My mom picked me up from work yesterday. On our way home from the mall, she told me about how our next door neighbor had recently died. I honestly don’t remember him because he and his family moved abroad a few years ago, when I was too young to really care about the people in my neighborhood. I remember he had a bulldog named Sammy who liked to lie down on our driveway whenever his yaya would take him out for walks. His name was Desi, but I don’t have a face to tie the name to. Thinking about it now, it’s probably a good thing I don’t remember what he looks like. At least I won’t imagine seeing him walking down the street at dawn or anything like that.
According to my mom, he died of a freak accident a few weeks ago. Apparently this man carried a gun around, and I am assuming based on the story that he took that gun with him wherever he went. He apparently came from a childrens’ party with his family, and had his wife and kids in the car. He dropped off his wife at the grocery store, and sat in the driver’s seat waiting, with the children in the backseat. In true freak accident fashion, the gun holstered to his waist went off and the bullet struck some arterial vein near his thigh. The story gets all fuzzy from there. I really don’t know if he bled out or if he died instantly, and what happened to the children afterwards. One thing’s for sure, I bet they were scared, and it’s certain to have been an extremely traumatic experience for them. My mom says the kids are young, the eldest being only about 10-years old.
This story alone should be enough to discourage people from carrying guns. Seriously, who would take a gun to a children’s party? What for? And I honestly don’t get how anyone could be comfortable holding on to a gun around their own children. Many feel safer when they have that piece of metal on them, believing that it can protect them against nasty people. But what they fail to see is that sometimes the tables turn and that so-called protective weapon can prove to be your worst enemy.
To my next door neighbor, may you rest in peace. I sincerely hope the family you left behind is doing ok, wherever they may be.