Around 11 a.m. on Friday morning, a man walked into Pure Pizza on Central Avenue and pointed a gun at the staff there, demanding money. He pointed the gun at three managers, forcing two of them to open the cash register, then demanding them to stay on the ground as he unloaded it. The third staffer was able to get out of the restaurant, however, and the distraction allowed the other two to make a run for it as well. The encounter lasted about 90 seconds, owner Juli Metcalf Ghazi says, and the gunman took off with all of the money in the register.

The staff at Pure Pizza will be be provided with help from a therapist to help them move forward from the trauma of the robbery. Ghazi posted the following after the robbery, and it’s a good reminder of what grace can look like amid tragedy.

Dear Sir, who robbed us at gunpoint yesterday:

I have 4 words for you – I care for you.
Yesterday had to have been a shitty day for you, because I know it was for us.
You, me, Austin & Jose & Tina will never get to do yesterday over; it’s now something we will all carry as a shared experience for the rest of our lives.
Yesterday is one if those life changing moments you hear about but never really think it’s going to actually happen.

Did you know yesterday you were going to rob someone?
Did you know it was going to be us?
Either way, it’s happened and now it’s the question of how to move forward.
I don’t have that answer yet, but I do know it’s going to be painful.

I care about you, Sir, because when you made the conscious decision to point a gun in the faces of 3 people I love, whatever was going on in your life was causing deeper pain than the possibility of consequences for armed robbery.

I care about you because hurt people hurt people.
And the amount of pain you are in is tremendous considering how deeply you hurt strangers; strangers to you but spouses, parents, sons, daughters & loved ones to other people on this planet.

I care about you because despite our outward differences, we are brothers & sisters in the human experience of pain.
As a matter of fact, I love you as one broken human being from another broken human being.

You see, I’ve been in the deep, dark abyss of pain & grief – many times over in my 46 years.
I’ve been a person that was hurting so badly I’ve caused irreparable hurt to others.
I’ve been a person in such deep pain, that the thought of suicide seemed the best way out. (I wear a semicolon tattoo to remind me of the dark places I’ve been.)

I’ve been a person who’s in such financial crisis that I’ve contemplated things in order to provide for my daughter; I’ve not had money for groceries, to keep utilities on, and a roof over our heads.

Our outward differences, like gender and race, are social constructs created to cause a chasm so wide and so deep that if I were angry right now, or hated you, or wanted justice, I could be totally justified.
But you know who wins then?
The fucking system.
Those systems of privilege, and patriarchy and white supremacy fucking win.
Fuck those systems.
I’m not going to hate you, I’m going to love you.

Also, Sir, I’m an addict in recovery so I can’t afford anger and resentments any more.
I’ve seen 1st hand how that leads to a drink – and for an alcoholic in recovery like me, to drink is to die, and I don’t want to die today.
So today, I’m going to do my best to extend love and compassion to you.

I wish I could look you in the eyes and see you.
Really see you.
I will believe yesterday was a situation of a good person that made a bad decision.
I will believe you aren’t a bad person.
I will believe that if you could do it over, you would have made a different choice.

We are all forever changed, including you. We are all in great pain, including you.
We are connected by our pain and brokenness.
My brokenness is not more important than your brokenness.
You and I are more alike than we are different.

Merry Christmas, Sir –
Juli

If you were in the area on Friday morning and may have seen the suspect, who was wearing a gray hoodie and black pants, please let authorities know. Our thoughts are with the Pure Pizza team. —Kristen Wile

Unpretentious People Say...

Other Articles You Might Enjoy