Why Is The SWAT Team in My Neighborhood?

[madrobins]

claireeddy is in town! This morning she and klages and I went out for coffee in my neighborhood, then returned to fetch out Emily so that Claire and I could take her to the dog park. As we were standing on the corner four police cars in full flashing-light mode went flying around the corner onto my street, went down the block, then went tearing around another corner and out of sight. This is not a usual thing in my mostly-sleepy neighborhood. A moment or so afterward a motorcycle cop came by and stopped to ask us if we'd seen anyone running by. We had not, and the cop, all business, rode off. We went off to the dog park and were gone for nearly two hours, what with walking there, walking back, and Claire falling in love with a rescue puppy while we were there, and when we came back the police presence was not only there, it had enlarged. There was a school bus parked on a side street to block off the route up to the next street over, and a Fire Dept. Rescue van parked on my street--clearly there in case anyone needed immediate medical aid.

So what was it all about? Finally got an answer: after a drive-by shooting in Hunter's Point, a high speed chase ended down the block from my house; the police were searching for the third of three suspects who escaped by foot (the first two were caught almost immediately). The street was not cleared until 5:30 this evening; apparently if you lived on that block, you couldn't go home until a thorough search was done. The inconvenience is probably better than, say, coming home to find a burly guy with a gun helping himself to your left over mac & cheese and sipping your chardonnay, but it was mildly unnerving to see all the hoopla yellow tape all over the place.