The Story

To those who have already heard this story (some of you multiple times), I apologize. But what better blog material than having been right at one of the biggest crime scenes in recent Simi history?

So here's my story, one final time, for those who haven't already heard it.

Today was Shopping Day. It's been a long time since I've taken all three boys shopping with me, but we had major needs, and I figured one time wouldn't kill me. So we all piled into the car and took Daddy to work, getting him there about 8:05 in the morning. WalMart is so ridiculously close to where Matt works it's always my first shopping stop on days like today. We were shopping pretty casually today, stopping and looking at things we wouldn't normally. We took our regular route - to the back of the store first for the baby stuff, then over to the cleaning stuff, then past the sports stuff to the neighboring toy section. I wanted to find a flashlight similar to one Ben's got to see what kind of light bulb it needed. But then I thought "Nah, let's just get this trip over with," and we went through the doors into the Garden Department.

On our way in, we could hear helicopters nearby. They really echoed in the Garden Center, and we were surprised how loud it was. Then we heard sirens outside. I was intrigued to think there must be some police action nearby. Cool! Then we heard a strange noise on the other side of the wall that separates the Garden Center from the rest of the store. Pop Pop Pop! Weird, I thought, I've never heard that kind of noise here before. But I figured they must be restocking after Memorial Day Madness. Probably some machine I've never been there early enough to catch before or something. We kept shopping.

Then I heard, somewhat faintly, a man yell "Get out of the store!" But it didn't sound panicked or anything. I must have been really stunned or something, because I didn't put two and two together even at this point. I was trying to figure out what kind of natural disaster could cause a store evacuation that I didn't feel or hear. I grabbed Joshua's hand, Ben grabbed the cart, and we ran out the garden entrance. I didn't want to take the time to unbuckle Joseph from the shopping cart; we just ran out, unpaid-for merchandise and all.

The first thing I saw was a police motorcycle lying on its side near the garden entrance, and a cop looking like he had just hopped off yelling at us to keep moving. So I went about halfway across the parking lot to a small knot of employees. And they were so kind. They checked on us and the boys especially and tried distracting them from all the insanity. But we were told to keep moving, keep heading back to the back of the parking lot. I was looking for a car to get behind or something, and then I looked at the back of the parking lot. And there was a line of officers of various types, all with seemingly giant rifles pointed right at the store. I needed to get my kids BEHIND those guns, and that wouldn't happen with a shopping cart.

At this point, with officers still yelling at us to run over to another store, a WalMart employee (and angel in human guise) named Gene grabbed Joshua and Ben out of the cart we had by then put them in for faster traveling while I unbuckled Joseph and we all RAN to the other side of those giant guns. Gene actually carried Josh while holding Ben's hand.

Everybody seemed to be congregated in front of the neighboring Party Store, so we did, too. Again trying to distract the boys by showing them balloons through the window. But then the message came through that we were to go "inside the store." So we all ran down to the next store which is Office Depot, and was locked up tight. "No, no - PetSmart!" So down we ran the next door, where a young employee was manning the door and keeping it shut and locked in between crowds. It was weirdly sobering to see one so young taking such security measures. Most people seemed content to hang around near the front of the store so they could see what was going on, but I wanted the boys away from the door and anything resembling "action." So Gene took Joseph and I took the other two off to the side aisle to inspect the fish tanks. This was the first time it occurred to me to ask the name of this wonderful woman so I could thank her properly for all her help. It was also the first time I was really tempted to cry just from sheer stress, but I held it together so I wouldn't freak out the boys.

And then the we inspected birds, and then the rodents (sorry, Ma). Then I saw Gene sitting with Joseph in the middle of the store, and we joined them there for one brief calm moment. Then the young man came back and said all the WalMart employees had to go down to Home Depot. Well, Gene is a WalMart employee, and I needed her, so where they were instructed to go is where we went, too.

