U District victim: 'The first thing we heard was a gun cock'
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SEATTLE - One of the latest victims in a string of armed robberies near the University of Washington campus says the attackers bashed him in the face with a gun after they discovered he had nothing on him worth stealing.
The early Saturday attack came just a week after three others in the very same neighborhood, striking fear into residents there for the second week in a row.
The victim, Cory Lockwood, says his left eye is tough to open after the attack. Even when he stretches the achy muscles around it, what he sees is mostly blurry.
It's right where a handgun hit him early Saturday, and the purple, bubbled mark proves it.
"It was pretty crazy. It was the scariest thing I've ever been through," he says.
Lockwood and a friend were heading home from the row of fraternity houses in the University District when they reached 56th Street and 17th Avenue. They saw two men pop up from behind a car.
"The first thing we heard was a gun cock, and we looked up, and the guy said, 'Give us everything you've got, and you won't get hurt,'" Lockwood says.
Lockwood's friend handed over keys, a wallet and a phone. But Lockwood had nothing on him, and the robbers got violent, hitting the two students.
The robber hit Lockwood's friend in the forehead and then whipped Lockwood under the eye.
According to Lockwood, the two robbers were black men dressed in dark hooded sweatshirts. One had a bandana over his face. They fled on foot south on 16th Avenue NE after the attack, police said.
Officers arrived on scene and searched the area for the two suspects, but could not find them.
This is the second time in as many weeks armed robberies have rocked the U District. Last weekend, three robberies happened just blocks away from Saturday morning's hold up. Seattle police made an arrest in those cases, but is still investigating the crime against Lockwood.
In all the robberies, a handgun was used to hit the victims and all were attacked just a few blocks from the University of Washington between NE 50th Street and NE 56th Street.
The early Saturday attack came just a week after three others in the very same neighborhood, striking fear into residents there for the second week in a row.
The victim, Cory Lockwood, says his left eye is tough to open after the attack. Even when he stretches the achy muscles around it, what he sees is mostly blurry.
It's right where a handgun hit him early Saturday, and the purple, bubbled mark proves it.
"It was pretty crazy. It was the scariest thing I've ever been through," he says.
Lockwood and a friend were heading home from the row of fraternity houses in the University District when they reached 56th Street and 17th Avenue. They saw two men pop up from behind a car.
"The first thing we heard was a gun cock, and we looked up, and the guy said, 'Give us everything you've got, and you won't get hurt,'" Lockwood says.
Lockwood's friend handed over keys, a wallet and a phone. But Lockwood had nothing on him, and the robbers got violent, hitting the two students.
The robber hit Lockwood's friend in the forehead and then whipped Lockwood under the eye.
According to Lockwood, the two robbers were black men dressed in dark hooded sweatshirts. One had a bandana over his face. They fled on foot south on 16th Avenue NE after the attack, police said.
Officers arrived on scene and searched the area for the two suspects, but could not find them.
This is the second time in as many weeks armed robberies have rocked the U District. Last weekend, three robberies happened just blocks away from Saturday morning's hold up. Seattle police made an arrest in those cases, but is still investigating the crime against Lockwood.
In all the robberies, a handgun was used to hit the victims and all were attacked just a few blocks from the University of Washington between NE 50th Street and NE 56th Street.
Heard the cock, but saw the cock?
Maybe a after dark curfew is needed for the sheeple of the U district..
When I have to close for another manager at our store on the Ave, I always have my little black buddy with me. Never had to use Mr. Pepper Spray, but if the day comes.....!!
Never bring pepper spray to a gun fight...
Not a bad idea to carry, but make sure you have trained to muscle memory. When things get dicy in seconds, thinking can hurt you.
And people piss and Moan about the cops being to rough on folks . Well with pinheads like that running around on the streets what do you expect cops to do  ask you politely to not beat people up !
Hope the cops catch them and beat the tar out of them who ever it is
I can't put my finger on it, but something smells fishy about his story.
 @Illuminati We're the only ones who are thinking this way. I just have a gut feeling something is not right about this story. And it just sounds too convenient to describe the perps as two black guys wearing hoodies.
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But as Dawgsarepups says, my reasoning is fishy. I wish I could do a better job of putting my finger on it.
Some of the bro's have decided to work some of the White folks over in the U-district.
Hopefully some armed citizen will smoke them both.
Standard issue for students in Seattle should be a Ruger LCP.
Walking unarmed at night in Seattle: Brilliant!I guess she is luck all she got was a black eye. Sounds like it's time for some decoy work SPD.
 @None Yeah. I thought it was a chick too,,,,,,
Hope the worthless punks are caught and soon.Â
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Pistol whipping someone because he has nothing. Really?  What cowardly losers!
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I'd say people in the U district need to be especially alert - look after each other and report suspicious people in the area.
@Smokin Bear I'd agree, except pretty brazen to take on 2 people, even with a gun. I had 3 with 2 guns and I'm a girl ... I would have loved to have been only pistol whipped, I didn't have any money with me, either. Long time ago in a place far away.
