[GROOVY2]

Sunday night at 930pm I was working on my van conversion
in driveway of my house -
was using jigsaw to cut some wood-

I hear a strange noise and looked up and I was surrounded
by 6 men all with guns pointed at me -
they had masks on and it took me a few seconds to realize what
was happening-

They were yelling get on the ground or will shoot you MF -

I got on ground and robbers said they wanted keys to car -
I told robbers keys were in the van on a chair-
2 robbers jumped in van -

robbers said there was no keys -

Keys to van were in my pocket so I told robbers that
I was going to hand them keys -
this whole time robbers were saying going to shoot you MF-

I gave them van keys and told them to take it -

They did not want van- they wanted my Subaru -Period -

thought they were going to blow me away right then -

Wheres the keys for the Car -MF -fing shoot you

I had to think a second and realized keys were in my house
in my bed room-

I told them keys were in house and there are people and dog inside-
thought robbers might just go away -but the really wanted car-

2 robbers started to head towards front door and I told robbers
that I would get keys and give them the keys-

I said one of them could follow me inside -
I got up with hands in the air and told them again there is people
and dog inside and told the 2 times to be Quiet at front door
or things could go bad-
(people in back bedroom with door shut )

House is dark - once inside house I told robbers to be quiet again
just loud enough so dog would know its me -
dog barked one time then stopped -

with hands up with maybe All 6 robbers behind me
I walked to my room that was dark and told them Im
going to turn on pull string light -

I grabbed keys and handed to closest robber -

2 robbers took off with keys and 3 or 4 robbers
had me get on floor -
I told them to please be quiet and leave now -

Then 2 robbers started saying where's the money -
where's the money -
I had a roll of quarters on my desk and I asked if i could give it to them-
Thought they were going to blast me right then I remember cringing
waiting for bullets -

Robbers wanted more money I told them they had no more -
they looked around room some more then backed out the door way-
I could feel door closing for a few seconds and thought it may be over-

Then the door opened again and 2 robbers came back in-
where's the money where's the money -

I told them again there is no money and please be quiet -

Robbers told me to get up and follow them-
I got up and followed them out walking backwards with hands up high-

we got out into dark living room there was still 4 robbers there -
they told me to get on floor -
I heard my subaru start up and peel out of driveway-

I have several motorcycles in living room -
robbers were looking around dark room for stuff to steal -
they wanted keys to motorcycles -
I told robbers they are dirt bikes -dont have keys -
no gas in them and they wont run -

Robbers started where's the money again -
I said you have All the money-you got the car
they should leave now-

Robbers decided its time to go they backed out of room threw front
door and closed it-

I waited a few seconds and got up and locked the door -

then waited about 15 seconds to make sure they were gone then
went and told my son I just got robbed and to call the police-

son had look of disbelief -
but after a few seconds he knew I was serious- --

after a minute or so I went outside and saw one of my
neighbors walking fast in the direction I think robbers went-

He saw part of what happened - saw men- shotgun and pistols-

Robbers stole subaru -TV- Iphone - bluetooth headset and $25-

was Crazy -

Glad I kept my head and did not freak out or
I would be dead -

lasted 4 or 5 minutes total -

robbers turned phone @12.15am that night
long enough for tracking to locate phone -
15 miles away --

after doing research on Iphone security and no further
location data I sent the command to brick the phone last night-
Iphone is gone and it had many of my Van build pictures in it-

So 900+ van build pictures are gone -Ouch -

there is more to story -

 

[jonsobi]

Groovy, so glad you're ok.

That is the craziest thing I ever heard.

You owe me some gratitude.

They must have read my post, that's why they didn't want the Transit!!

 

[Haulin' Gas Adventures]

Wow that is Nuts so glad you and your family are safe.

 

[ilovehotshot]

Wow. I'm glad your family stayed in the back room and did not have to go through what you did. Nightmare. Glad you are physically OK. Mentally may take a while. What city do you live in?

 

[kenjent]

Sorry to hear the bad news. Glad you and your family are safe.

 

[FlyingVan]

Glad you made it out alive from this ordeal. Phones and cars can be replaced.

 

[ford99]

Sorry to hear that. A guy is out there working hard and some f&$/?/ers want to steal like that. Glad to hear you and family were unharmed.

 

[NewToTransit]

Grad everything was ok. Specially the whole family and they didnt see it first hand.

I got rob b4 when I was closing a Uhaul store the big one in SF close to Candlestick Park. 3 punk black kids with mask and hand guns. Most likely they are prior employees cuz they know wheres the safe and money is handled. They were lucky I left my 9mm in my car. This happened over 10-13yrs ago.

Where you from? Cuz in my area now robbers come from other cities. Like Oakland, Richmond, and SF. Those are just punks cant handle their own they need a gun and crew. Do you have CCTV camera on your house? And well lit house. Its a big help

 

[Ahoelk]

What a crazy story - glad everyone is OK - will be interesting to hear the rest of it

 

[Anchorless]

Nuts!

Glad you're okay. Hope it doesn't rattle you too much.

 

[Damaskinos_of_Athens]

.
Nobody should be subjected to such barbarity.

I wonder how people could behave in such a manner.

Such things were relatively unheard of not that long ago.

Glad nobody physically hurt.

It is a great social question: How to configure a nonviolent honest completely civilized society.
.

 

[cargovanconversion]

Again, good to hear that everybody is OK.

Similar things happened to me twice in my life, once mugged by a group of young kids, another time robbed in my store by someone with a knife. So I probably know what you went through.

