When he was six years old, Robert Trujillo was at his grandmother’s house when a nearby surplus store was held up by the Manson Family. In an interview on The Offspring’s Time to Relax podcast, the bassist remembered hiding out in his grandma’s shower when 30 police officers were in a shootout with four of Charles Manson’s followers.
“I am in Hawthorne, California,” recounted Trujillo. “I’m staying at my grandma’s house… The gun shop, the army surplus shop around the corner on Hawthorne Boulevard, was robbed. And basically, the Manson family had this grand scheme. 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 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.”
Four of Manson’s followers — Mary Brunner, Catherine (Gypsy) Share, Lawrence Bailey, and Kenneth Como — were eventually found guilty of allegedly robbing the Western Surplus Store at 134th St. and Hawthorne Blvd.
As for Manson, the cult leader himself faced trial in 1970, along with three of his followers, and he was originally sentenced to death for his alleged involvement in multiple murders. His sentence was changed to life in prison after California abolished the death penalty in 1972, and he eventually died in prison in 2017 at the age of 83.
On a lighter note, Trujillo and Metallica continue to deliver massive sets over two nights in various cities as part of their ongoing “M72 World Tour”. The band’s next “No Repeat Weekend” stops are set for St. Louis on November 3rd and 5th, and Detroit on November 10th and 12th, with more dates to follow in 2024.
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