by Asif Joosub

Created on: December 30, 2008   Last Updated: December 31, 2008

There are more then two incidents in my life that were near or very near death experiences. Two of these actual events I want to mention in particular still haunt me ten years later, I can still remember the gunfire and the dark ring of a barrel put to my forehead and the ice cold ocean that showed me no mercy.

The first encounter was when the gunfire came out of no where. I was rent and debt collecting in Hillbrow, Johannesburg , South Africa , Hillbrow not being one of the safest places to be in at any time of day or night let alone at eleven pm during 1996 when war was raging between tenants and landlords.

I was the middleman collecting and seeing that people paid. That night I parked outside the building and sat in my car distinctly remembering where I was and making sure all doors locked and only my passenger window slightly open so the caretaker would bring each tenant down one at a time and I would collect the cash through the passenger window.

As soon as the last person had paid I turned my Toyota key once up and was readjusting my seat when I heard a loud bang. I looked to my left and I saw a hand in my car from the passenger side through what was now a bust window. I distinctly remember not seeing a face only a forearm holding a gun facing me and shooting. Basically the shooter was shooting blind but the shots kept ringing and from the first bang I heard till I realized was happening it was about five seconds.

To make matters worse my drivers door suddenly opened and I was first shocked as to how it was opened then panicked when another hand reached to the ignition and took the keys out. I was a sitting duck.

As soon as the keys were taken the shooter put his head into the car and was shocked that I was still alive. This is where the luck came in, thank God. In a Toyota if the ignition is turned once the key will not come out so effectively the other hand ripped the other keys off the key ring. I found the key ring the next morning on the drivers mat as straight as a nail, the man who ripped it certainly had strength .

I realized the ignition key was still there but the shooter now put his face in the car and faced me faced me putting the barrel to my head, I remember that black ring facing me and I swear when he shot there was a clicking sound,the bullets were finished!

Immediately I put the car in gear put the hand break down and started, time enough for the shooter to reload for he put his face in again fired and ran off. I saw him run a hundred meters

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