Situational living examples, what do you do when…
by MattI thought this topic would interest a lot of people because last night something happened at our house that probably doesn't happen to a lot of people. It made me think about situational living and how it is hard to find real truth in neighborhoods. I think it would be interesting to read blogs about real events that happen in your neighborhoods, good or bad.
Basically, I live on a busy street in San Francisco, we hardly talk to our neighbors, but we do say "hi" if we see them. We also have our share of "shady" neighbors…that is really just a stereotype, because we have never really talked to them.
Last night around 11pm, we heard rapid-fire gun shots right outside our house. Maybe 8-10 shots really fast. I have shot a gun before so I'm familiar with the sound, but I have never been this close to "unknown" gunfire. It's pretty scary.
Late at night we all turn the TV's down and we start to relax so gunfire is even louder then normal. Let me give you some situational living examples. If this has never happened to you, you will probably do this.
You hear rapid, loud "pops". If you are alone, you look the window, but since I was with Trang, we just looked at each other. Actually I think one eye was on Trang, and the other was on the window. You just sit there scared that a bullet might come through the window. It only takes about 5 seconds for all the "pops" to stop. Then you hear a car speeding away…but you still don't know what to do. Your hearts pumping even though you pretty much know its over. Then you look for your phone, just to have it…You want to go to the window, or even open the front door to look out, but you're still a little scared. You have to though, what if there is someone outside in the street dying? So you peak out the window, and you see all your neighbors doing the same thing…some are already outside. Then the cop cars start appearing, so everyone goes to the street and starts talking and chatting. We never talk to each other except for when there is a problem. The whole event lasts for about 15 minutes.
About 2 Thanksgivings ago, this happened while Trang and I were in San Diego. When we got back, we saw the flowers on the street and a little makeshift memorial for someone that was shot and killed in front of our house. That disturbed me, but not enough to make us want to move…It could happen anywhere in my opinion. If this shooting resulted in a death, I think we would definitely be looking to move ASAP.
I'm wondering if this happens a lot? have you ever heard gunshots late at night, right outside your home?
Funny, because our house value is around $850K…Not really funny, but if you think about those shows on HGTV about home prices around the country, "what you get for the money"…for $850K you get 1, maybe 2 shootings a year.
what would you do? would you move, or stay, or go by a gun to protect yourself?
Tags:driveby guns livingPopularity: 10% [?]
Actually, this did happen to me.
I was sitting in the living room one evening and heard something that sounded very much like gun shots. Looked out the window, but didn’t see anything and thought it must have been something else.
A little while later the police were knocking at my door asking me if I had heard anything. Said there had been a shooting and that a man was shot with a stray bullet sitting in his chair watching tv. He only lived two doors down.
Scary, but we didn’t move. Didn’t go buy a gun either. Never read about the incident in the paper. It doesn’t matter where you live, things can happen wherever you are.
March 17th, 2007 at 11:14 amMy wife and I bought our first house years ago in the Coronado Historic District downtown Phoenix. We pretty much called 911 on a regular basis to report gun fire in the neighborhood. The only saving grace was that our first little house was brick construction and we felt somewhat “secure”. I could not have imagined living in a stuccoed stick framed construction house since a bullet would penetrate the wall just like a hot knife going through butter.
When we remodeled this house we found a 7.62 bullet lodged in a rafter. I am sure it came from some random gun fire (most likely some yahoo firing in the air New Years), but nevertheless a bit scary.
Living in a transistional area downtown phoenix we knew to put up with a couple problems, however it never came to the point that we felt it was not safe enough to live there.
March 17th, 2007 at 9:26 pm1 week ago on April Fools night at 2;30 a.m. my family had 8 bullets enter our living room in a drive by shooting. We bought a condo in a small, nice suburb of Columbus, OH. We have lived in the area for 6 months, after a job promotion and transfer from our home in Michigan. We have no enemies or even friends at this point. Basically, we know nobody around here. This has screwed me financially, as I had to move my family to an apartment and now have to somehow pay for my mortgage and new apartment. My wife and I have a 2 year old and 2 month old, so the burden of this coupled with the financial strain of a new baby is basically overwheliming. We are just thankful that nobody was hurt. I have since bought a 9mm and my sense of security is completly shot. No pun intended
April 8th, 2007 at 5:03 pm