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(OXFORD, MISS.) TLV – Tuesday, December 15, 2015 at roughly 6 pm local poet and activist Louis Bourgeois was robbed at gunpoint while making a withdrawal from an ATM located at Regions on Jackson Avenue West.
“There was a white truck right in front of the ATM. This white was guy was standing on the driver side of the truck. I walked up to the ATM and I put the card in,” said Bourgeois. “Then all of the sudden I hear from behind me, ‘Take out $500 now.’”
Bourgeois said the suspect was roughly five feet behind him standing toward the back of the truck.
“I kind of turned, not completely around but I turned my head to where I could see,” said Bourgeois. “There was this black guy with a very large silver pistol. He had a hoodie and a bandana wrapped around most of his face. Really all I could see was the top half, from the nose up.”
Bourgeois cooperated with the armed robber’s demands, wanting to leave the situation as quickly as possible.
“I just put the money on the ground, jumped in my truck and hauled ass to the police station,” said Bourgeois. “I thought the white guy was involved in the robbery, but he was being held hostage by the [armed robber].”
The white male is a young Oxford resident who did not provide the armed robber enough funds. It is still unknown what the suspect’s intentions were with the white male.
As a long time resident of Oxford, Bourgeois was shocked that this could happen to someone.
“If I’m in Jackson I wouldn’t even think about going to the ATM [at night], but I’m in Oxford and I’ve been here for 19 years,” said Bourgeois. “I’ve never had anything happen, nothing stolen.”
Bourgeois considers himself lucky.
“When you have a gun pulled on you, it’s pretty intense. My daughter is in the truck and I’m thinking okay what’s gonna stop him from blowing my head off,” said Bourgeois. “It’s really just disgusting actually.”
Bourgeois serves as Executive Director of VOX PRESS, as well as an instructor for VOX’s Prison Writes Initiative, which is a creative writing program for inmates at Parchman Farm. 
