I Should Sell Tickets: October 6, 2008

Last night, just a little over an hour ago, I heard several shots fired. It sounded like they were about a block away, to the west or north. I’ve already discussed before what my criteria for deciding whether I will call the police is, and this did not seem to meet it. But I’m always curious, so I stepped outside to see what was going on. Almost immediately after I stepped out, a man rode by on a bicycle. He was on Suttenfield, and heading east towards Hanna.

He really didn’t seem in too big of a hurry, and I wasn’t even certain that the shots came from the area he was riding away from, so I just watched. Within a couple minutes, two squad cars showed up. Both went to the intersection of Suttenfield and Caroline streets ( a little less than a block to the west of me). One of the officers was searching the ground, so I stepped out a bit thinking that one of them or another officer might see me and ask what I saw. They didn’t, and I decided I’d go ahead and call in my information.

I have learned from experience that the person answering the phone does not always know exactly what is going on, so I began by simply stating “You have a couple of police cars here at Suttenfield and Caroline Street, checking on the shots fired. I saw someone leaving that area just after the shots were fired and I wanted to pass this information on to your officers.” Well, it took a minute for him to realize that he actually did have officers on the scene, but then he was ready to take my information. As I described the person, I’m pretty sure that I stated he was riding a bicycle east on Suttenfield, but the dispatcher then asked what kind of vehicle he was driving. Maybe I just said bike, and he thought it was a motorcycle.

Anyway, soon after getting off the phone, my information came over the scanner. I went back out to watch and noticed that the squad cars had now moved a bit further to the west, almost to Lafayette Street. So I’m standing out there watching as the bicyclist came riding back to the area. It was definitely the same guy and he was now heading west, directly towards the two parked police cars. I called back to give this information, making sure they understood that the man who was now coming upon the officers from the rear was the same one who had just left the area after the shots were fired.

I went back out a minute later and this is what I saw. The two police cars were gone from the area, and the bicyclist was parked on the sidewalk just a few yards away from the original site of the shooting. Needless to say, I did not call back to report this.

I’m starting to think maybe I should sell tickets for people to come and visit my house. It’s definitely a unique experience.