SMASH & GRAB - Atlanta Thugs Try to steal PS3
From http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/ps3-lau...rab-215504.php
Best Buy Smash N' Grab
When i got to Best Buy Alpharetta around 1:45AM, most everyone was already in their tents, seeking shelter from the bitter cold. i wandered to the end of the line where a small group of people were sitting in deck chairs chatting to hand out cookies in the name of Kotaku.
Cookies are great conversation starters, so soon I was getting the general lay of the line. Many were eBay prospectors, with the exception of one Dad who was camping out for his son's Christmas present. One guy had just sold his spot for $1000 cash.
As we talk, a white pickup truck passes by and a kid leans out the window with a Super Soaker, which we later determine was filled with fruit punch. He misses us, but every tent along the line gets a nice little shower. Sweet.
Then a guy named Dave walks up. Dave has just come from the midnight Best Buy launch across town. He didn't buy a PS3...he just seems to want to hang out and talk about games. We reminisce for awhile about consoles long since dead and games nearly forgotten.
From across the parking lot come three loud bangs, like gunshots.
Dave and I hop to our feet. "What the hell was that?" We decide to investigate. Normally gunshot sounds are something I try to hide from, but I've got cookies and a digital camera, which somehow makes me feel safe.
Halfway down the line, my partner breaks into a run out into the parking lot, yelling, "Get the fuck away from there!" In the lot a trunk has just opened. A white guy in a red cap pokes his head up, sees Dave coming for him, and runs towards a waiting vehicle which then peels off, exposing a conveniently taped over license plate. Dave is left standing amidst the shattered glass of his car window.
Some kids in another car apparently saw the whole thing. The guy breaking into the car acted as if it were his own, patting his pockets as if checking for keys, then with a sigh retrieved a smallish sledgehammer and proceeded to smash the window open with it, full in the view of half of the Best Buy PS3 line. Finding nothing in the backseat, he opened the front door, flipped open the trunk, and that's where we came in.
The cops arrived minutes later to take the report. There was no way they were catching the guys with the description we had. Dave called his insurance company and then drove off into the night, leaving me with a nagging question. Why break into a car at a Best Buy where the PS3 hadn't been released yet? It made no sense. The, with a chill, it dawned on me. Dave had come from the midnight launch. These guys followed him across town.
Needless to say the whole way back home I kept one eye in my rear view mirror. I had no PS3, but then again neither had Dave.
On the plus side, between the fruit punch shower and the attempted smash 'n grab, everyone at the Alpharetta Best Buy has come together, vowing to make sure nothing else disturbs their night. Many of them are now armed with bats. Roving bands of armed men and women patrolling the streets is what America is all about. That and free cookies.
-Michael Fahey
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Originally Posted by AirBrcak
Maybe I suggest a Glock 23? .40 cal, yet small enough to fit in your waistband. I carry one, myself, and highly recommend it for shooting would-be robbers. 
