Robert Trujillo of Metallica has claimed he was once forced to hide during a Manson Family shootout in a nearby military surplus store.
During a recent interview, Trujillo recounted a vivid memory from his childhood. He recalled witnessing a standoff involving the Manson Family in Hawthorne, Los Angeles, where his grandmother lived at the time. This event unfolded on August 21st, 1971, when Trujillo was just six years old.
“I’m staying at my grandma’s house,” Trujillo shared during The Offspring‘s podcast Time To Relax. “The gun shop, the army surplus shop around the corner on Hawthorne Boulevard, was robbed. And basically, the Manson Family had this grand scheme”.
He added: “You can check it out on the internet. They were gonna rob the gun store and get their ammo and everything, and they were gonna go to LAX [Los Angeles International Airport], and the plan was to hijack a 747 and demand that Charlie gets sent to them, and they’re gonna take this plane to God knows where.”
Trujillo continued: “Obviously, the plan didn’t work. Cops show up. There’s a shootout. We’re hearing gunshots, the whole deal. All of a sudden, you get the ghetto birds [police helicopters], and they’re flying around. They’re talking through their kind of intercom, whatever they got going up there: ‘Everybody, take cover’ … And so my dad turns off all the lights. We’re hiding in the shower. And it was really eerie.”
In the late 1960s, the Manson Family terrorised California, with the leader Charles Manson exploiting the ideals of the free-love hippie movement to draw individuals into his disturbing ploy.
In 1969, the Manson Family committed their most notorious crime, which included Manson directing several of his followers, including Tex Watson and Linda Kasabian, to carry out a gruesome murder spree inside the home of actress Sharon Tate at Cielo Drive.
The perpetrators successfully killed Tate, along with four others, including Jay Sebring, her former boyfriend and hairstylist. The following day, the cult members continued their murderous rampage by targeting Leno and Rosemary LaBianca at their residence.
Eventually, four of Manson’s associates – Mary Brunner, Catherine (Gypsy) Share, Lawrence Bailey, and Kenneth Como – were found guilty of robbery. As for Charles Manson, he was sentenced to life in prison and passed away from natural causes in 2017 at the age of 83.
Listen to Trujillo’s appearance on the Time To Relax podcast below.
