I Almost Died...

Well not really. Here's the story.

Last night I got a text from one of my friends Jared around 10pm asking me if me and my roommates wanted to go to Westwood and Hookah. We would be meeting another one of my friends Shoshie there. If you don't know the LA area, Westwood is where the UCLA campus is located. It is about 5-10 miles away from Santa Monica and is over all a good looking area. I am the only one of my roommates that decided to go. Maybe they subconciously knew the hidden dangers of a demographic that has a mean income of $114K a year.

Jared showed up at my place around 10:30 and we left at 11. We talked about girls and other things you'd expect two college guys to talk about. The traffic was light so we get there in about 20 minutes. We call Shoshie right when we get of the 405 and she gives us directions to the location. We find her standing in the parking spot and we park. It's about a two block walk to the hookah place so we start talking and catching up on random things.

As we turn the corner we have the hookah place in sight. We are about 40 yards away when we hear BAM BAM BAM!!! At first we believe the sound to be fire crackers. I jokingly say "Yeah it's probably just firecrackers... Or someone shooting someone." We laugh and continue to walk towards the hookah place, we make it 10 more yards when we hear BAM BAM BAM again. I stop walking for a second while Jared and Shoshie continue forward slowly. Then it seemed like all hell broke loose for a second.

BAM BAM BAM!!! people started running. I was 4-5 people behind Jared and Shoshie when they ran inside a building. I could get to the building at first so I ducked behind a brick wall. I hear BAM BAM BAM again then Shoshie yell "Where's Francisco!?" I ran back out from the wall into the building where my friends where hiding.

We kept hearing gun shots for the next few minutes until we finally saw our saving grace. One man in blue slowly advancing to a man with 5 handguns. (We later found out the man was surrounded, but from our angle we only saw the one cop). Then all I heard was a taser gun, then a stunned body hit the floor. The crowd erupts in applause, praising the same people they curse when they get a speeding ticket. I stand in silence to appreciate the sweet irony that just saved us from a crazed man.

I never actually saw the guy, but I found out we we're only 10-15 yards away from him. There was only a van in the way of him and us. We also found out that he was shooting at a street light and the buildings, so luckily no one was hurt. It was a miracle that no one was hurt.

So after that we enjoyed a nice relaxing hookah on a blocked off street that is now considered a crime scene. Oh how I love SoCal.