My wife and yours truly are fans of the TV show “The First 48” and we joke that up North,  Self-Service Car Washes are almost as dangerous as meth houses. In Miami-Dade are not very common but there are some and by principle I avoid them.

But there is one car-related location that has no problem collecting bodies in South Florida: Gas Stations.

It is a predictable pattern: Gas station with a 24/7 Store and just about all shootings occur at night.  In one of the companies I used to work for on the Midnight shift, we had one of this stations across the street and if one week went by without the cops being called to the location, we would have been mighty surprised.

I am going to hazard a guess and blame a lot of the stuff on drugs. People at night are attracted to light, it makes them feel safe even if they are doing illegal stuff like getting their dose of heroin. The problem is Bad Guys don’t mind shooting you in any condition, including under lights and surveillance cameras. Sometimes it is simply people without a lick of security sense and not a worry in the world actually getting gas and criminals know they have a soft target.

This is a gas station some miles from the house. It is next to a major highway so it is supposed to be making a lot of business during the daytime. But that station has the dubious honor of having two homicides occurred at different dates. Both at night, of course.

It goes without saying that we avoid getting gas when it is dark outside. Lately we have been using the new gas station in our Big Box Club Store which has no store in it and closes at 10 pm same as the store. If I am down to fumes and I am near the house at night, I know one of my nearby stations is used by MDPD to fill up their patrol cars in the area.

And here is an example of what I have been talking about people unaware of gas Station dangers:

They were lucky as hell. No question about it.

so, we make 24/7 gas Stations at night an official Stupid Place and add to the list, shall we?