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All I can say to PD is they bet get off their bottoms and find these 2 thugs, before their crimes escalate.Â
@Smokin Bear ... also I'd urge this guys to take advantage of any counseling they have available to them. What happened to you was scary, and it can be life changing if you let it...don't be too proud.
A guy attempted to rob me when I was stationed in Savannah, GA one night (mistake #1). He must not of been experienced with weapons. He racked the slide on the gun when he made his demands. I told him I had nothing in my wallet as it was just before payday. He racked the slide again (mistake #2). No round was ejected. Situational awareness had already kicked in at this point. I pulled out my wallet and started to hand it to him with my left hand (same side as his gun). As he reached for the wallet, I dropped it and his reaction was to try and catch it (mistake #3). With one swift move, a hand behind his wrist and a twisting motion he was laying on the pavement face first wondering what had just happened. I kept my knee in the back of his neck until the cops arrived about 10min later (this is why I carry a gun, when seconds count, cops are minutes away).
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Lessons: Always maintain situational awareness, travel in numbers, be armed, be prepared to defend yourself.
Sounds to me like there needs to be a DD with a group. Designated Defense.
 @JeepRex Ha ha, would of paid good money to witness that! Bet he thinks twice before trying to rob anyone else!
 @cajunurseHe ended up with 6 years in jail. This was not his first arrest.
 @JeepRex I saw that movie too. It had some pretty good action scenes.
 @JeepRex not enough money for ammo
 @JeepRex Most people do not realize that there are a lot of people walking around who have been discharged from the military with a lot of hand to hand training. For four years they train you over and over to react to a given stimulus, and when you do it sometimes surprises even you. I tell people, joking around, that people who are in elite military organization such as Rangers, Air Force commandos, seals and recon are taught for four years to kill, kill, kill, and then they slap your hand and discharge you. For a few years you walk around like a cocked pistol, always ready. Situational awareness always. Good Job.
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OMG.....It'd be too easy to set these two lame punks up. lmao.Worthless POS.
These kind of crimes are terrifying. Â When criminals bring a gun into the mix, they are upping the ante. Â If these hoodlums are not caught soon, I could see them getting bolder and more extreme in their intimidation and violence. Â Hope they catch the perpetrators quickly.
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Yep, that's generally what happens. BY the time my 3 'gents' rushed me in a gated apt complex, they were up to kidnap/robbery.   There were 6 victims total over the course of a few weeks. First was robbery, then armed robbery, then kidnap with intent to rob ... well it just got worse for the victims with each incident.  If they keep getting away with it, they won't stop.
I'm sorry to disagree with everybody on this but something doesn't feel right about this one. I'm not buying it. I guess we'll see as the investigation continues.
@mandy h Can you elaborate a little? What do you mean by you're not buying it? Are you saying it never happened, or it didn't happen the way they said it did?
 @traceywo Well, two black guys in hoodies pop out from behind a parked car and the first thing that these two white, clean-cut, athletic-looking, young college-aged guys hear is a gun being cocked? As whitewings implied, these two could have just been discharged from the military and could very well been trained to quickly turn the tables on the thugs. Why would these black thugs choose to target somebody fitting this description? Perhaps a nerdy looking couple of guys, somebody more frail physically, maybe females, etc. ...or anybody who would be more apt to not be able to defend themselves against two tough thugs. It doesn't make sense to me.
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Plus, if these are the same guys doing the spree of similar muggings, why do it in the same area? There's going to be more chance that they'll be caught by police or ambushed by vigilantes in my opinion. Why would they take such a chance?
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Nah, something is fishy about this one, in my opinion.
@mandy h I don't care who you are and whether or not you have a gun or pepper spray, if sommeone has a loaded gun pointed at you, your best course of action is to do what they want. Hopefully at some point they will drop their gaurd, but if you go trying to "turn the tables" you are likely to get shot.
 @mandy h  @traceywo As a current UW student and someone who lives in the U district it is commonplace for robberies and theft. Literally every week the UW police sends an alert about it. Nothing about this is made up. Students are easy target because they carry valuables. It is a lot more likely that the people walking the streets in the U DISTRICT are students not ex military "vigilantes". Who cares if the students look "athletic", athleticism won't help you dodge a bullet. Your sense of reason is what is fishy.Â
I may look like a little (I'm 5 ft) 60 year old grandma but I also have a CWP and take my 45 with me when I travel to Seattle. My partner is a trained retired paratrooper as well. Muggers beware!
@kittykat1912 Get 'em, Grandman!!
I have a C.P.L and I carry pretty much everywhere I go. Telling people to carry, and "shoot the perp", in THIS instance, is suicide. If you already have a gun being pointed at you, you don't have TIME to draw your own weapon before you end up dead. That being said, until these idiots are caught, kids should stay in well lit areas, and remain vigilant of their surroundings. If someone DOES have a C.P.L. on them and a weapon, and sees this go down? End these two idiots so things can get back to normal.
