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In my younger days I spent nearly 5 years as a security guard (Observe and Report was our mantra) and a year as a Deputy. I moved on from that to manufacturing (making parts for Honda) and then into computers and office management (for a company that made reloading dies for everything from a .17 hornet to a 20mm Lahti).
After my divorce I needed money to move to CA, so I took a job as an armed security guard at an abandoned apartment complex on the near west side of Columbus (near Central Ave - not a good side of town). Six dollars and fifty cents an hour.
I worked alone. The week before I was hired, someone shot at one of the guards there. A few weeks prior to that, one of the guards found a body in one of the dumpsters. Coke addicts and the like would often be found hiding out in some of the apartments.
I had no radio, and the only phone was in the office (where I sat most the day except when I was on rounds in my car - it was a big complex). I had no cell phone (this was about 13 years ago).
One day as I was driving about (it was still daylight) I heard a door slam shut on the upper floor of one of the apartments. I stopped my car.
My first thought was - go back to the office and call the police. But then I thought - what if someone is up there and in danger (I had visions of someone being raped up there and soon to be killed). I made my choice.
I hopped out of the car and approached the door. I had my maglite with me (most windows on ground floor were boarded up, so even in daylight those places were dark) and for the first time (and last) I took out my weapon (a 9mm Markov).
I was scared to be honest. I yelled that I was an armed guard, and I opened the door. Shaking a bit I went in and proceeded to clear the living room and kitchen (along with the half bath). There were empty beer cans and such strewn about.
Then I heard a door upstairs slam shut. My heart pounding I started up the stairs, back to the wall. At the top was the bathroom (thankfully that door was open and I could see in) to the left of that was a smaller bedroom, door closed. Across from the bathroom was the main bedroom, the one where the door had slammed.
I inched up those steps slowly. No idea if someone was gonna pop out of one of the rooms and shoot me. I got to the top and cleared the small bedroom. And then - I kicked open the door to the main bedroom.
And....nothing. No one. The window had been broken and the wind was pulling open and slamming the door off and on. I had seen the broken window from outside, but did not think about it all that much. I felt dumb. And really fucking relieved.
I really don't give a shit what that security guard in Colorado thought about God, or whether she lost a job before.
Unlike me - she stood down someone who had a gun and was shooting her way. She may not be perfect, she might believe in God (well, she does), and she may even feel god was with her that day (and trust me, I was praying a lot the day I walked up those steps) - but in the end she stood up to someone with a gun who did not care if she lived or died, and who probably would have killed a bunch of other folks had she not been there.
I look back now and know it took a lot of guts to do what I did - and there was no one there.
What she did, took a helluva lot more courage than what I did. She did her job - but that does not mean it was easy.
And if she wants to credit god for it all, well all I can say to that is - I really don't give a shit, cause she did the right thing no matter the reasons.
From one security guard to another lady - you did good.
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