We had a lot of gunfire in our area last night

[Don M.]

It seems that there is hardly a day without a report of a shooting on our local news....which comes from a city about 75 miles away. Then, in the larger cities....Kansas City and St. Louis....shootings are becoming so commonplace that they hardly ever make the news....unless there are multiple victims. Between this virus and the protests, it seems like a sizeable portion of the population is going nuts....makes me glad we live in the boondocks.

 

[Phoenix]

Here a few years back in the small town of Drain, a person was sitting in their living room and was shot through the wall. Thankfully she did not die. It was a stray bullet from a deer hunter. It was not a foreigner. As mentioned before in 1980 my brother shot his neighbors with his deer hunting rifle. He lived in the "boondocks." It isn't safe there either. No place is safe. No place. Pecos, I'm willing to tell you in a conversation what's going. But I am not free to mention it here.

 

[Pecos]

Around 9:30 last night we had a fairly significant gun fight take place less than a half mile up the road. We were reading in the sunroom when it started with one large shot that might have been a shotgun and then quite a few shots from something smaller like a 38 caliber. This exchange continued and then sirens and more shots. Then a brief lul followed by more sirens. Then lot more gunfire including a full automatic weapon that must have fired at least 20 rounds. That ended the gunfire. Then lots more sirens with a slightly different pitch, which I am guessing we're ambulances.

This morning when my wife drove the dogs to the walking park, the road was blocked off completely. She could see that a lot of police activity was taking place before she got to the detour.

There is nothing in the newspaper this morning so we have no idea how bad it was yet.

The online news covered an earlier gunfight with the police that took place a few hours earlier and was located about three miles to the South of us. Two people were killed in that one.

What the devil is going on these days? This used to be a quiet town.

Well it turns out that the gunfight last night at 9:30 followed a high speed police chase as they were trying to pull over the prime suspect in the earlier murder/gunfight that had occurred a few hours earlier. Two people were murdered during that event and somehow the suspect got away from the police after having a shootout with them. The gunfire we heard started when they had the driver trapped. Much to my surprise, the suspect has survived his wounds and is in the local hospital. Justice is going to take longer than I initially thought.

 

[Aunt Marg]

Well it turns out that the gunfight last night at 9:30 followed a high speed police chase as they were trying to pull over the prime suspect in the earlier murder/gunfight that had occurred a few hours earlier. Two people were murdered during that event and somehow the suspect got away from the police after having a shootout with them. The gunfire we heard started when they had the driver trapped. Much to my surprise, the suspect has survived his wounds and is in the local hospital. Justice is going to take longer than I initially thought.

What a shame.

Thank you for the update, Pecos.

 

[Phoenix]

Well it turns out that the gunfight last night at 9:30 followed a high speed police chase as they were trying to pull over the prime suspect in the earlier murder/gunfight that had occurred a few hours earlier. Two people were murdered during that event and somehow the suspect got away from the police after having a shootout with them. The gunfire we heard started when they had the driver trapped. Much to my surprise, the suspect has survived his wounds and is in the local hospital. Justice is going to take longer than I initially thought.

I lost my faith in justice.

 

[Aunt Marg]

I lost my faith in justice.

Me, too... long time ago.

 

[squatting dog]

This may sound a bit harsh, but here goes...

[start of rant]
As far as I am concern, when a civilian pulls a weapon on another (except in the case of self-defense), I feel that that person has declared war on our society and ought to be responded to as such. In other words, that civilian ought to expect to be killed. I believe the same holds true for rioting and looting (but not peaceful protests). Why should such a thing be considered any different than any other act of war or terrorism?
[end of rant]

That is a very scary thing the OP experienced, and none of us in a society should have to experience such a thing during peacetime. Something is really broken in our society when these occurrences are becoming all too frequent.

Tony

Agree with most of your rant... with one exception. We, including the police are all civilians. It's always scary when I see someone in law enforcement refers to us as civilians. They are not military, nor are they trained as such and therefore, I feel that they should always keep that in mind.
Just my 2 cents.

 

[911]

Agree with most of your rant... with one exception. We, including the police are all civilians. It's always scary when I see someone in law enforcement refers to us as civilians. They are not military, nor are they trained as such and therefore, I feel that they should always keep that in mind.
Just my 2 cents.

Not true. Civilians are people who are not members of the armed services, firefighters or police.

 

[tbeltrans]

Not true. Civilians are people who are not members of the armed services, firefighters or police.

Thank you! It never ceases to amaze me the things I see in forums, but I am glad there are folks like you who can quickly jump in and clear things up. If you hadn't, it would be too long before I or somebody else came along and did so.

