Shrine

A home made shrine appeared near the spot where yesterday's murder occurred.

Last night, the police cordoned off the street again, not letting people in or out of their houses. Something going on at the far end of the street - we saw the police use a battering ram to open the front door of a house down there. News people and other gawkers congregated outside our front door; the closest they could get to the action. The officer out front could not discuss what was happening.

This morning we found out that the police had executed a search warrant there, and that someone inside the house fired a gun. The bullet ricocheted off one officer and struck another. Both men are unharmed, saved by kevlar vests. The street is opened again; only that house is cordoned off now, and the police are still there. The police are not saying if the two events are related, but it seems too coincidental not to be.

Newsworthy

Today saw many of the local news organisations in our neighbourhood. The newspaper was the first to arrive, after them, the television crews. A man was shot and killed last night. Police are still investigating, but the man wasn't apparently from this neighbourhood. Drugs, a love affair gone wrong, mistaken identity, who knows?

It is a strange thing to be interviewed by the police and stranger still by the news organisations. I had no desire to go on camera in order to answer the stock questions, and no one seemed interested in trying to understand the history of the neighbourhood, how we have good people and bad like anywhere else, how we haven't as much money as some areas but we work to make it a better place just the same. We have our share of petty crime, but murder... no. Yes, I heard the shots in the night; so did the dogs, no I'm not happy about it but some things are out of one's control.

It is the city's first homicide of 2010. I hope it's the last.