Today, I went to work, like I always do, and spent the first minutes firing up the computer, checking email, and going through the beginning parts of my morning routine. Suddenly, we heard all these sirens, and before I knew it, the main street in my town was full of police cars, ambulances, and uniformed officers running, yes, running, into a local storefront. Something bad was going down.
Over the next three hours we watched cop cars circle the blocks, and lights flashing. Eventually some of the emergency vehicles left, and details trickled in. A drug store in town had been robbed at gunpoint. Apparently, the female suspect was apprehended; she had been attempting to steal opiates. This happened on the next block up from my office, in plain sight. Scary stuff, and everyone was a little shook up.
Incredibly, this was not the first time I almost witnessed a crime. Well before Hubby and I were married, before we were even dating, I lived in a suburb of Pittsburgh, part of the South Hills area. It was a nice, clean area, little crime, and very few problems. I lived near a large, lovely 24 hour market, so I would just pop in whenever I took the notion. One Friday night, my timing was inexplicably bad.
I headed to the market, walked through the doors, and took little notice of what was going on around me. I gathered some produce and frozen foods, and it was only when I went to the register that I learned I had walked into the store in the middle of a robbery. The suspects robbed the cigarette counter, and made off with several thousands of dollars worth of cigarettes. I had breezed in during the event, none the wiser. By the time I was at the register, the robbers were long gone, and police were taking statements. Since I had not seen anything, I was free to go.
(In trying to find the news story of that incident to no avail, I see that since I moved away from that area, about 4 more robberies have happened a block from where I lived. Guess it is not so quiet after all.)
Clearly, I have someone looking out for me.