Edit: I like your signature. It reminds me of what we used to say when I played in a band - most normal people go home by 10PM. As is the case with many such sayings, it isn't entirely true, but it captures the intent.

Tony

 

[Ruthanne]

That's very scary stuff there Pecos! At two different times in my life I lived in places where there was gunfire regularly and police chasing someone down the street. It is very unsettling!

 

[squatting dog]

Not true. Civilians are people who are not members of the armed services, firefighters or police.

Hate to disagree with you 911 but, Police are civilians. They are a the civil power. They are not soldiers. They are subject to the rule of law adjudicated within civilian courts, and not to the uniform code of military justice.
The same applies to firefighters.
While I understand it, the militarization of our police forces should give pause to any free thinking American.
Edit, Please don't misunderstand me. I love the police, as we have generations of police in our family. I just disagree with the wording and separation of police, firefighter, and civilians.

 

[Lewkat]

squatting dog, police and firefighters are not considered civilians in the general context of the word. Police officers are sworn government officials who must take an oath of office close to that of military persons.

 

[squatting dog]

squatting dog, police and firefighters are not considered civilians in the general context of the word. Police officers are sworn government officials who must take an oath of office close to that of military persons.

Understood, but, therein lies the problem... "general context". See, I disagree with labels. In this country you are either a civilian, or a military person. Using the "general context" reasoning, that places one particular person or group of people above the rest, thus creating a different classes of folks. (kinda like Hollywood and political folks would like to do).
Police and firefighters are definitely necessary, but, in the end, they can quit their job as a lawman, or firefighter, but, you cannot just up and quit if you're in the military. Big difference.

 

[OneEyedDiva]

OMG Pecos...that's terrible! You have the right idea to get away from all windows but hopefully nothing like that will happen again. So glad neither of you were hurt. Any news yet on what went on? You and Mrs. Pecos be safe and well !

 

[Pecos]

OMG Pecos...that's terrible! You have the right idea to get away from all windows but hopefully nothing like that will happen again. So glad neither of you were hurt. Any news yet on what went on? You and Mrs. Pecos be safe and well !

Nothing new so far. The police are still investigating. So far, what we know is that the suspect murdered two people in a home about three miles to the South of us. The police arrived at that crime and they had a gunfight from which he escaped. A couple of hours later, he was spotted on a road in our area and they attempted to pull him over during a high speed chase. They managed to block off the road less than a half mile from here and a second somewhat prolonged gunfight occurred after he drove his vehicle into the ditch. That gunfight ended when the police used an automatic weapon. The suspect was wounded, and they took him to the hospital. His injuries are not life threatening.

None of the police were injured, and we now know that the original murders were the result of some kind of domestic incident. They have released the name of the woman who was murdered, but the name of the man has not been released yet pending notification of next-of-kin.

 

[Jamesed]

So happy to know you're alright.

Society has truly lost it's way.

I think it has more to do with the acceptance of Drugs in our culture. I know that every state is on the road to the legalization of POT. However there has never been a definitive long term assessment of the effects of smoking pot. There does seem to be a high degree of mental issues with people who use pot regularly. Or maybe people who have mental issues are the ones who use pot regularly.

 

[Aunt Marg]

I think it has more to do with the acceptance of Drugs in our culture. I know that every state is on the road to the legalization of POT. However there has never been a definitive long term assessment of the effects of smoking pot. There does seem to be a high degree of mental issues with people who use pot regularly. Or maybe people who have mental issues are the ones who use pot regularly.

I don't know, but I can't say I buy into the legalization of marijuana as being the route problem. I honestly believe it simply boils down to a changing world and society, where looking towards a gun to solve ones problems has become the way, the easy way, the non-complicated way.

It's apparent nothing means nothing in this world anymore - human life included, so for those on the edge already, they have nothing to lose.

 

[win231]

I think it was Clint Eastwood who said in a movie (to the police chief when he complained that Clint shoots too many people):
"Nothing wrong with shooting - as long as the right people get shot."

 

[drifter]

I heard somewhere down around Austin, Texas, that stuff does happen.

 

[Pecos]

I think it has more to do with the acceptance of Drugs in our culture. I know that every state is on the road to the legalization of POT. However there has never been a definitive long term assessment of the effects of smoking pot. There does seem to be a high degree of mental issues with people who use pot regularly. Or maybe people who have mental issues are the ones who use pot regularly.

There is no indication that drugs (including pot) was a factor in this incident.