269: Point Blank #1: What if you pled for your life?
This Is Actually Happening
Wondery
4.6 • 9.9K Ratings
🗓️ 14 March 2023
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After navigating a hardscrabble, working-class life, Troy MacFayden finally settles down with his wife in rural California, when one day driving down the road, they are aggressively T-boned by a stranger, and suddenly find themselves in the middle an unthinkable tragedy.
Today’s episode is Part One of our limited series, “Point Blank,” featuring five stories of people impacted by the spree killing of Rancho Tehama California in 2017. There, a lone gunman killed his girlfriend, then his neighbors and then began a shooting spree, attacking 8 different locations in the span of only 25 minutes, ending at elementary school, and leaving 6 people dead and 18 wounded.
This series is co-produced by This Is Actually Happening creator and host, Whit Missildine and Connor Sheets, investigative journalist with the Los Angeles Times, with special thanks to Jason Blalock, and Andrew Waits. To find out more about the shooting, you can read the original article by Connor that inspired the story, titled: “It was California’s forgotten mass shooting. But for victims, the ‘hell’ never ends,” on the latimes.com
Producers: Whit Missildine, Connor Sheets
Editors: Whit Missildine, Andrew Waits
Content/Trigger Warnings: gun violence, mass shooting, death, graphic bodily injury, explicit language
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Connor Sheets
Twitter: @ConnorASheets
Website: www.thisisactuallyhappening.com
Website for Andrew Waits: www.andrdewwaits.com
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Intro Music: ""Illabye" – Tipper
Music and Sound Design by: Marcelino Villalpando
Services
If you or someone you know is struggling with the effects of trauma or mental illness, please refer to the following resources:
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
National Alliance on Mental Illness: 1-800-950-6264
National Sexual Assault Hotline (RAINN): 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, prime members, you can listen to this is actually happening. |
| 0:04.4 | Add free on Amazon Music. |
| 0:06.7 | Download the app today. |
| 0:08.7 | Hi listeners. |
| 0:09.9 | Beyond the standard content advisory I put at the top of each episode. |
| 0:13.4 | I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the recent shooting that took place at the |
| 0:16.8 | Covenant School in Nashville. |
| 0:18.9 | Given the subject matter of our point blank series, hearing firsthand from those impacted |
| 0:23.0 | by the shooting in Rancho Tejama, I know how excruciating this experience must be for |
| 0:27.2 | those affected. |
| 0:28.2 | And that our series might take on additional sensitivity in light of this tragedy. |
| 0:32.6 | I encourage everyone to take a moment to learn about the Covenant School shooting and for |
| 0:36.6 | our series, I urge you to take extra care while listening. |
| 0:40.0 | This is actually happening, features real experiences that often include traumatic events. |
| 0:44.2 | Please consult the show notes for specific content warnings on each episode and for more |
| 0:47.9 | information about support services. |
| 0:50.2 | I'm excited to announce that today, |
| 0:58.1 | we begin part one of our special five part limited series called point blank. |
| 1:03.8 | Before we begin, it's important to give you a little context behind this series. |
| 1:07.6 | If you remember in September 2021, we did a series of four episodes featuring four people |
| 1:12.8 | who are at ground zero during the attacks of 9-11. |
| 1:16.1 | For this series, we wanted to do something similar, but focused on an incident of a more |
... |
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