Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Caught in a shooting!!!

I went to get my hair done today by Roy Deekman, who I met at last Sunday's Atlanta Suriname Day. He works at Dwight "Real Housewives of Atlanta" Eubanks' The Purple Door salon on Edgewood Avenue and did a good job. I was ready to pay. So far not a very interesting story, but I could not have dreamt up what followed next. It certainly made for my most exciting salon experience ever, and my TV debut. We heard gunshots and watched police cars pulling up in front of the salon, officers jumping out drawing their guns and rifles. First one car, than a second, a third, a fourth, and soon the whole street was blocked and sealed off by at least 50 police cars! Georgia Patrol, ATL Police, SWAT team with bullet-proof vests and gas masks over their green uniforms. Complete chaos. We were trapped in the salon, with other clients around me still with half-cut hair or chemicals and curlers in. After a while we were evacuated by a giant motorbike officer with big rifle, who shielded the door with his big butt, leaving only little space for us to squeeze by, and sent us running down the street - "Ladies first!" TV crews caught a good piece of that action and you can admire my adrenalin-filled TV debut in the news: 

Dwight and Roy at Edgewood Avenue

But the story is not over yet. Both Roy's and my car were now in the middle of a crime scene and the police did not allow us to get to them. They were still hunting two of the three suspects, one of who had shot a police officer. After two hours, a lunch in the neighborhood and more waiting in the smothering heat, we could get back to the salon but still not to our cars. Roy the hairdresser was so distracted that he severely burned his hand on a little oven to heat flat irons when he was gathering his stuff. Jeroen came down from his office to pick us up and had his share of action along the way as well: two cars in front of him on I-75 slammed into each other and while he passed them the front car speeded like crazy to flee from the scene, probably another uninsured Georgia driver. At the emergency room to have Roy's hand checked, he decided it was not that severe so we drove on to the local CVS with his hand in ice and a big rag, only to be recognized by the woman at the register: "hey, I just saw you running on television. Did you get shot in your hand?!?"
Who would have thought that a trip to the "Real Housewives of Atlanta" salon would make me real TV celebrity as well, at least for 18 seconds?

1 comment:

  1. Lieve Gabriella,
    Ga als je alleen bent s.v.p in een veilige omgeving met de auto en zeker niet alleen wandelen. Ik heb er niet van geslapen!!!
    Gelukkig is alles goed afgelopen. Zeg tegen Jeroen dat hij goed op je past! Dikke kus,
    Marianne.

    ReplyDelete