is a robbery."  Then I said, "Scott, get back into the car."  We got in the car and I looked over at the robbers - who were standing by their car, which was parked about 4 cars down from us.  One of them was pointing a gun at our car - more specifically at Scott, who was closest to them.  What really scared me is that he kept looking back at the other two, as if questioning what he should do.  And we didn't know what they might have done to the clerks in the store, so I didn't know what they might be capable of.  Fortunately they jumped in their car and drove off.  After they left, one of the clerks came out.  I asked him if they had just been robbed.  He said they had and asked if we would wait for someone from the sheriff's department to come.  I told him we would wait in the Whataburger parking lot, which was quite crowded, and come back when a deputy showed up.  We waited about 5 minutes for a deputy, and when he came we drove back over.  He asked us to wait outside while he talked to the clerks.  That was a little eerie, but we did it.  Then we talked to the deputy and told him what we had seen.  We were apparently the only ones who saw the car, so we were trying to remember what we'd seen.  Which isn't as easy as you would think it would be.  Then we talked to another deputy, and told our story again.  Then we waited longer while cop cars came and went.  Then we talked to a detective, and told our story for a third time.  We finally got to leave at about 10:30, and boy we were glad to go home.

While it was a terrible experience, I'm kind of glad we showed up when we did.  The robbers ended up leaving, and we might have kept them from harming the clerks.  In fact, while we were waiting, the mother of one of the clerks drove up.  She came up to me and said, "From one mother to another, thank you for showing up when you did.  They might have killed them if you hadn't."  I'm glad we might have prevented a real tragedy.

The real kicker?  I have to go back there tomorrow - we never did get the drum pedal!  I think I'll go during the day...