Let the truth be told and please stay safe

I got an email that was floating around and didn’t pay much attention to it.  Then it hit my local news.  The story, turns out, is true.  This isn’t one of those crazy emails that no one knows if it is true.  This lady has been contacted by our police and our local news.  Also, her sister-in-law lives here and also vouches for the incident.  Please take care and go everywhere in pairs.  Take the time to read this and don’t pass it up.

This past Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, my sister-in-law asked if I’d like to go to — Mall around 6:30 in the EVENING.  Knowing from past experience that all of the heavy “black Friday” shopping is over by late afternoon, I agreed to go.  There were multiple parking spaces open near the door, as most of the shoppers were home resting at this point in the day. We went in the JCPenney catalog entrance, and agreed to split up and meet again around 8pm.

I was not shopping for anything specific, so I ended up entering Belk at the upstairs entrance and browsed.  I worked my way around to the left of the store, where I tried on multiple coats and jackets.  The store on that side was practically empty.  I kept working my way towards the back of the store, stopping to look at various items.  When I reached the left rear of the the store (again, upstairs Belk), I looked up and saw a sign that said “RESTROOMS”.  I decided I could stand to go.  As I stepped through the doorway, there is a small hallway, with water fountains directly ahead, men’s room entrance directly to the left rear, and about 4 steps to the right and forward is the ladies’ room.  As soon as I stepped into the hallway, I immediatly felt someone right on me.  I turned and looked up, and there was a HUGE man with a HUGE head, about 6′2, maybe 300 lbs., mid-twenties to early 30’s, with a shaved head.  I had seen him in the store earlier and really hadn’t given him a second thought, but as I was entering the very short hallway to the restrooms, he was there.  Keep in mind the store was pretty much dead; there were absolutely no shoppers in that particular corner of the store at the time.
As I looked up, I said “Excuse me”, and he mumbled “Excuse me”, and he went directly in the men’s room to the left.  I took the 4 steps or so that it took to go to the women’s room door, pushed the door open, and immediatly assessed the situation:  no one in ladie’s room, no one in department; and I quickly backed out of the foyer and back into the store among the clothes racks, all the while watching the hallway to the restrooms.
This may take several minutes to read and explain, but what just happened probably took less than 15 to 20 seconds.  This man, thinking that I’m in the ladies’ restroom and at this point would’ve been in a very vulnerable position, came out of the men’s room and charged directly into the women’s room, again, thinking I’m there.  He never looked up as he was crossing the entrance to the hallway, or he would’ve seen me standing back in the store.  Instead, he went directly into the ladies’ room.   Of course
upon not seeing me in there, he came straight back out, looked around and when we made eye contact, I was about 6 or 7 clothes racks away. He then made a B-line straight to the mall exit.

It took me a few seconds to realize the full impact of what ALMOST just happened, and a minute or so for it to fully sink in.  I immediatly notified a Belk employee, who contacted security, but of course by then this man was long gone and technically hadn’t done anything to anyone.  Regardless, I talked to another security guard, then called and spoke with a Belk manager when I returned home, who told me that they have cameras scanning that area and that she would have “loss prevention” check the tapes.  I returned to the store the next day to personally speak to the manager.  She told me that since the cameras “scan”, it apparently didn’t scan the restroom area at that time.  I asked her to PLEASE make sure that the girls who work there are aware of what happened so that they could be careful, and then I went upstairs in Belk personally and spoke with any  employee who wasn’t with a customer at the time to make them aware of the situation and to please be careful.

OK.  At the very least that would’ve happened if my instincts hadn’t kicked in (and of course I’m aware that my Lord was watching over me), I would’ve at least been mugged.  I personally feel that it would’ve been much worse than that.  This guy was so huge that I’m sure my head would’ve been cracked open on the hard bathroom floor.  I was pretty shaken as the full reality sank in, and had previously asked God to let me run into some friends I know.  Within minutes after the incident, I ran into a friend (who’s 13-yr old daughter was shopping alone at the time), then ran into my dear friend, along with her 2 sisters and niece.  Of course I was spreading the word of caution to them.  By the time I reached JCPenney’s where I was to meet my sister-in-law, I was so shaken that I broke down and called my brother Jerry, who of course came straight to the mall and escorted us out.

When I contacted my niece who frequents the mall, she told me about the girl who was raped in the dressing room at Abercrombie & Fitch.  The manager of Belk confirmed this story as she was upset that the mall managers had not been made aware of the incident so that they could caution their employees, but instead they had learned it when it hit the news.  Our prayers need to go out to this young girl who was raped and  traumatized in the mall dressing room.

I’m sorry for making you read such a long letter, but just want you to please, PLEASE be aware of your surroundings, and especially if you’re entering any public restroom.  You are in a very vulnerable position at that point.

Please take the time to stay safe.  Thank you for reading this and watching out for yourselves and your family.