Metallica’s Robert Trujillo recalls hiding from a Manson family shootout as a child

Metallica‘s Robert Trujillo has revealed he once hid from a Manson family shootout in a local army surplus store.

In a recent appearance on The Offspring‘s podcast Time To Relax, the Metallica bassist said he witnessed the holdout as his grandmother lived in Hawthorne, Los Angeles. The holdout occurred on August 21, 1971, when Trujillo was six years old.

“I’m staying at my grandma’s house,” Trujillo began. “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.”

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Eventually, four of Manson’s followers – Mary Brunner, Catherine (Gypsy) Share, Lawrence Bailey, and Kenneth Como – were found guilty of robbing the store. Charles Manson himself would go on to serve life in prison, dying of natural causes in 2017 at 83 years old.

Trujillo recently reunited with former band Suicidal Tendencies at a Metallica show in Glendale, Arizona. He played alongside his son, Tye Trujillo, who is currently a touring member with the band.

Metallica released their new album ‘72 Seasons‘ earlier this April. In our four-star review, we said of the record: “There’s simply the reassuring thrill that, after so many decades on stage, Metallica are still capable of delivering sharp, spiky metal – and sticking it where the sun doesn’t shine.”