Metallica's Robert Trujillo Recalls Hiding from a Manson Family Shootout as a Child: 'It Was Really Eerie'

The bass player appeared on band The Offspring's podcast 'Time to Relax with The Offspring' on Thursday

Metallica’s Robert Trujillo is reflecting on a harrowing run-in he and his family had with the members of the Manson Family in the ‘70s.

The bass player, 59, appeared on the band The Offspring’s podcast Time to Relax with The Offspring on Thursday and told the story about the time he took cover during the Manson family’s infamous raid of a Hawthorne, California army surplus store that resulted in a shootout in 1971.

The heavy metal musician explained that the event took place shortly after Charles Manson was arrested and he, two of his cousins and his father happened to be staying at his grandparents’ apartment in Hawthorne at the time.

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“Long story short: Charlie Mason just had gotten arrested and [I’m in] Hawthorne, California, I’m staying at my grandma’s house,” Trujillo recalled, setting the scene for the podcast hosts. “The army surplus shop there around the corner on Hawthorne Boulevard was robbed.”

“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,” he explained of the incident. “They were going to go to LAX and their 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. This is what they were thinking.”

The rocker continued, “Obviously, the plan didn’t work. Cops show up. There’s a shootout.”

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The Metallica member then opened about his frightening experience going into hiding. He shared, “We were hearing gunshots, the whole deal. So all of a sudden you get the [police helicopters], and they’re flying around. They’re talking through their 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. It was kind of like that scene in Close Encounters [of the Third Kind] where you see the light come through the windows.”

“My dad at one point opened the door to see what was going on — ‘Get the f--- back in the house now,’” he added, mimicking his father’s intense tone.

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Trujillo explained that one member of the Manson Family ended up hiding in the carport that belonged to his grandparents’ unit at their apartment complex. “He was hiding in the carport, so of course they surrounded our place,” he said. “Luckily, there was a laundry room that separated the unit that we were in, so he would’ve gone into the window of the laundry room, which could have been the window of the house and then taken hostage.”

Trujillo ended the anecdote by joking that he and his cousins went looking for bullets the morning after, and admitted that he was often afraid of the cult activity in the area growing up as a child in Venice Beach.

According to Vox, Mary Brunner, Catherine “Gypsy” Share, Dennis Rice, Charles Lovett, Larry Bailey, and Kenneth Como were involved with the Aug. 21, 1971 incident that led to a shootout with the authorities and Brunner and Share being injured.

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Trujillo appeared on the podcast as Metallica is in the midst of their massive M72 World Tour in support of 72 Seasons, their 11th studio album that dropped in April.

The Grammy winners kicked off their tour in early April and has four more shows to wrap up in the U.S. this November.

In 2024, the “Master of Puppets” group will tour Europe in the spring and return to North America for their No Repeat Weekend leg of their M72 World Tour, which sees them playing two shows a weekend with a different set and openers each night.

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