Down in the Home Depot parking lot the boys got to meet a lovely little doggie and smell a LOT of cigarette smoke, which I didn't have the heart to begrudge anyone. If ever there was a time a smoker needed a smoke... Some of these people we were sitting with had actually seen the guy with the gun, had been the Greeter as he ran past them heading for the ammo he believed to be in the sports department we had only just walked past moments before he got there and shot his cowardly self in the head.

This was where the Command Center was, so we got to see police and sheriff's deputies and detectives and even, eventually, SWAT team guys walking around in combat gear. I was SO not happy to see that. Especially not so close to where we were. I wanted to be much, much farther away from the action than that. And I got my wish to a small extent, when they shuffled us, much more casually this time, over to the shaded entrance to Home Depot.

I command all reading to go buy something from Home Depot right now! Those lovely people brought out what must have been just hundreds and hundreds of dollars' worth of their stock of chairs and tables, as well as water and cookies and chips to make us as comfortable as anyone can be in such a hideous situation. After all, none of us could know how long this would take. By now it was past 9:30 and the boys were getting antsy. They were thrilled with the treats (including Mickey Mouse stickers provided by Home Depot's paint department guy), but they wanted to be able to move around a whole lot more than we were inclined to let them. Especially the two youngest.

About this time I noticed Gene was not as nearby as she had been the whole time (she was, by now, a very dear friend to me and the boys, having entertained them with stories and finger plays pretty much the whole time). But pretty soon she was back, and she told me she couldn't leave because she was an employee, but she had gotten permission from her manager to walk us down Cochran Street as far as needed to meet up with her daughter who would then give us a ride to wherever we wanted. She wanted my boys to be far removed from the scene every bit as much as I did. So then this angel lady picked up my none-too-dainty baby and began walking with us (and one other customer lady to whom she offered her daughter's chauffeuring service) east on Cochran. It felt SO good to move in that direction, getting father away from the police and helicopters and Crazy Man with Gun.

We came across the first roadblock, where there was a policeman who informed us, when I asked if it was only one person causing all the hullabaloo, that this nutjob had shot and killed two people yesterday, and just this morning had shot at a deputy. Hadn't I heard about the Thousand Oaks shootings yesterday? Well, I hadn't, because I hate all local news. The writers and broadcasters are all twits. One little reporter gal actually tried to get me to stop as I was taking my three young children away from the scene so she could get the Woman With Kids angle. Because, as far as I could tell, mine were the only children there. Oddly, I denied her polite request, somehow thinking that getting my kids further from danger was more important than my getting misquoted in the local paper.

Anyway, we kept walking, and discovered that we would have to go all the way down to First Street, a not insubstantial hike for two older ladies, two young children, and a young (ahem) mother carrying a chubby 18-month-old. Bless Gene, she carried Joseph part of the way for me. Then we met her daughter on First Street, and she drove us (car seat-free! Gasp!) over to my mother's, because that was the closest safe place I could think of. Don't forget, my car was still trapped up there in NutJob land. Had to get that all figured out, and most of all had to let Matt know we were out of harm's way. So there we stayed until Dave picked up Matt and took him to WalMart where a policeman said it was safe to get the car now that Crazy Man With Gun was dead. So he escorted Matt to the car and he came and got us. We took him back to work and went home, Mommy having lost all zeal for shopping.

What we found out after the fact was that this man had driven to WalMart in a truck he stole from a woman with her two children, pistol-whipping all three in the process, and possibly shooting the woman, who later died. Just violence for violence's sake. Had we not headed for the garden center when we did... Well, suffice it to say the boys and I said a prayer of thanks when we got home.

Further details about Crazy Guy can be found here.

The epilogue is that we had Uncle Deputy Dan stop by in full regalia on his way home from work to have a chat with Ben about what police do ("help people"), and to reinforce that Simi is a super safe place to live and that this was a freak thing that we'll probably never again experience.

God willing!