The owner of a pizza shop in Baltimore had a life changing experience when rioters tried to set him and his car on fire this past week.
The police, however, told him to stay in his pizza restaurant, and lock the door behind him. They were overwhelmed, trying to quell the outbreak, and simply did not have the manpower to protect him as he made his way to his car.
But el Ghannam knew that if his car was destroyed, he would have no means of escape, so he ran for his life, when teenage protestors saw him. A fourteen year old girl pointed at him and yelled to the other rioters to set him on fire.
The teenagers then doused el Ghannam with lighter fluid and threw lit lighters at him and inside his car. He has no doubt that they would have killed him if he hadn’t escaped, and states that they seemed to be doing it “just for fun.”
When asked if he would reopen his destroyed pizza shop, he said yes. But knowing that the police could not even take a moment to help him to his car in an emergency, he has resolved to get his license to purchase and keep a gun in his place of business, in order to save his own life in the event of a future violent confrontation.
The reality of how quickly a situation can escalate in an increasingly unpredictable world, and the inability for police to intervene in a timely manner should be a cautionary tale for all of us who have family and property to protect.
by Colleen Conley
