Dear Dominicans that robbed my fiancée, our friend Caitlin and I at gunpoint,
First of all, I just want you to know that Stacy, our friend Caitlin and I are all fine. We were pretty shaken up for a little while, but thinking about it I’m happy we all met the other night...
When you sped your car at us before coming to a quick California stop you reminded me of many cabs we’ve taken in this country. So much so that I remarked, “Looks like this one’s a speeder.” We’d called a cab only a few minutes before and thought you were it. I was ready to tell Caitlin goodnight, to make sure she got back in her apartment safely and get home to the cat.
Then you kept going I was a bit confused. “Maybe you’re someone else’s cab,” I thought. “No biggie, ours will be here soon.” Then you slowed again, hesitating about something. “Maybe you are our cab?”
Then you started again.
When you finally stopped it was clear that you meant business. Flinging your doors open so quickly they bounced back at you, knocking you a bit as you made your dramatic exit (careful about that next time) sent the message for sure. “Haha, it looks like these guys are going to rob us”, I joked to myself. As we both know, however, this was indeed what you’d intended and I felt like an idiot. As you exited your vehicle our eyes met. For that brief moment there seemed to be more recognition than either of had bargained for and I think it fueled a lot of questions, for both of us.
You: “What ami I think? There’s a lot of other people in this area and assaulting a foreigner carries a heavy penalty in this country… Should I do this?”
Me: “Wow, this is actually going to happen. That’s a huge gun that guy has, looks like a glock or something. What do I do? Can I stop this? This guys looks as scared as I do.”
I might be delusional, but this is what I remember. When you cocked your huge gun, on the other hand, and pointed it at me yelling in Spanish I was too scared to try and understand all of that dissolved immediately. I raised my hands and said, “OK, OK , OK, OK, OK” as calmly as I could while looking down and away from you or your partner’s face.
When you guys came directly for me and pressed your gun barrels into my stomach and legs respectively, I have to admit, I was pretty worried. In all honesty, I was accepting that you were going to shoot me. I didn’t think it would be in the head or anything like that, rather that while you were leaving you would probably shoot me in the leg.
Because I was busy looking down, trying not to upset either of you and wondering if I would be shot or not, I didn’t notice it but thank you for not touching either of the girls. Luckily for Caitlin she didn’t have anything but her keys. Thankfully you chose not to take those because that would have opened you to her building and a whole host of other potential victims. Stacy was smart and handed you her purse, which you took. I hope you’re enjoying the 700 pesos, apartment keys, and nice cell phone (by the way, she’s out of minutes, so you’ll have to find a Claro vender). Maybe you and your buddy can go get some McDonald’s, buy a 150 peso Claro card and try to coordinate just which door in this city of 3 million those keys work; hurry though because we both know that's not a lot of minutes. By the way, there were some pictures on that phone we really liked, if I gave you my email could you text them?
Also, when you guys were searching me, one of the gun barrels felt pretty warm against my stomach. I can’t remember which because I was a bit agitated at the time, and in fact the warmth I felt may easily have been one of your hands. Nonetheless, if it was the gun barrel I felt the warmth from, making me think it had recently been used was certainly a nice touch. Any latent thoughts of heroism were quickly put to the side.
I’m not sure if any of the cambios will allow you to exchange American coins, but if they do there’s $3-4/150 pesos to add to your haul. I’d planned to use that to help my students learn American money, a big part of the math curriculum I have to teach, so make it worth it. Remember that with RD$250 you get an extra 50 pesos of talk time; sweetness. You also got the chap stick I’d recently brought from the states. Pretty annoying in all honesty because those things are a couple bucks more per tube here.
We had some shopping bags, too. We’d bought some largish ceramic bowls that I was excited about, and about 30 clothes hangers we desperately needed. Also, we’d bought some small rugs to wipe our feet on because as you know all of this tile everywhere makes your feet filthy. Nice work cause you got all of that, except the bowls. You’re either not a fan of navy blue, or simply do not like bowls. Either way, when you saw them you didn’t hesitate to drop them. Luckily for us only one shattered. Score one for our team, half a box of cereal in one sitting here I come.
