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I literally dodged a bullet that day. It was payday at my office and I went in feeling ill and did the payroll. Afterwards, my normal procedure is to make the office deposit, cash my check at our office bank for cash, and then go to my bank after lunch and deposit the cash. My bank is Bank of the West and that is the branch I used because it was conveniently on my way back to the office to drop off the deposit bag and receipt. Following my normal payday practice, I'd get there about 2:05 to 2:10 and be out by 2:10 to 2:15.

On July 16, 2014, the bank robbers arrived at 2:10 and took everyone hostage. . . but that particular day I did not feel well after payroll and decided to skip lunch. I stopped at the bank early and was there an hour earlier than my normal time, left, dropped off the bank bag and receipt and went home.

Had I not been feeling ill, I would have been in that bank right when the robbery went down. . . and being armed I probably would have tried to do something about it. At least I hope I would have. . . and I'd probably have wound up dead, considering their firepower and willingness to use it. On the other hand, maybe not. Sometimes, someone shooting at them at the right moment will stop them. I knew the nice lady who was taken hostage and was killed by the excess force used by the police. It was totally unnecessary for the Stockton PD.

Channel 13, the local CBS News, is talking about it now on the TV news. . . and they are saying that officers disobeyed orders and too many responded. A Police Captain fired the first shot. Then other police started firing "sympathetic shots" and kept firing, some just firing at the car, with no specific known target in mind. This finished about a half-mile from my Stockton house. . . they say that no police shoot out like this has ever occurred in US History. Leave it to Stockton.

“Had I not been feeling ill, I would have been in that bank right when the robbery went down. .”

Wow. Then you would have had a real story to tell. Don’t you
hate it when things like that happen. Look at all those
ATF and FBI agents that for some reason or another didn’t
show up for work on April 19, 1995. Look what they missed out
on. And, if you have a conceal carry permit and you were in
the habit of packing heat you probably could have saved
a life. So really it’s all your fault. You get sick, and
you miss out on performing your constitutional duty and
probably doing the only meaningful thing in your life. None
of this really matters. I’m joking of course.
It’s just a pseudo point of view.

...they say that no police shoot out like this has ever occurred in US History. Leave it to Stockton.

There was one just like it a couple of years ago in San Jose. There were 23 SJPD cars in a slow speed chase in a residential neighborhood for about fifteen minutes. They ran the guy into a tree and started shooting. My wife's office partner lives across the street. Her kids say there were bullets all over the place and it was a miracle no innocents died. There was a YouTube showing the whole thing but that got pulled down pronto.