By William Zack, July 5, 2017 — I always wanted a BB gun. I was about 12 years old. There was a hardware store on 26th Street a couple blocks away from where I lived had a nice display of Red Ryder BB guns. I wanted one of them so badly but my dad wouldn’t buy me one because my mom said, “You’re not going to have a gun in this house.” I went up there one day and there was one guy who owned the store, and he was down at the other end talking to a customer. There was nobody else there and the display was on one side and the door was on the other side, so I had it all figured out. I took one of those Red Ryder BB guns and I hid it in my pants. I limped out of the store with it and walked about a block down the street, took it out and kept walking home. Our steps leading up to the front porch was all open [on the] side and we used to play hide and seek, kick the can, and everything else. So I went under there and hid the gun, so when my mother went to work and there was nobody home I got the gun. Me and my buddy walked down 24th Street which was all a wooded area.
We went back there shooting birds and whatever else we could shoot. There was a bum laying there with a jug of wine. So I thought, ‘Ha! I wonder what it would be like if I shot that jug of wine.’ So I shot that jug of wine and when you have a glass bottle filled with fluid and you shoot it with a BB, it does not shatter, it just puts a hole in it, and it seeps out. I said boy, that’s pretty cute! So he’s laying there, and I saw him and I hit him, and he jumped up. He was a giant about a foot tall I think, and on about 4 ft tall, and he’s chasing me, and man, I’m going! I made 2 steps and he made 6. I said Lord, give me legs! And I just kept running. I went down between some houses and he didn’t catch us. I got to my home and crawled underneath the porch. He knocked on my front door, my sister was there, and he said, “I’m looking for your brother, he shot me with the BB.” She told him I wasn’t there. Well if you catch him, you let me know. So after he left, I came into the kitchen like nothing happened.
Later on, we had all eaten supper, so who comes knocking on the door but old Mr. Bum? My dad answered the door – Uh-Oh! He had double leather straps that barbers used on their chairs, they’re razors, my dad liked to use it on us when we lied to him, or did something bad. So I thought, well here comes the leather. My dad said, “I will take care of it.” He took care of it alright! He asked me where the gun was. I said, “What gun?” He said, “The one you had.” I said I didn’t have a gun. He said that I was lying to him and told my sister to go get the strap. Uh-oh! Anyhow, after I got that, I told him the gun was under the porch. He asked me where I got the gun, and I said the friend of mine gave it to me. He said, you’re lying, the Red Ryder is an expensive gun. People do not just give them away. I told him I took it from Westside Heat and Fuel. So we walked up there and my dad asked Mr. Durst if he was missing a BB gun. He said he didn’t think so. He went over and looked and then he said you’re right, there is one missing. My dad said, well here it is. My dad asked if he wanted him to pay for it and he said no, they got it back they can just repackage it. I never stole anything after that.
(The group asked what made him shoot the homeless person.)
The devil made me do it. I was at the age where you get to do exciting things. That was exciting for me. Lord, give me legs…I need them now! It was interesting to shoot that jug and see the wine trickling out of there. The bum knew everyone living in the neighborhood, that’s how he found my house. I have a Red Ryder BB gun, the same exact one like when I was a child, I bought it for the 100 year anniversary, it’s engraved and everything, I got it through a catalog for $29, it was a collector’s item.