[jyl]

Interesting day in the neighborhood.

Went outside about 7:00 am to see why a police car was parked on my street corner. Officer asked me to stay inside for my safety. Went on the neighborhood forum and learned that an eight block by six block area of my neighborhood was on police lockdown.

Apparently at 6:30 am, a neighbor called 911 about a man walking with a backpack and handgun. Police responded, confronted the man, shots fired, man ran into the neighborhood. Police located him a few minutes later, more shots, he ran deeper into the neighborhood. Many more units responded and within minutes a police cordon was in place. Helicopter overhead. SWAT and K9 on the way. I started getting texts and calls from the police advising shelter in place.

It was about 7:30 am by now. I got the Glock, checked doors, looked out windows at my backyard, turned on the police dispatch audiostream. No-one was allowed in or out of the area unless escorted by police and with a good reason. No-one was allowed to go outside.

Police put description of the man on Twitter and Facebook. A neighbor checked her surveillance cameras, found video of a man matching that description and holding a pistol walking by her house, emailed that to police, those screen captures were distributed. Police at every intersection at the perimeter and interior of the area. SWAT and K9 teams searching yards, going door to door, checking empty houses, looking under tarps and in trees. Neighbors about four blocks away reported multiple bullet holes in their windows and walls.

I did computer stuff, made chicken stock, oiled my desk, listened to the audiostream, took a nap. Mid-afternoon I went into my backyard, did a little cleanup, climbed into tree house, checked it was empty, watched police from up there.

SWAT and K9 came to my yard, I unlocked the gate and let them in, my son offered them water, they cleared my yard and went to the next one. Dispatch relayed report of a neighbor finding a backpack. I heard dispatch saying that a resident had reported a man matching the description moving through the north part of the neighborhood, outside of the cordon zone, units responding. Later the lockdown zone was reduced in size. I was no longer in lockdown so I went to the store for some boiled linseed oil and paste wax. Came home, worked on the desk.

The all clear was given. A man matching the description had been apprehended and arrested on outstanding warrants in the far north corner of the neighborhood. No confirmation so far if he was the man who police were searching for. He may have been headed for a wooded area by the freeway where people have been camping, doing and selling drugs, that's about a block from where police got him. If he dumped his gun in the neighborhood, it may take some searching to find it - lot of greenery, bushes, ivy, storm drains. Maybe he wasn't the guy.

Edit: mugshot of the arrested man looks like the man in the security camera video, as best one can tell from that video. I mean similar size, build, hair and facial hair color, skin color. The security video isn't good enough to identify facial features.

Anyway, we were locked down for over 10 hours and I think close to 100 police were involved. My desk is nicely oiled and tommorrow when the linseed oil is dried I'll apply old fashioned paste wax.