The day I got robbed

I’ve shared this story dozens of time in the past two weeks. The more I repeat the event, the more real it becomes. And the more grateful I am.

A couple of weeks ago, I was robbed at gunpoint. I had recently returned from my second trip to Haiti (where I heard gunshots almost every night) and was swapping stories with a friend. After dinner, we walked to the beachside in Condado (Paseo San Juan) and sat at the ledge of the road overlooking the sea. We were just one block away from major hotels in Condado.

Suddenly, a car with four guys slammed the brakes next to us and two armed men in their 20’s got off and pointed their automatic guns at us. They screamed, “this is a robbery, don’t move or we’ll shoot!” The man in front of me shouted, “Don’t do anything stupid or I’ll blast you” while repeatedly pointing the gun at my face and the ground. After grabbing my friend’s purse (journals from Haiti, books, and gifts from Haitians to both of us) and my wallet, one of the guys cloaked his gun and asked us to jump over the ledge (12’ feet high) to land on a piece of sand between reef and the sea.

Turning your back on two armed guys (nervous and anxious, possibly drugged) who are telling you “Jump and run or I’d start shooting!” was one of the scariest moments of my life.

How do you prepare for an event like this?

I remembered my parent’s voices, “Give them everything!” “Don’t argue, fight, or challenge them!” “Don’t look a their faces.”

Thankfully, we reacted peacefully. My friend told me that I narrated every step of what I was doing: “My hands are up, it’s okay, you are in charge, calm down, and we’ll give you everything we have. I will lower my hand to get my wallet and give it to you.” Apparently, this was my way of coping with this highly stressful and frightening scenario.

I can’t give myself any credit to the way I reacted. I give all credit to God’s peace, love, and the Holy Spirit’s protection that guides me daily. I also thank my parents for always reminding me how to react if this event ever occurred.

Next day, I went to the police station to identify possible suspects from the robbery. The cop hands me a huge 600 page binder with mugshots. My response was, “en serio?,” which translates into “are you serious?”

No wonder the system doesn’t work. It is designed not to. I find it so ironic that they have hundreds of photos of criminals, but have no idea where to find them. If they are so bad, why don’t you “catch them and put them in jail” when you take their picture?

Our flawed system gave a whole new meaning to that game we all played when we were kids. Remember playing cops and robbers? Catch the robbers and then set them free. Play again. Catch. Release. Have fun and be entertained. Pathetic!