Brawl at Bartells

Yesterday evening I decided to go for a walk with Christina to our local Bartell Drugs store.  Basically, Christina was having a rough night (lots of tantrums and crying for no apparent reason), and I thought we could both be helped out by getting out of the house and getting some fresh air.

The walk went pretty well, and Christina actually walked most of the way (I brought along the stroller for if she got tired).  She really enjoyed splashing in the mud puddles we came across on our way to the store.

So we arrived at Bartells, and as soon as I walked up, I knew something wierd was going on.  There was a man in a baseball cap (from here on out I'll refer to him as Baseball Cap Guy) standing behind a big pillar and looking into the store's windows.  A lady walked out of the store, and he grabbed her and pulled her aside (she must have known him, because she seemed fine with this).  I heard him say "They're pulling a scam in there!" and point to someone in the store.  Christina and I went inside the store, and shortly thereafter, the lady came back inside (presumably to tell someone about the "scam"), but then I heard her ask one of the clerks where a particular item was and then go to find it...so I was a bit confused.  Christina started looking around in the makeup aisle near the front door.

Then, Baseball Cap Guy came in the front door, pulling a woman along with him.  He was saying something along the lines of "I saw what you were doing," and she was asking him to let her go.  Now I was starting to get really worried.  He pulled her into the aisle next to me, the shampoo aisle, and he motioned for this young guy in a black shirt (from here on out referred to as Black Shirt Guy) to come with him.  The lady was telling Baseball Cap Guy to let go of her, but he pushed her up against the shelves, holding her by the collar, knocking over a bunch of shampoo bottles (seriously, I felt like I was watching a movie).  Then Black Shirt Guy ran over and tackled Baseball Cap Guy, and as far as I saw, everyone fell to the floor.  One of the Bartells employees at the front of the store yelled out "Call 911!"

There were sounds of a tussle, and Christina started walking in that direction to see what was going on.  I told her to come back over by me (my heart was beating so fast!), and just then Black Shirt Guy got free and ran out the front door (thankfully, he was careful not to run into Christina, because she was right in his way).  Back in the aisle, I saw Baseball Cap Guy and a Bartells employee (she was wearing the Bartells red vest) getting up from the floor (I don't know how the employee got in the middle of the fight, but she did).  Baseball Cap Guy ran out after Black Shirt Guy (I have no idea where the lady went, but she wasn't there anymore, so she must have run out at some point).  Basball Cap Guy came back in a minute later and said "He ran over into the Safeway parking lot!"

Now that all the action had died down, I turned my attention to Christina.  She was pretty shaken up, and she started crying.  I kneeled down and talked to her - we talked about how scary it had been, but how it was all over now and wouldn't happen again.  I went with her to the back of the store and we went to the restroom, where she cried some more and then calmed down.  Then we walked around the store a bit, and I saw that a police officer had arrived and was talking to Baseball Cap Guy and some of the employees.  On our way out of the store, the lady employee that had somehow gotten in the middle of the fight said "I hope we didn't scare your little girl too much," and she asked Christina if she was OK.  Christina said yes, and we headed back home.

Christina decided to ride in the stroller most of the way home, and at one point she started crying again.  I asked if she was still scared, and she said yes.  She kept saying "I want to go home."  I told her that we were on our way, and that as soon as we got home, she could tell Daddy about how we saw the men fighting.  That seemed to cheer her up, and as soon as we walked in the door, she ran right up to Sean and said "We saw men fighting!"