In today’s society, violence and crime happen all over the world on a daily basis. From robbery, to grand theft auto – to senseless murder – innocent and unsuspecting people are victims each and every day. Watching these senseless acts of violence on television and on “real TV” shows make us shake our heads in horror and feel the sympathy for these helpless victims that simply tried to live their lives – and wound up in the middle of everyone’s worst nightmare.

While the videos of these horrifying events may be shocking and unbelievable to those watching the video after the horrible events happen from the safety of their own home – nothing compares to being involved in one of these events as the victim – take it from me – I know first hand.

It was July 8, 1993 and I was a teller at Independence Savings Bank. It was around 11:45am and it was time for my fifteen minute break that I shared with my friend Dawn. When I went over to her and asked her if she was ready for our break – she told me to go away. When I asked her why, she again asked me to leave. Confused, I noticed that she was taking all of the money in her draw and placing it in her hands. When I started to realize what was happening – I turned to her customer – and realized he was holding a gun that was now pointed at me.

When I saw the gun – I froze. Here I was, a bank teller just trying to go on my break one minute – and staring down the barrel of a criminal’s gun the next. Despite the desperate pleas of Dawn who was trying to save me from the terror she was experiencing – I walked right into it and now was an unwilling participant in the middle of a bank robbery.

While she was meeting the demands of the criminal – I was busy standing there frozen and unable to move. I never thought in my life that I would have a gun pointed at me. And when I did – I was frozen with fear. After a few moments of standing there paralyzed – I actually walked away and made it over to my station several windows away.

Why the robber let me walk away without shooting me fearing I would alert someone of what was going on I will never know – and what made me not do just that I can only attribute to my fear. All I know is that I made it back to my window and sat down – never taking my eyes off of Dawn and the man who was robbing her. After he received his stolen cash – he left her window and proceeded to walk out of the bank – not until telling me that he would “come back for me”.

Once he left and Dawn alerted our supervisors as to what just happened – the bank when into alert mode, the police came – and Dawn and I were taken to be questioned.

After the questioning, my supervisor told me that she was very sorry for what I just experienced – but informed me that the line of customers was very long – and asked me if I could open up my teller’s window. Upon hearing that she wanted me to open up my window after having a gun pointed at me – I went home and did not care if I lost my job or not.

It turns out that my supervisor was reamed out for asking me to re-open after such a traumatizing experience, and I wound up having to testify in front of a grand jury after the police captured the robber.

Although it has been seven years since that horrible experience and I have long gotten over the trauma the event caused me – each and every time I see someone fall victim to a robber’s blind intent – I am reminded of what happened to me and feel the pain of what the victim is going through – because I was there.