I was working on my trailer later last night (getting all the lights working properly for this weekend's campout) and realized I needed a few parts. Well the nearest place open that late (10:30pm) would be, you guessed it, Wal-Mart.
Surprisingly the place was pretty busy so I wound up parking quite a ways from the door and walking past a bunch of RV folks (I guess people are already headed to there "Memorial Weekend" camping spots).
So as I'm about halfway to the door I spot a homeless guy sort of wandering around. That is, sadly, nothing new so I didn't think much on it but then as I continued my approach I noticed a couple of other guys sort of "loitering" in the shadow of a nearbyt van. BING BING BING... my "somethings not right" alarm goes off. So I hook my thumb on my belt in case I need to sweep my cover out of the way, and then detour over another aisle and keep walking.
Well nothing happens at all so I figure "ah heck, I guess I'm being paranoid tonight".
Inside the store I run into a friend so a quick "parts run" turns into 20+ minutes of chatting and then I make my purchase and head out into the parking lot...which is now full of cop cars!
What do you know, a couple of the RV's had been burgled and the third was occupied when these guys busted in. The older gent in the RV was armed and apparently frightened the crooks off when he confronted them with a gun. His description matched the homeless guy and one of the "loiterers".
So I gave the cops the best description I could of the people I saw in the parking lot and they said they thought the "homeless" guy was casing the trailers and directing the other two as to what to rob.
Part of me wishes I'd called about my suspicions earlier but then again there really wasn't anything to actually report at that time.
I'm sure glad my situational awareness was up and running and that I listened to my instincts enough to not walk through the middle of that though!
On a related note....
I live in a pretty nice, quiet, sleepy, town but I've decided that a Super Wal-Mart sitting right off a major highway is a criminal MAGNET!
Surprisingly the place was pretty busy so I wound up parking quite a ways from the door and walking past a bunch of RV folks (I guess people are already headed to there "Memorial Weekend" camping spots).
So as I'm about halfway to the door I spot a homeless guy sort of wandering around. That is, sadly, nothing new so I didn't think much on it but then as I continued my approach I noticed a couple of other guys sort of "loitering" in the shadow of a nearbyt van. BING BING BING... my "somethings not right" alarm goes off. So I hook my thumb on my belt in case I need to sweep my cover out of the way, and then detour over another aisle and keep walking.
Well nothing happens at all so I figure "ah heck, I guess I'm being paranoid tonight".
Inside the store I run into a friend so a quick "parts run" turns into 20+ minutes of chatting and then I make my purchase and head out into the parking lot...which is now full of cop cars!
What do you know, a couple of the RV's had been burgled and the third was occupied when these guys busted in. The older gent in the RV was armed and apparently frightened the crooks off when he confronted them with a gun. His description matched the homeless guy and one of the "loiterers".
So I gave the cops the best description I could of the people I saw in the parking lot and they said they thought the "homeless" guy was casing the trailers and directing the other two as to what to rob.
Part of me wishes I'd called about my suspicions earlier but then again there really wasn't anything to actually report at that time.
I'm sure glad my situational awareness was up and running and that I listened to my instincts enough to not walk through the middle of that though!
On a related note....
I live in a pretty nice, quiet, sleepy, town but I've decided that a Super Wal-Mart sitting right off a major highway is a criminal MAGNET!