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Aug 7, 2008 4:52 pm US/Central
Dallas Card Club Robbed Again; Former Guard Talks
DALLAS (CBS 11 News) ―
Members of an after-hours Dallas card club were robbed yesterday after having a similar incident two months ago. A former security guard at the club was apparently the only victim and was transferred following the first incident.
Randy Mills said he had 12-gauge shotguns pointed at his head, and while the robbers took his 45-calibre sidearm, his fast-talking kept them from making anyone else a victim. "I knew it was going to happen again, and sure enough it did," he said.
It was nearing 3-am on Sunday, June 8, when Mills says three gunmen roughed up a customer at the North Dallas Veteran's Association, where he worked security.
Mills described what happened to him and the customer. "He got knocked out immediately by the butt of the shotgun, and before I could get my hand on my gun to draw it, I had three of them on top of me."
According to Mills, the men - dressed all in black and wearing ski masks and gloves - demanded he open a door to an adjoining room where a card game was underway.
"I finally had to open the door after being told I was going to have my head blowed off 3 or4 times," he explained.
Mills says his delay was long enough for the dozen or so players to hide. "When the door was opened and they went in there the lights were off and everybody was hidden. That kind of spooked them a little bit and one of them yelled out, "We've been here too long!"
Mills wrote up the incident for his employers, but they have since parted ways.
There are questions why someone would hit a card game. Mills says on some nights as many as 100 people would play 'Texas-Hold-'Em' through the evening and into the next day.
Police say during Wednesday's robbery nine people were stripped and bound with duct tape. The victims lost about $10,000 in cash and jewelry.
A man answering the door at the club Thursday said his group plays poker all hours, and is affiliated with the Circle of Friends for American Veterans out of Virginia. The man declined to go on camera, but says his group gives more than $5,000 a year to the charity. He also denied that anything illegal goes on at the club and insists no alcohol is sold.
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