A Houston woman says that she is still alive and unharmed because she remained calm after being held at knifepoint and robbed of $2,000.
Becky Brown, 73, told ABC Houston that she was trapped in her car by two men last Tuesday as she sat outside of her home in her car, charging her phone, around 11:30 pm.
Brown says the two men, wearing masks and armed with an eight-inch blade, approached the car. The pair got in the car and tried for two hours to transfer money out of her bank account through app but were unsuccessful. During that time, they listened to jazz together.
‘I really don’t think they would have killed me, but I was concerned. Is he going to take that knife out and slash my face or my arm? It was an eight-inch blade. I just felt like if I were to remain calm, they would stay calm, and I’m here, and I’m alive,’ she said.
One of the men, 20-year-old Andre Williams, is in custody with his bail set at $300,000. The other remains at-large. In her ABC interview, Brown said that she would visit the assailants in prison, if they wanted to see her.
Becky Brown told ABC Houston that she was sitting in her car, charging her phone, when two men, one armed with a large knife approached her car and entered
One of the suspects in the robbery, Andre Williams, 20, appeared in court and was held on a bond of $300,000
During the ordeal, Brown called her bank and tried to make the transfer over the phone.
‘The Wells Fargo gentleman asked, “Are you alone?” I am not stupid, I am not going to say that, or I might be killed. I said, “No, I’m sitting out here in my car, got the windows rolled down,”‘ Brown told ABC Houston.
Eventually, the robbers made Brown drive to a nearby Wells Fargo and forced her to withdraw $2,000.
Brown told the station that she walks with limp because she needs to have hip surgery. When she returned to the car, one of the robbers said that he wished he could have helped her to the ATM but that he couldn’t be seen on surveillance cameras.
‘I feel sorry for him in a way. From somewhere in him, he had this kindness, and he meant it,’ Brown said.
From there, Brown drove home, and let the two men out of her car close to the residence.
Brown said that while the pair were in car, she told them that she looked forward to being in better health so that she could go to concerts and street fairs.
‘When they got out of my car, the last thing the guy, who had never said anything, said to me was, “Go to your music festivals.” If he were to go to jail, I would visit him. Yeah, I would go visit him,’ Brown added.
Brown said in her interview with ABC Houston that she would visit her muggers in prison. She described one of them as having ‘this kindness’
Most law enforcement agencies advise victims of street robberies not to resist and to give up their property. Do not resist, don’t make sudden moves and do what the assailant says.
‘Calmness begets calmness. If you panic, you’re in turn going to panic a person with a gun to your head, who obviously felt backed into a corner prior to your beginning to scream and convulse from two feet away from them,’ former police officer Justin Freeman wrote in an essay for Quartz.
Freeman also recommended looking the robber in the eye, forcing them to acknowledge your humanity.
Do your best to remember something distinctive about the mugger, what they were wearing or an accent and not to follow them after they leave.
As soon as it safe, victims are recommended to call the police.
