The Sense
Ever get a sense that something’s weird or fishy? I know you might say you do, but do you really? Minor ordeal happened today, but I’ll get it out of the way first… here’s what was going thru my head and what I saw.
Three thuggish looking dudes. Cholo no doubt were walking in Ralph’s market. Typical. Not tall, not thick, actually quite skinny, tattoos, and probably high school age. I honestly in my mind while I saw them walk by me was thinking, I’d bet the shit out of each one of these guys. Seriously they must weigh 120 pounds and stood maybe 5 foot 6 at best. One had a tattoo on his neck. They walked towards the meat section and one walked straight in. I thought something looked odd. A robbery? I walked by, and thought, that they worked there, but were coming in on their off time. I even saw one exit the from the back seconds after he walked in. The one dude still inside was talking to the butcher. Next thing, I hear a guy yell, “get out of here” and he had a windshield wiper and was swinging it like a whip. I started to pull out my iphone so i could take pics. Two guys ran by quickly, one even ran into a customer and ran off.
The third guy, where was he? I was ready for any gun or knife play, who knows if they had a knife, while there were many customers in the aisle of raw beef and meats. I was there to buy chicken. I was ready for any attack, although they dudes were little. The third one appears and he’s punching and punching another guy. I’m watching it happen, and he must have hit the guy 6 times. Then he too runs off and a chase through the store happens. I saw the butcher, a big guy, and the guy who got punched, a little guy, walk by. Both had red fist marks on their face. They got worked. The little dude was a gang member but was employed there. He had tattoos on his face as well.
I reassured an old lady who was scared shitless next to me, by telling her to ask for free groceries. She said more than once, “we’re not safe here”. People were stunned, and me, I was trying to get my shit together to shoot a pic, but it was too late.
At the checkout line all the workers were talking about what happened. I overheard one say that this happened two days ago to the kid named Juan or was it Jose. I forgot the name, but I guess he’s a trouble magnet. I doubt he’ll be working there long. It’s a shame in a way, since who knows what he’s done in his past, but he’s there with a job, making a go at earning some honest dollars (I hope). I saw him with about 6 employees around him outside explaining himself. I’m sure he was being grilled by management while they were waiting for the police.
If they need a statement from a witness, they can read this, otherwise, it was honestly no big deal. I only got excited because I sensed something quickly, and it all unfolded a minute later. I’ll bet the people around me had no idea what was about to happen including the butcher.