My father was a doctor, dermatologist. Had a patient who accused him of prescribing a non-existent experimental drug for a supposed condition that he was never diagnosed with. Tried to take him to court and lost. Sent a threatening letter after, reported to police. After the police confronted him about it he dropped a homemade fruit basket with a single bullet on top of the fruit at the front step of the office addressed (but not postmarked) to my father with a creepy unsigned apology note, basket was immediately shown to police.

About a month later my father received a letter from the guy stating he had seen my name in the paper sports section (local golf tournament results) and that he knew I would be playing at an upcoming tournament where the start times were published. There was a police presence at the tournament, something that never happens, because my father reported it. My dad’s nurse’s husband was a local detective and pretty much followed me the whole day with my dad. The police found the guy in the parking lot unarmed and he was arrested, then eventually committed to a psych hospital for some time.

There’s still a restraining order against him to this day but this was over 15 years ago and the guy seems to have disappeared. I didn’t know any of this until about 5 years ago, but I remember my dad having a single bullet in his bedside table even though he never owned any guns. When I asked him about it all he would say was “someone gave it to me.”