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AlphaChiohmy, I am very happy that you are okay, that your friend is okay and that no one got hurt during your encounter. As Aphigal said, it is important to remember that material objects can be replaced while human life cannot.
I have to get on my little soap box now, and remind you, and all other GC'ers that while yelling is a good thing, you should ALWAYS comply with robbers. In your situation it might have been difficult to get your purse off of your body, but telling a robber "no" is the best way to get yourself killed.
This story struck very close to home for me. About a year and a half ago, someone tried to carjack one of my friends when she was driving alone at night. She was able to step on the accelerator and run the red light she was at to get away and was okay. When she called to talk to me about what had happened, we had a long talk about how unsafe it is to drive with your windows down at night and the need to lock your doors.
My friend was a little stubborn, as am I, and she was very care free while I, having worked at the DA's office for several years, am a little conservative on safety issues.
Three months after we had the conversation, that same friend went to pick up some other friends (the driver had too much to drink) at the club we always used to hang out at, and they stopped by another friend's house to see if he could drive the other car home. He didn't answer his phone so they were sitting out in front trying to figure out what to do next. My friend had her window down a bit. A car pulled up behind them and someone got out of the passenger seat. They didn't really think much of it at the time. A young woman went up to my friend's window and pulled a gun and said "Give me your money." All three young women complied and were trying to talk to the woman and calm her down. They told her they would give her everything that they had and that there was no need for the gun or to hurt anyone. My friend was reaching for her purse and the woman shot her in the back of the head.
After something so tragic happens, it is really easy to say things like, "if only they had done this," or "if only they had done that." In all truth, none of it probably would have made any difference, or that's what I always tell myself to get out of one of those funks.
I sat through the preliminary hearing (in California we usually plead by information rather than indictment) a few months ago. It turns out that the woman who killed my friend and the man who drove the car had been on a robbery spree the whole night. They had enough evidence to charge them with three robberies other than the one where my friend was murdered. The police believe that they may have committed several more. What's really interesting though, is that every one of their victims had their windows down a bit, and the defendants used the cracked windows to get their gun in close to the victims' heads. It really made me stop and think about just how dangerous driving with your windows down or your doors unlocked is.
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