Meshate Mengistu
From North Park (Student/Subway Employee)
Yes. My apartment was robbed. Somebody came in through the balcony and stole my iPods and my gold necklace. Nobody was home — it was at night. I left the balcony door open and I completely forgot about it. I came home and went into my room and everything was out of place. I walked in and checked for where I put my stuff — my Social Security [information] and stuff. It was all over my bed. I go to my bathroom, my gold necklace is gone. The iPods that I was charging were gone. But they didn’t take anything that was worth anything, anyway. I could tell it was somebody that either lived in my apartment building or somebody young.
Jacob R. Vyan
From Spring Valley (Field Representative)
Yes. It was in North Park. I had my car broken into there when I was a teenager. They didn’t actually steal my car; they broke into my car and stole everything out of it — my CDs and everything. But they didn’t take my car, which was pretty dumb because you didn’t need a key to start it — if you popped the clutch it would start! Then, a little while later, I got jumped and they stole my wallet. It was right by that park on El Cajon Boulevard, by the Wendy’s…I don’t know what it’s called. It was, like, six guys. They came up behind me, knocked me down on the ground and grabbed my wallet, and then I got hit in the face a bunch of times. I was young — I was 16. It was pretty traumatic. I never got anything back. The police never called me back.
Roy Grant
From Downtown (Pedicab Driver)
Yes. Here in San Diego and across the border. One time they took the wallet, and one time I just handed them cash. One guy had a knife, and the other one had a gun. The Tijuana guy didn’t get caught, and the guy over here didn’t get caught either. I got robbed here in the Gaslamp just last Halloween. I picked the guy up and gave him a ride. He was supposed to pay me, and he wouldn’t pay me. Instead, he got out and took the rest of the money I had. He got about $100 from me.
Heather Winfield
From Encinitas (Stay-at-Home Mom)
Yes! Everything in my house got taken from me; every single thing, including my fan. It was really hot — it was like a heat wave. I was really upset about that fan, I remember. It was at night. I can’t remember why, but I had to go to the hospital for some reason, and when I came back I’d been robbed. They broke in through a window in the apartment. We moved shortly after that. I wonder who did it because they had to have seen us leave. This was in Long Beach; it wasn’t in San Diego.
Dominique Valdivia
From La Mesa (Student)
No, but my brother has. It was, like, a year ago. He was at the mall — Parkway Plaza, I think — and he was walking home at night. All he had on him was an iPod and money. The guy was, like, “Give me whatever you have!” My brother said, “Listen, man, you don’t want to do this. It’s not a big deal; I’ll give you what I have. Just please don’t hurt me. I love my family and I love my life too much for this to happen.” He gave him what he had, and the guy just ran away. He was just so thankful that he didn’t get harmed.
Greg Gallagher
From Poway (Defense Research Analyst)
Yeah. It was in Key West. They took my wallet while I was in a phone booth making a phone call. They held me at gunpoint while I was on the phone and took my wallet from me. I was on the Navy base at the time, so I contacted the base police. It was pretty wild. It was a long time ago. I think they were military, since it was on the military base. The weapon they had looked like a military .45.