So all in all you made out alright. For about 20-30 seconds worth of work you made off with close to USD$25 worth of cash and goods, plus Stacy’s nice phone. Unfortunately for you when you guys were running your hands through my shorts you neglected to search the pocket in which I had my Dominican Bank card, almost $40 in Pesos and a credit card I actually didn’t mean to have on me. Also, if you’d looked closer you would have seen that my fiancée was actually wearing a diamond ring we surely would’ve handed over given the circumstances. Oh well, score another for us.
Then, as you guys were leaving you caught me sneaking a peak at your license plate and started shouting at me. All that person to person, I-Thou relationship stuff went out the existential window and your eyes told me that you were seriously contemplating shooting me; I remember feeling a very warm surge go up my spine. Nice work because I’m not sure I’ve ever been so afraid. Even when I turned around and looked down you kept shouting. Again, nice, because at that point I was still thinking you might shoot me but this time I was thinking you were about to aim somewhere more serious.
Luckily, however, you decided to leave without firing and we were all able to count our blessings; I hope yours are as many as ours.
Best,
D
P.S. Stacy's more succinct and well-put perspective:
Hello all,
First of all, I'm fine, Doug is fine, and our friend Caitlin is fine. :) Don't be too alarmed by the story you are about to read - we knew about the dangers when we moved here. I wanted to send you a personal account of what happened before you read it in a facebook update or something equally impersonal.
Last night, around 1:30 a.m., Doug, Caitlin, and I were robbed at gunpoint. We had stepped outside to wait for our cab, when we saw a white, late-model, white Honda Civic with black windows speed toward us and stop. They paused in that spot, then drove a little further and stopped again. We thought, at first, that it might be our taxi. Doug said something to the effect of, "Oh, look, we have a speeder" (referring to our taxi driver). Before we knew it, two men jumped out of the car with huge guns, one cocked his, and both started yelling at us. They shoved one gun into Doug's stomach and pointed another at his leg while they searched his pockets. He said the barrel felt warm, which means that it was probably just used. Caitlin, thankfully, didn't have anything on her except her apartment key, which they didn't seem to notice; she said, "No tengo nada," and they left her alone. They didn't even really come near me (thank God); I had the presence of mind to hand them my purse and pull out my pockets to show that I didn't have anything (although, now that I think of it, I could have gotten myself shot by reaching into my pockets). I was so afraid that they were going to abduct or rape me - I was just reacting to that fear, I guess. They took our shopping bags, realized one had two ceramic bowls, then dropped it and shattered one of the bowls. As they ran to the car, Doug turned to try to memorize the car make and model, and they started screaming at him. He says that he felt like the guy was considering whether to shoot him; thankfully, he decided against it. Immediately after, a guy started yelling and running towards us. Reflecting upon it, we're pretty sure he was trying to help, but in the moment it just freaked us out. All of us stood there for a second, dumbfounded, until I finally said, "Open the door, Caitlin!" and proceeded to make the process more difficult for her by continually saying "hurry up, hurry up, hurry up" (poor Caitlin). She scrambled to unlock the door to her building and we all hurried inside and shut the door. Whew - what an experience! They got away with 30 newly purchased hangers, some soap, two floormats, a bag of American change, my purse (including my sunglasses, cell phone, and Dominican debit card, my house and classroom key with my new "Idaho" key ring [bummer] and about $30)...in my opinion, not much! I had my engagement ring on - luckily they didn't think to look at my hand. The funny thing is that I had my hands up and the diamond turned around so that it was facing them (I usually walk with it turned in to deter robbers). Doug had his credit card, Dominican debit card, ID, and about $60 in pesos in a pocket they didn't search. Caitlin had her keys in her hand - they could have forced her to open the door and then robbed their apartment. All in all, we were so so so lucky, it's amazing. Anyway, we're fine, but I'm admittedly a bit shaken. I now know not to wait outside for taxis from now on!
Love to all,
Stace
P.P.S. Also, here's a brief snippet from Caitlin's blog. She had some insight that I think is really helpful.
It was a scary experience but a good lesson for us. I think we have all been feeling so safe here that we have stopped taking some basic precautions that we will be taking from now on.
