This morning a 15-hour hostage situation ended in a house just a block away from my apartment. Apparently a guy had robbed a bank (although I'm not sure that's really true) and was followed by police to a place near my building, where they tasered him. He got up, though, and ran into his house where his grandmother and young nephew were. He had a gun (or possibly three) and shot into the walls and in the direction of the police. They found out that the guy is mentally unstable and probably off his meds, so they didn't think he would really be that violent and were willing to wait him out. Which they did.

Last night when I came home from anatomy lab (where we dissected a mouse, yawn) the main street to turn down to get to my place was blocked off by yellow tape and about five police cars. Luckily I know the neighborhood enough to be able to get through the maze of one-way streets that comprise it, so I was able to get to my apartment, but there were some streets blocked off that I bet had a lot of wrong-way driving going on, since the proper direction entrance was blocked. Cece and I went out on the porch and could see the SWAT team running up to the house. It was funny because they looked all serious and determined as they ran up to the house but then they just stood there in the doorway. Maybe they were waiting for the guy to let them in. The SWAT guys didn't want us out on the porch though, they waved at us with a 'get out of the way' sort of gesture, so we went back inside. Didn't want to get hit by a bullet.

That's pretty much what happened all night, they had negotiators trying to talk him out, until this morning when I got up. I went into the kitchen to see if anything had changed, which it hadn't, and that's what the news stations reported. My mom wanted a picture, so I retrieved my camera from my room to take a shot, and when I finally got the house in view, I took the picture without even realizing that the police were leading someone out. So I actually got to see the police take custody of the guy. I also didn't realize that my flash was on, so I hope they don't come storm the place because I distracted someone with the flash It was funny because they had literally just reported that the situation was still ongoing. Sounds like everyone was ok, and that the police had encountered this person before. Hopefully this time he can get some psychiatric help.

Just thought you'd like to know about it...it wasn't really all that exciting. I missed all the gunshots and just saw the police barricades. Though it was interesting to see the guy walk out in cuffs, he looked like a normal person. Be safe out there.

And now it's time for a PSA: Please make sure that if you're out driving this weekend you YIELD to pedestrians in the crosswalk, even if they are there illegally. Pedestrians, YIELD to oncoming cars and use the crosswalks. The police are going to be giving out tickets, in hopes of lowering pedestrian-car accidents. Be careful out there!