Queen Media Collective

First off, shout out to Steph Curry and the Warriors for making it to the NBA finals! We all knew they would make it and now we can show our pride for the Bay Area!!

On Memorial Day, me and my boyfriend went to the Coliseum in Oakland, CA. to shoot a music video for a song that was made to serve as a Warriors anthem. Just two weeks ago I bought a new camera (a Canon T5i) and I was excited to help him film. We went all up and down the coliseum recording fans and footage of the artists included on the song. An hour later, we gathered near the stairs leading to the BART station, in order to get more footage of the artists. We were filming here for about an hour, until we decided to call it a night. It was approximately 10:30 PM.

We all walked back to our cars, which were located in the coliseum BART parking lot. When we got to my car ( I had drove my boyfriend and his friend) something told me to put all of our belongings in the trunk. This included my purse, my boyfriend’s backpack, our laptops and our cellphones. I am a paranoid person and the coliseum is not located in the safest part of Oakland, so I wanted to take this precaution. However, I made the ignorant decision of keeping my camera in the car on my lap. My reasoning for this was so it would be easily accessible in case I needed to film some driving scenes from the passenger seat. A second later, my boyfriend handed me his camera (also a Canon T5i) and I proceeded to hold them both on my lap. I felt a little iffy about having the cameras in the car, but I figured we would be home soon so it was no big deal.

As soon as we were all in the car and ready to go we hear someone yell “Ay!! Do you all shoot music videos?” We look back and see the two grimiest two dudes I have ever seen approaching my car. My boyfriend’s friend was saying “Just drive off, don’t stop and talk to these dudes. Just leave,” but instead of listening, he begin talking to the dudes. After a 5 minute conversation about music videos, it started to feel really uncomfortable. My boyfriend had whispered for me to start the car, so I did that. The dude awkwardly noticed and said “Dang ya’ll trying to start the car, we just want a music video, relax.” I also locked the doors, because one of the dudes who approached us was standing outside of my door, while his friend talked to my boyfriend on the other side. While my boyfriend is looking down typing his Instagram name into the dudes phone the dude suddenly says in the calmest tone:

Ay just to let ya’ll know, I got that REAL Steph Curry.

We look down and see a long 30 bullet gun with an extendo underneath the dudes white T-Shirt (hence the reference). Suddenly my life flashed before me and I panicked about what will happen next. The dude has not taken the gun out his pants, but I can tell he wasn’t afraid to use it. I am staring at my boyfriend who is closest to the guy with the gun and I was feeling extremely helpless like we were all going to die.

Next thing that happened was unbelievable! My door flung open and the other dude reached for both cameras on my lap. It caught me all the way off guard because I SWEAR I locked all the car doors! I let the dude take the cameras without a fight, because I did not know if he had a gun too and I was not about to lose my life over some cameras. Suddenly I hear my boyfriends friend shout “HE HAS A 30!”, and my boyfriend drives off. I do not really remember this part, but apparently my door was still open and my boyfriend was trying to drive and hold me into the car so I wouldn’t fall out (Thank God I had on my seatbelt).

Simultaneously, the dude with the gun was holding on to the car door trying to stop us from driving away, I later found out. Therefore, it is safe to assume the theft of our cameras was a diversion so these thugs could car jack us. Thankfully, we ended up driving away.

My boyfriend and his friend were so happy that we got away and the guys did not get anything, but they did not notice the cameras were stolen, because they were focused on the gun. I am happy I was able to remain calm and did not scream, because I know they would have gotten distracted and we all would of probably gotten shot. I am just happy that we are all alive and I put the keys in the ignition and started the car. That small detail meant EVERYTHING in this situation, because if the car wouldn’t of been started we wouldn’t of gotten away.

Although I am extremely bummed about the loss of our $500 cameras, I feel blessed and highly favored by God. I could have died that day due to negligence and ignorance. I don’t blame anyone for what happened, but we all should have been more aware. Everyone PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR SURROUNDINGS. I cannot stress this enough. While we were shooting the video, these dudes walked by like many people did leaving the BART station. They obviously created a plot and waited for us for thirty minutes in the parking lot. A moment of negligence can cost you your entire life and everything you’ve worked for. Learn from my experience and be smarter in your decisions and the areas you go to… especially late at night.