Not My Typical Stroll

I had a fairly normal day at work. I heard some sirens, but, that's not unusual with my office being on one of the main paths to the local hospital. I thought they had just gone by on their way to someplace else. That someplace else happened to be the opposite end of my tiny strip mall. I walked out of work to head for the bus stop and encountered an active crime scene. It turns out that I was only four stores away from a shooting and never heard the gun shot. Thankfully, the suspect is in custody and I don't have to be back in the office until Monday morning. This is Saturday evening as I write this. This is the closest I have been to anything like this that will be in my memory. When I was really young, a neighbor of ours accidentally discharged his weapon because he was showing his kids how to clean a gun. The only issue was the guy had a live round in the chamber. Five minutes earlier and that bullet would have gone right between my Mom's eyes. Just hearing that story when I was old enough to remember her description of everything is enough to send chills down my spine. It's no wonder that I have never had an interest in even touching a firearm.