Van Williams

 

[Byron the Painter]

Sorry to piss on the parade boys, but I'm calling BS on this story. Six guys...all with guns? Two or three take off in the car and the rest do what...run down the street? Like they were going to take off on the dirt bikes? You let them in the house with your family, they're yelling MF'er all over the place and no one else is aware of it?

If this were to happen here in Denver, it would be the lead story on the local news and all over the radio. The cops would be worked up into a frenzy. Unless you live in the most hardcore ghetto of Texas there certainly has to be a local news link for this event...cite that and I'll eat my hat, otherwise I have to wonder if they have a name for what's wrong with you.

Certainly, crazy stuff happens every day...but this sounds completely jacked up.

 

[GROOVY2]

here is picture of the fingerprint dust police put on door knob
of my bedroom and the small piece crime scene tape
I found today tied around water faucet outside my house with my transit
owner's manual next to it -

byron you are a Know Nothing Loud mouth -
"I have to wonder if they have a name for what's wrong with you."

 

[Byron the Painter]

Loud mouth

Probably true...but it sure beats bat **** crazy.

I reckon you came home to find your house broken into. Six killers, armed with weapons, all wearing masks. Let me guess...did they resemble former Presidents? Look that one up if (as I suspect) it goes right over your head. Your story stinks of wild embellishment.

If you don't mind my asking, what town do you live in? A quick search of your local news or police blotter should confirm your story...right?

Sorry your house got broken into. I'm not sorry, however, for calling you out on this.

 

[GROOVY2]

Take a look in the mirror-
Not going to waste my time with you -

 

[Damaskinos_of_Athens]

.
I was under the impression that in the USA you have to kill at least ten people for a story to be newsworthy ( unless it is a young white female ).

After all, there are tens of thousands of killings, how many get real coverage?

Armed robbery does not sell much advertising.

I am not a media expert so I could be mistaken.
.

 

[danketchpel]

Wow Groovy,

That's unbelievable that it would happen, just crazy. I wonder what the deal was with the Subi? Maybe they figured they could flip it easy or ???

6 guys, that's like a posse or something.

I'm so glad you and your family are OK and at least you van is still there. Totally sucks about the Subi and loosing the photos on the phone. I always copy the photos off my phone to the computer.

I hope the Police find something of use and track the Mofos down.

Thievery just plain sucks period.

 

[GROOVY2]

neighbor that saw robbers said the car they had looked like a black subaru wagon- but not sure-
so I figure they want my car for parts or something- I really dont know-
but they did not want van at all - maybe because its big and bright red -
I had hood on van open because I had charged battery earlier so maybe they thought van was broken-
Keys for van were laying driveway - found power cord to TV in the street the next morning--

Yep you are right unless you are a Hot white blond girl the TV news do not care-
No TV news or anybody showed up at my house- a girl had got murdered saturday or sunday
so that has been on the news --

I have to say I have lost ALL confidence in the police - the way they handled this was very poor-
the lady detective that I guess was in charge at my house totally did not take charge so there was 8 cops
wandering around twiddling the thumbs instead of driving around looking for robbers -

Detectives have not contacted me at all- I have called them 2 times and told them
I found somethings in the van that robbers touched for sure -- no follow up at all-

Talked with a neighbor who had something kind of similar happen to him -
He said police Never followed up or called him at all - he had Nothing good to say about police -

when my son called 911 he told them about what had just happened - each time
he said men with guns he got put on hold and transferred 4 times to someone new to talk to-
so 5 minutes wasted --

One cop told my son he was parked 2 blocks away writing reports and
said robbers might have driven right by him - only 2 ways to out of my neighborhood-

The street I live on is kind of a back street so I think it was maybe a random thing-
just driving by - watched me for a while -saw I was alone - easy target -
I dont know -

One cop told me that she was just at another robbery just a few minutes before
me and 3 men had robbed someone at gunpoint --

I would think police would be all over this because these robbers and going to end up killing people-
did not bother robbers at all going into my house - they acted like they had done this before -
they were relatively calm -

This is not the first time I have had a gun shoved in my face-
I grew up in El Paso TX and at the time it was the most dangerous city in the US-
Me keeping a cool head and not freaking out I think saved my life -

The robber that had the shot gun seemed to maybe the the guy running the show-
not sure tho they were ALL yelling shittt at me -

I only looked at the guy with the shotgun in the eye one time -
they say not to look at the robbers faces -so I made it a point not to look at them-

Cops wanted a description of robbers and all I could tell the was 6 dark skinned black men with masks
with what looked to be a 20 gage shotgun with a wood stock and 5 revolver pistols --
one pistol was silver - they were all about my size

I told cops that if there had just been one or 2 guys that maybe I could have
given them a better description but there was just too many of them -
cop said he understood -

as far as people in the back bedroom not hearing anything my sons girlfriend
was blow drying her hair - my son was laying down in bed watching his Ipad -

Many Many things could have gone bad - my son told me the dog was sitting by
bedroom door with ears up and listening -when dog barked he told dog to stop barking -
dog is well trained and does what he says - but dog knew something was going on --

Today I worked on van and helped my next door neighbor install video surveillance camera system
on the front of her house - she is pretty freaked out now -
but spent most of the day looking for a new phone -
dont think I going to get another Iphone - walking around with a $700 phone
is asking for problems and I really just used the camera and the bluetooth to listen to music-
so Im thinking about getting flip phone and I have a nikon cool pix that I like taking pictures with
better than the iphone anyways -

there is more to the story but Im tired - so I will tell the rest in another post

 

[orton]

Consider not having a cell phone. When my smart phone quit I decided not to buy another. Sure is nice not to be connected. Do use a tablet when traveling for internet service. Can call out from the tablet.

You just found a benefit for buying a red van instead of white.