Fuck Baltimore

Well, I suppose that it was bound to happen sooner or later. I live in Baltimore. I've lived here for almost six years. Tonight I was held up at gunpoint for the first time. Not in my neighborhood, but near an area where I used to live (West Side of Downtown).

It was just past midnight (Sunday night). My roommates and I were leaving a friend's birthday party. We are just reaching the car (parked in front of 701 W. Pratt St.), one guy is opening it up. I see a guy on a bike riding along on the sidewalk. Right as I am opening the door to the car, he pulls up, leans his bike against the wall and starts to reach into his back waistband. As soon as I saw him reaching into his back waistband I was like "Oh fuck, are you serious?" Yeah, it was a gun. Revolver. Small caliber, possibly even .22 caliber. I had my wallet out in a flash. All he wanted was cash, thankfully. I had about $24. My one roommate had about $40. My other roommate was in the car and didn't at first realize what was going on. The guy actually pointed the gun at him and yelled at him to turn the car off. He only had $6 in cash. The guy was pretty pissed about this, but my roommate in the car threw out the wallet, so the guy could see that he wasn't hiding anything. He patted me down (I offered my change and cell phone) and my other roommate who was outside the car. Then he told us to "roll out" and got back on his bike.

It sucks, I've definitely been in that situation a hundred times before and will probably be in it many times more. It's nighttime, there's an African-American man in dark clothing (in this case a hood) approaching (in this case on bicycle). It flashes through your mind "should I be concerned?" and then you think "no, you're being paranoid and maybe racist." Then, this time, he fucking pulls a gun on you and takes your money.

I think that might actually be the last straw for me. Next summer I'm probably moving. It will be time to reevaluate city living versus the suburbs. I have to be honest, I never want this to happen to me again. I absolutely want to do everything in my power to make sure this never happens to my girlfriend or anyone important to me. If I have to move to the suburbs to make that happen, then I suppose it's a small price to pay.

PS - Baltimore Police were very professional about it. Although they did spend a little time, not quite out of ear shot, trying to decide if they could stick this one on another jurisdiction.