NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Nashville woman is sending a reminder to always be aware of your surroundings and to trust your gut after she was tricked into a situation where she was robbed at gunpoint in East Nashville.

Markie McCool can’t help but shed tears as she recalls the moment a person wearing all black clothing, a ski mask and gloves held a gun against her head.

About two weeks ago, McCool finished her bartending shift when she received a text message from an unknown phone number claiming to be a close friend. The person who sent the text used her friend’s nickname and claimed her phone died, and needed McCool to pick her up because her car broke down.

Looking back now, McCool knows she should have done things differently.

“I was tired and not thinking clearly,” McCool told NewsChannel 5. “I definitely should’ve called her phone but the message said her phone is dead so you just don’t think about it.”

McCool followed the address sent to her to a home on a dead end street on Emmitt Avenue. She felt something was wrong since the area was pitch black and nobody answered when she called the phone number. Instead, she received a text asking her to come to the side door to help her friend carry out bags.

“I kind of walked to the side of the house and I texted saying there’s no door. I’m getting mad at this point so I turned back around and someone was running at me with a gun. They [the gunman] didn’t say anything, they just put the gun to my head and grabbed my waist and thought they may be feeling for my money pack so as they did, they ripped my pants off,” she tearfully recalled.

McCool said she dropped to the ground and laid there as the gunman drove away in her car with her wallet, phone and the pouch that carried her tips for the night.

She ran to a neighbor who called 911. Using the Find My iPhone app, McCool located her phone inside her car which was left abandoned a few blocks away in an alley. The pouch with her cash tips was nowhere to be found.

Investigators with the Metro Nashville Police Department said the people staying at the house on Emmitt Street were not involved.

McCool hopes people will learn from her experience as much as she has.

“Be more aware of who you talk to and if you don’t trust it, don’t do it,” she stressed.

NewsChannel 5 called the phone number multiple times but no one answered.

Police ask anyone with information to call Metro Crime Stoppers at 615-74-CRIME. It could lead to a cash reward.

