213: Gwen's grandma fired one shot

What Was That Like - True Stories. Real People.

Scott Johnson & Glassbox Media

True Crime, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.6 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 18 April 2025

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When you hear the word “grandparents”, what comes into your mind? For me, it’s someone who loves their grandchildren unconditionally. And they just want to GIVE all the time. There’s some truth to the phrase “If Mom and Dad say no, go ask Grandma!”. “Grandma” brings up an image of an older woman, in the kitchen baking cookies. “Grandpa” means the old man out in the garage, tinkering with the lawn mower and having me “help” by handing him a wrench or a screwdriver. But those are just stereotypes. And sometimes real life doesn’t match up with the way we commonly think of how grandparents are supposed to be. As a little girl, Gwen saw her grandparents all the time. And she knew her grandpa could sometimes be a not very nice person. Then one day, Gwen’s grandma decided she’d had enough. Content warning: this episode includes discussion of gun violence. If you’d like to contact Gwen, she’s in the WWTL Facebook group: https://WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here: https://WhatWasThatLike.com/213 Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai. Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well) Get every episode ad-free, AND get all the Raw Audio exclusive episodes to binge, by joining the other listeners at What Was That Like PLUS. Try What Was That Like PLUS free: iPhone: at the top of the What Was That Like podcast feed, click on “Try free” Android: on your phone, go to WhatWasThatLike.com/PLUS and click to try it free on any app Sponsor deals: Head to http://Lumen.me/WWTL for 20% off your purchase. Go to bluenile.com to shop Blue Nile, the original online jeweler since 1999! Follow “MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark and Mysterious Stories” on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS and get on your way to being your best self. To get 15% off your next gift, go to UNCOMMONGOODS.com/WHATWAS Sign up today at https://www.butcherbox.com/whatwas and use code whatwas to get chicken breast, salmon or ground beef FREE in every order for a year, plus $20 off your first order. Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/WHAT Go to Quince.com/whatwas for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns! Go to cookunity.com/What or enter code What before checkout for 50% off your first week. Go to Seed.com/what and use code 25WHAT to get 25% off your first month. Go to storyworth.com/what to save $10 on your first purchase! Get 15% off OneSkin with the code [WHATWAS] at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to RocketMoney.com/whatwas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Please consult the show notes for content warnings about this episode.
0:05.0	When you hear the word grandparents, what comes to your mind?
0:12.0	For me, it's someone who loves their grandchildren unconditionally.
0:18.0	And they just want to give all the time. There's some truth to the phrase,
0:23.9	if mom and dad say no, go ask grandma. Grandma brings up an image of an older woman in the kitchen
0:32.9	baking cookies. Grandpa means old man out in the garage tinkering with the lawnmower and having me
0:40.9	help by handing him a wrench or a screwdriver. But those are just stereotypes and sometimes real
0:50.0	life doesn't match up with the way we commonly think of how grandparents are supposed to be.
0:57.0	As a little girl, Gwen saw her grandparents all the time, and she knew her grandpa could
1:04.4	sometimes be a not-very-nice person.
1:09.4	Then one day,
1:13.9	Gwen's grandma decided she'd had enough.
1:21.9	Real people in unreal situations.
1:30.0	The eerie silence when I walked in, and he's just staring at me. I was like, hello, like, are you okay? And then I had to tell him it was me. There was just blood everywhere. They're shouting,
1:38.4	they're screaming, they're being hit by bullets, they're hitting the ground. And in that moment,
1:42.5	I literally thought, this is how I die.
1:44.8	Everything changed then.
1:47.6	And I just thought to myself, this isn't happening.
1:50.9	Every single story deserves to be heard.
1:55.1	I'm Scott Johnson, and this is what was that like?
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2:08.9	Shopify is specially designed to help you start, run and grow your business with easy
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