After a potential hostage situation broke out across the street of the imgur user GeneralZodsChicken’s house, he let the snipers set up in his living room to cover his neighbor’s house. Instead of hiding somewhere in his house waiting until it all ends, the guy made some pretty funny comments about this whole situation that you definitely need to read.
“Ok, story time. My eldest is outside with his friend when he pops his head inside to let me know there are 3 cop cars at the end of our street. I think no big deal. Pulled over a speeder, quiet day, they’re bored so congregate for something to do. Then I get updated there are 5 cars and dogs. That’s not a speeding ticket response. I go out and now there are 7 vehicles, cops in riot gear, dogs (Belgian Malinois, of course), assault rifles visible, and the nearest officer tells us all to get inside. No problem there. I text the wife who has the other 2 kids with her, and tell her to stay clear for a while.”
“This guy set up in the cherry tree next to my front door.”
“This was out my front window.”
“This was out of my side window. Same cherry tree, but the officer from (the second photo) has back up now. I am of course texting with my neighbor about the whole thing when I get a knock on the back door to the patio…”
“A very tall officer asks to come in and gives me an update on what’s going down. Evidently some guy in the house across the street is threatening people with a crossbow and may be looking for suicide-by-cop. Now, this house I know, so I’m not too surprised. The mom is nice enough, but her kids are all a train wreck. Stereotypical white-trash, if you will. Said officer then asks to look out my front window. He comes back and says it is a perfect vantage/cover point for snipers and would I give permission for them to set up in my house? This way they can try to ensure no one else is harmed if things go south. I grant permission and am thanked profusely as this will give the most protection to the sniper team. (Evidently others refuse these requests because they either don’t like police or don’t want to be involved.)”
“Situation is indeed serious. I am not.”
“Crossbow sighting is confirmed by my neighbor. Also, it seems the mom (Barbara) is in the house still. At this point, I don’t really think she’s a hostage. She’s totally self-sacrificial when it comes to her kids, so I’m assuming she wouldn’t want to leave the son anyway.”
“In my living room. They came through the back patio and set up just as nice as you please. They were of course monstrous men and totally ripped. The white door in the picture (through the right-hand window) is the house they were covering.”
“I updated the neighbor of the situation and he is of course just as irreverent as I am. By listening to the radio on the SWAT team, I get confirmation that the mom is still in the house and the son is at least on the phone to the negotiators.”
“Prior to this I spoke with my wife on the phone and she took the kids someplace for lunch, rather than home (obviously). For some reason I got a kick out of the range calculation so shared with the wife. Also, they did not remove the screens in order to retain the normal look of the housefront. The purple chair: We have an armchair that we are constantly telling the kids not to sit on the arms of, hence the exchange about the spotter and his choice of seating.”
“It’s now about 12:30 and this has all been going on for about 1.5 hours. No idea The spotter did move down to the seat cushion, for which I was (silently) appreciative.”
“Continue updating the other half and we compliment each other on keeping the place tidy.”
“Normally my son has a baseball game on Sunday afternoon (fall ball), so I always miss any decent NFL games. Living in the Baltimore area, the Ravens/Steelers games are always good. Today, we can’t leave the house to get to the game and I have snipers sitting where would watch the game. My wife has other concerns and offers helpful suggestions.”
“So the end of it was that the mom and negotiators were able to talk the son down and the crossbow was removed (yes, he was going to shoot himself with a crossbow) and everyone came out of the house. The SWAT team tidied up, said thanks, and left the way they came in. We all agreed we did not necessarily want to meet again. A bit later, my wife arrives home just in time to talk with the mom from the house and got the full story, which I relay to the neighbor. Apparently the son, James, is really depressed and obviously suicidal. Not a fun time for the family.”
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