Story Peeps Change Lives

Carjacking Avoided

Written by VinceM

This story is not about how I avoided being carjacked; instead this story is about how I avoided being a part of a carjacking.

When I was a teenager my mom used to always tell me that the friends I hung out with were no good. I didn’t really pay much attention to her remarks back then, because I thought that all parents said that to their kids about their friends.

Although, when I look back at my life now, I have to admit that my mom was right. You be the judge, and leave a comment to tell me what you think.

My friends were in a local gang; unfortunately I cannot tell you the name for obvious reasons. This gang started out as a form of protection for its members, and soon it escalated to a gang that got involved with all the typical gang activities that you hear about on TV.

I never intended on becoming a gang member myself, but somehow the leader of the gang made me a member because of the help I offered during certain missions.

If you don’t know much about street gangs, you should know that members usually have to be jumped in. This means that a group of people (usually less than 10), fight you all at once. Each member is encouraged to throw hard punches and really put a hurting on you. Luckily for me I avoided this process.

The help I offered to this gang didn’t seem like I was helping the gang itself. I was simply helping out my friends who happened to be members of the gang. The news of my efforts eventually got around, and I became a member just for the contributions that I’ve made alone.

One of my contributions was being the getaway driver for a mission. The mission was critical and getting away was even more critical. If you read my other stories, then you know that I had lots of experience driving cars at ridiculous speeds.

The mission came about because my friend’s brother got jumped by a rival gang on his wedding day. The fight took place at the wedding hall in front of everyone. The rival gang really beat the living day lights out of Christians’ brother. Can you just imagine seeing the groom getting a vicious beat down on his own wedding day? It must have been quite the sight.

Christian was pissed. It’s kind of funny because he once shot at his brother to scare him, and now he wanted to protect him from harm. I guess his version of brotherly love is slightly different than most LOL.

Anyways my friend knew where the gang leader lived, and he concocted a plan to riddle his car with bullets.

Christian called me up and asked me if I could help him out with something. I asked what it was and he simply said that he needs me to be a getaway driver. I asked him what his plan was, and he told me that he would prefer to tell me in person and not over the phone.

I met Christian at Fred’s house and listened to the entire plan. John was to steal a car, I was to drive it, and Christian was going to empty his gun into the rival gang members car. After that, my duty was to get away from the area as soon as possible without getting anyone caught.

I knew this all sounded like bad news, but Christian was one of those friends who would take a bullet for me if he could. I simply had to agree and was a bit excited about driving a car, since I was only fifteen. If you know anything about me, then you know that I love to drive cars.

We walked to the neighborhood where John new the location of the perfect car to take for our mission. The car was a dark brown Dodge Intrepid or possibly a Chrysler Concorde; they both look alike.

John stole the car without making much noise and picked us up only a few houses down. He got out of the driver’s seat and I took his place.

My heart was already beating faster than usual, because we were breaking the law.  Now the reality set in of what was about to happen. I was a bit nervous knowing that Christian was going to empty a whole clip of bullets at some car in a not so good neighborhood. I was praying to God that the cops wouldn’t be in the area that day for all of our sakes.

We began driving to the neighborhood and noticed a cop car at the 7-11. We decided to take a drive through some country roads and try back in an hour or so. Seeing the cop car there made me pretty nervous because #1 I’m driving a stolen car, #2 I don’t have a license, and #3 my friend has a gun.

Well we drove around for a bit and decided to head back to scope out the scene. We drove around the neighborhood going through all the side streets to ensure that there are no cops in sight. The coast was finally clear and my heart began pounding madly as I knew what was going to happen next.

Christian told me to pull up to the white car and leave about a cars width between us. So that’s what I did. Christian then grabbed his gun and fired 10 rounds into the body of the car. The gun firing was so loud that all I heard was ringing in my ears after the first shot. Once the clip was emptied, I floored the car and navigated through the streets to the nearest highway entrance.

Wow! I was just involved in a drive by and I could hardly believe it. I felt concerned that the cops would start chasing us and began driving civilly, making sure that I don’t attract attention to us.

 I simply drove a few towns over and we all went to a park to relax and take a few deep breaths. Everyone had their adrenaline pumping through their veins, and we all felt some sense of accomplishment for completing a mission without getting caught.

Well, that’s how I became a member of a gang without getting jumped in. I simply had to drive a car during a crazy drive-by mission.

Now back to the carjacking.

Months later I began going out with Megan, and she kept me from hanging out with my friends which turned out to be a very good thing for me.

One Friday night Christian calls me and asked if I’m down for a mission. I actually had time, but I told him that I made plans with my girl that I couldn’t break. I knew in the back of my mind that something bad might happen; after-all, it was an illegal gang mission to begin with.

The next day I got a call from Fred and he told me that Christian is on the run for Attempted Murder and Carjacking! Apparently after the gang ate at a local diner; which was only  a few minutes from my house, they decided to carjack someone for the first time.

The carjacking took place in a neighborhood right next to my house. I didn’t hear anything that night myself, but here’s what happened…

The gang was walking around at night on a road that was surrounded by wooded land on both sides. They all had ski masks and a few of them had hand guns. The plan was to stop a car, point the gun at the driver, and scare him into giving the car away. Unfortunately that’s not what happened.

The driver did stop and when Christian showed his gun, the driver panicked and began driving away. Not planning for that to happen, Christian and the other members reacted by shooting at the car repeatedly. Apparently the driver was hit, but not badly injured. He drove him self to the police station and described the people who tried to carjack him to the cops. Eventually everyone got caught that was involved in the incident, and Christian got a prison sentence.

After I heard about this incident, I realized that my mom was right and I consciously decided to stop seeing my old friends. At that point in my life I was no angel, but I certainly didn’t want to do anymore gang things, end up shot, or in prison like Christian.

If you happen to be a young gang member or know of one, you may want to point him/her to this story. Things seem to escalate quickly when you’re in a gang, and soon the reasons you joined in the first place don’t equal the consequences from performing gang missions.  

I enjoyed hanging out with gangs, because my family life was almost nonexistent when I was younger. When I became older I decided to change that circumstance myself. If I was smarter I could have changed that back then, but instead I learned many painful and unpleasant lessons before I learned the value of my real family. Maybe you could learn from my mistakes and benefit by not screwing up your life.

-VinceM

Author Profile: VinceM

This author has published 26 articles so far. More info about the author is coming soon.