@Wolfen People that tend to be "self-defense enthusiasts" also tend not to be one of the many potential victims in a target-rich neighborhood...funny how situational awareness works. College is supposed to be fun but I'd stay away from making the party/drinking scene a regular habit. It's not like it's a secret that unaware, non-scrappy students are easy targets even if the payoff is low (i.e. smartphone, wallet, keys). I wouldn't be wandering around the U District in a drunken, slackjawed stupor especially late at night. This wont be the last time someone gets pistol whipped and mugged in the U District. It happens semi-regularly.
@KennyGambler You nailed it, KennyG. It's supply and demand. As long as the U district provides a supply of drunken kids, the criminals will take their demand to the site. If you're walking around at 1:30 in the morning, they know that there's a very high chance that you've been drinking for hours and probably won't be in a good position to defend yourself or identify the robbers. And even if they get caught, you just know that the defense lawyer is going to bring the victims' sobriety into play at the trial. "How can you possibly be sure that the defendant is the one who robbed you? You were drunk as a skunk at the time!"
 @Central  @KennyGambler Yes, please do not make a defense attorney's job a cake walk by being drunk out of your mind and wandering the neighborhood in the middle of the night. Guilty people get off far too easily as it is. Drunks make lousy witnesses in court.Â
What time did this incident happen? Â A similar sounding pair of thugs held up a couple in Redmond at 1:30 am Sat. Â http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2012/10/redmond-couple-robbed-at-gunpoint-early-saturday-morning/
 @Leafy The other article about this robbery - it's on the front page of this web site - says this one happened about 1:30 a.m. Different thugs apparently.
Hmmm......that earring looks like it might be worth something ;)
Here's what ya do Corey....
Go to yer local PD and get a concealed weapons permit. Get a 1911 and take a firearms self defense class. Practice, practice, practice.
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Should it happen again, kill the perp.
 @bobalouie The article doesn't say if the victim was drinking or not but  a reasonable person would assumed he had a drink.  If leaving from greek row.  Carrying and drinking doesn't really mix.  If he did have even one drink and shot the perp then most likely he'd go to jail for a long time. Â
I carry everyday and have to make an extra effort to lock my gun away if I decide to have a drink or meet friends at a bar etc. Â Not saying you are wrong by suggesting this at all just not sure it would have helped to be armed. Â
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 @sabbametta Since you brought it up; where have all theses massacres taken place? Gun Free Zones. You know... places where people don't have the right to protect themselves.
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I guess we should all just roll over when confronted. Would that make you happy? A firearm free society where only the criminals have guns!
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UTOPIA!
 @bobalouie  @sabbametta A proposed piece of legislation to allow carry on Idaho college campuses was defeated. The Chair of the committee, who had lost his own son to a drunk fellow student with a gun, listened to a male student testify about theoretical scenarios and carry rights and responded that, for him, this was not a hypothetical discussion. He had paid a price regarding young people+alcohol+guns. As some have stated here, situational awareness is really the tool that keeps people out of trouble. Being surprised by someone who already has a gun in hand is not going to be resolved by having a gun you cannot pull in the situation. In that case people are better off running and taking their chances that dude is an untrained shot to begin with. And the suspect may be under the influence themselves. Â
@bobalouie @sabbametta I support second amendment rights and I'm all in favor of keeping a gun in your house for protection and even a CWP, but I think the idea of putting a loaded gun in the hands of a drunken frat boy after a night of heavy partying is going to create more problems than it will solve.
 @bobalouie and then proceed to get shot because the robber had his gun out already pointed at you....SMH as CPL holder I can tell you that a gun doesnt help in every situation, a gun only helps if you see it coming and have time to react.......
 @bobalouie What if Corey really isn't keen on killing someone. You propose a very complex scenario. Some of us have lived in the neighborhood for decades and never encountered anything , even on the street at 3 AM. If the U District has a consistent population of something like 30,000 people then over 29, 990 have not been victims over the last week. If a suspect has the drop on someone the game isn't on. There are also a number of family owned houses with kids in the area, who is itching to have a round come through their child's window two houses down? These criminal events may only span 5 or 6 seconds and would be very fluid things. What you propose carries numerous legal questions for someone like Corey as well. Easy to volunteer another person for a manslaughter charge for a legally unjustified killing.Â
I'm pretty sure if you are robbed by someone with a gun you are completely justified in using lethal force to defend yourself.
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 Don't feed the troll!
They gave them everything they had and still got hurt. Darn robbers. Can't trust a thing they say!
My sympathy for the victims. We need more surveillance cameras out there. The more the better to take scums off our streets.
 @STK I don't think putting a band-aid over a severed limb is going to help much.
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We should start with educating our youth and our parents of today's generation. Â Focus on the root of the problem. Â
 @STK I agree with you but lots of vocal people who don't actually live in these challenged neighborhoods will cry out about privacy. So little gets done but despite what critics say about the British use of cameras there have been documented cases of camera systems leading police right to the exact suspect in a timely manner.Â
we went over this before no one wanted to pay extra tax dollars for security camera and people to watch them, so now you get this