So the Police had to shoot a guy in my neighborhood

[Blennidae]

Those of you in in the bay area and watched the news tonight may have seen the story about a guy brandishing a weapon and taking shots in the Willow Glen area of San Jose. This happend one street over from me and I was blissfully ignorant of it all.

I found out when my wife came home and told me the neighborhood was evacuated. She managed to get a police escort down the street to come home after the majority of action was over. She said the police had blocked off both my street and the next street over (where the guy lived, and was shooting/was shot).

The news said it was a 3 hr standoff ending at 7pm when the police were forced to shoot the man.

They said shots were fired but I never heard any. They said the police rang the doorbells of everyone in the neighborhood, but I never heard mine. My next door neighbor was evacuated. I don't know why they didn't tell the police about me.

I was upstairs with a small airbrush compressor running, but not for all 3 hrs.

I don't know where I'm going with this. Just seems odd, something big happens literaly down the street, and I'm oblivious to it.

I guess I really need to pay more attention...

[WickeDKlowN]

A few years ago the house across the street from me burned to the ground and I slept through the whole thing(the window next to my bed faces the house too). Kinda sucks since I love fire... All kidding aside though, my friend got burned pretty bad(he's fine now but he's got hella scars from it).

They had it on the news the next mornin and I was like "hmm, that house looks farmiliar" pulled out to go to school and was like "HOLY (you know what goes here)". There was all kinds of cops and ambulances and firetrucks and whatnot, tons of lights and sirens, dunno how the hell I slept through it...

[ZapTheMad]

Think about it this way, did you really want to know? I would much rather spend time working on my personal projects than have to worry about some crack head down the street getting himself shot.

[1stdeadeye]

You need to move to the suburbs my friend! Then nothing will bother you as it is dull as dirt out here.

[shartley]

You need to move to the suburbs my friend! Then nothing will bother you as it is dull as dirt out here.

[desslock]

ur not the only one oblivious to sirens

I live near a major 4 lane road that has exit ramps for I-95 and near a helicopter training center. So I have become used to hearing trucks, sirens and low flying helicopters over the last 2 years. Across the road from my house are newer condos, well one whole condo unit caught fire a total of 4 out of 6 units burned and the whole unit was lost because the roof caved in, needless to say this was like a 5 alarm blaze, happened during the day where was I? asleep on the couch after work with the windows open, didnt hear a thing slept like a baby. LOL

[johnnybravo60025]

Well, my dad woke me up when they were tearing the house across the street down. That was pretty cool.

[FactsOfLife]

Yeah not to mention the fact that townies are ALL scared of the dark, and feel the inherent need to put up 50 halogen floodlamps on their cookiecutter houses.

The last time I saw the Milky Way was when the Canadians blew the power grid on the entire Northeastern US.

First time I can recall thanking the Canadians for anything useful.

[Chipper]

WARNING: LONG STORY THAT YOU PROBABLY WON'T FINISH

I used to live next to this whole family of crackheads and one day I wake up to see the Poes shining friggin flashlights inside my house. I go out and see this red Civic on my drive way (that doesn't belong to me) and like 15 police cars.
Turns out my next door neighbors were involved in some kind of high speed chase and they parked in my drive way to run to thier house. Funny part is one of the kids dropped his wallet while he ran out of the car and it had his driver's license in it and his ID.
Well, later, after the poes left 'cause they couldn't find no one I see the guy who delivers my paper in his big arse truck. As he drives by this random guy gets out of my next door neighbors (not the crackheads) back yard and goes over to the truck. Next thing I know hes spread eagle layin down in the back of this truck. I managed to make out the license and called the poes. They caught him like in the middle of my neigborhood.

And this all happpened the good old suburbs of Virginia. Go figure.

[MadChild]

i slept through a tornado one time when i lived in oklahoma

[Chipper]

i slept through a tornado one time when i lived in oklahoma

That's awsome. I tried to sleep through a hurricane but it didn't work out so well.

[FalconGuy016]

Go Virgina!

[Kevmag]

I live in Willow Glen, too and your report is the first I heard about a shooting... I need to read the paper more often...

[dwab3000]

well, first one time some one got shot in front of my house, i had no clue...

next one time i was sleeping in class, and the school caught on fire,.....(three freakin weeks off hell yeah)...a teacher had to wake me up

then another time i was going on a road trip (in a vw bus, again hell yeah) with about 5 of my closest friends, well we wanted toi save money and sleep in the bus (which i onwed at that time), a car gets in a small fender bender with us, everyone else wakes up but me...btw the bus had like waterbed seats....that may be why

[Blennidae]

I live in Willow Glen, too and your report is the first I heard about a shooting... I need to read the paper more often...

Here is the follow up on the SJ mercury webpage.

Posted on Sun, Jun. 06, 2004
S.J. police seek reason man began shooting

By Frank Sweeney

Mercury News

San Jose police continued their investigation Saturday into why a 43-year-old San Jose man started shooting up his Willow Glen neighborhood before officers shot him to death.

Police continued to withhold the name of the gunman, who died at the scene Friday after a three-hour standoff with officers in the 1500 block of Keesling Avenue.

However, police identified the officers who fired the fatal shots as Craig Storlie and Julio Morales, both nine-year veterans. They were placed on administrative leave during the investigation, a routine procedure.

Keesling Avenue, off Meridian Avenue a block north of Hamilton Avenue, is a narrow, tree-lined street with mostly smaller, pre-World War II homes.

The incident began about 4 p.m. Friday when residents reported a neighbor shooting at parked cars and trucks, flattening some tires.

When officers arrived, they found a man holding a 9mm handgun in a front yard and began negotiating with him to drop his weapon. Other officers set up a perimeter around the residence and cordoned off the area. Neighbors were evacuated.

Residents of one neighboring home told police that the man had knocked on their front door before the shooting, pointed a handgun at them and made angry comments. They closed the door and then heard gunfire in front of their home.

For the next three hours, officers using a bullhorn attempted to negotiate with the man. At times the man would pace in the front yard, and at other times he would sit or kneel on the ground, but he would not put down the gun, Dixon said.

Then, about 7 p.m., the man stood up, raised his gun and pointed it at nearby officers.
Two officers opened fire, hitting the man in the upper body.
Paramedics who had been standing by examined the man, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

The investigation by the San Jose police homicide unit is being monitored by the department's internal affairs unit, the district attorney's office and the independent police auditor.