The boys are having a really hard time tonight and that's because we had a rough evening. I'm not going to sugar coat anything and I'll skip right to the point.
About twenty-six minutes after five, Lizze and I were in the living room when we heard gunfire. We hear gunfire almost everyday but today was different. It sounded like someone had just fired off six rounds into the side of our house.
I ran to the living room window on the north side of the house and saw the shooter riding a regular bike passed my side door. I followed him around to the front of my house. As he made the turn by our car, he looked at me through my front door and the gun in his left pocket began to fall out. He caught it and calmly rode off to a house, very near by. He sat on his front porch, as though nothing was wrong.
Several of my neighbors met me outside, all having seen and heard the same thing. We spoke briefly and I called 911.
I spent about four and a half minutes minutes on the phone with them. I explained exactly what happened and that there were many witnesses. I explained he'd parked his ass on his front porch like he'd done nothing wrong. I could see him the entire time I was on the phone, just sitting there all smug.
The cops eventually showed up, maybe ten minutes after the call and we showed them where it happened. Rather than approach the person in question, the searched the alley for shell casing. They didn't find any in the quick three minute search and they got back in their car. They drove through the neighborhood a few times, presumably to show a presence and were gone. There wasn't a report or anything.
To make matters worse, the shooter knows we called the police now there's fear of reprisal. For obvious reasons, I'm leaving out discriptions and details because I'm not stupid. The cops did absolutely nothing. I saw the gun in his pocket. My neighbor saw him with a gun and the whole block heard the gunshots.
I'm not a huge gun person and I'm quite ignorant in that regard but I'm pretty sure what I saw was revolver. That would account for the six shots and no shell casings. I'm so angry because this person fired six rounds within *feet *of my home. I didn't see any obvious signs that our house was hit but in the moment, I was more concerned about making sure this asshole was caught.
Someone could have been seriously injured.
We're left trying to calm the kids and convince them that everything was going to be okay. Elliott happened to be walking down the stairs and past the window overlooking the alley where the shots were fired. He was right there as it happened and he's freaked out. Emmett and Gavin both heard everything but were in their rooms on the opposite side of the house.
To make matters worse, I learned that there are a couple other major problems in our immediate neighborhood, that I hadn't been aware of.
I'm trying to be careful what I say because I need to think about safety. The truth is, we will never be safe as long as we're here. The kids are scared and they don't handle that like their neurotypical peers would handle it. They perseverate on the thoughts of fear and it very quickly spirals out of control.
There aren't even words to explain how I'm feeling tonight. It's after 2 AM and I can't sleep because I'm so worried.
I consider us very lucky because no one was hurt. None of my neighbors were hurt either and that's definitely a positive thing. At the same time, it feels like law enforcement failed us and we were once again left to our own devices.
I feel absolutely powerless and that's a horrible, horrible feeling.
Lizze and I have to put a major focus in relocating. I have no idea how we could make that happen but it has to happen and happen sooner rather than later.
