Here’s something that doesn’t happen everyday (Luckily, for most): There was a shooting a block from my office in River North this afternoon.
I didn’t witness it, but a few co-workers heard several shots, and then saw shots being fired into the back of a Crown Victoria.
Allegedly (I learned to say this in the college class I took about TV police dramas), the police picked up a “an aggressive panhandler” who opened fire on two police officers. The officers fired back, fatally wounding the person. The police officers were not seriously injured.
Co-workers who saw it go down were asked to provide police statements. They looked visibily shaken up. Streets near the incident were closed when I left work hours later.
This kind of thing doesn’t happen all the time in River North. It’s fairly safe. But sadly, there are sounds of gunshots in Chicago and places all over the world every day. People only seem to take notice when it happens in your own corner of the world, far from that Chicago Code TV show. That part is sobering.
That reminds me of our old apartment. There was an incident of bullet holes in the storefront next door, and a mysterious blood trail running up and down the street. It wasn’t then until we really noticed.
