Living in a gangsta's paradise

I'll set the scene for you:

Last Thursday morning the kids woke up around 6:45.

I was in the bathroom around 7 when all of a sudden I heard what sounded like gun shots not too far off.  I thought it was strange, but didn't think anything of it, assuming it could have been a million different things, & assuming I don't live in the ghetto.

Seconds later I heard a myriad of sirens!

Then about 1 minute later I heard a swarm of helicopters.

I looked out the window but couldn't see the helicopters, so I went out to the front yard.

There were 3 helicopters all flying right around our neighborhood!

My next door neighbor came out & said he was just told there was a shooting a block away!

He hopped in his car & was gone for about 2 minutes, then came back & told me to get the kids back in the house because the gunman had gotten away & was seen running into our neighborhood.

Holy smokes. 

I wasn't really scared at this point, but more excited, because I assumed the cops would be chasing him down any second.

We turned on the news.

My neighborhood was on the news.

Next thing I knew our friends' house was on the news & the SWAT team was searching through their backyard.

Our neighborhood was on lockdown...there was no going in our out...ALL DAY LONG.

The hood was covered with law enforcement from all over searching backyards, the park, inside some houses...it was seriously intense.

Look closely & you can see a SWAT team guy on the grass of the neighbors across the street from us.

While the neighborhood was completely barren of any residents (because they were locked inside their houses as instructed to do), Tyler the rebel decided it was the perfect day to change the oil in my car.

His words exactly, "Well if I'm going to be home all day, I may as well be productive."

Oh, Tat. Where do you come from?

It was at this point that a cop came over and asked to use our bathroom.

I'm pretty sure the helicopters noted some suspicious activity going on in the only open garage door in a 20 mile radius and suggested the cops check out our joint. So they used the john as an excuse.

The SWAT team made it to our house later in the afternoon.

I started to get a bit nervous around this time.

I had originally assumed they would catch the guy hours ago, so now it was getting a little scary to think that this guy could be hiding out so close.

Another Tat highlight came at this moment:

As 2 SWAT fellas came into our backyard, it was like the movies.

They stealthily crept so quietly and strategically with their massive guns pointing everywhere they turned. As they were taking this so seriously, Tyler slides open the sliding glass door, not quietly I might add, & startles one of the guys.  He turns directly towards us and thank heavens he didn't shoot us!

He says to Tyler, "Sir, close the door and get back in the house!"

Tat: "Can I just take a picture of you guys?"

TYLER!!!

SWAT: "Get back in your house!"

Here's one walking around our front yard.

Evening came & the gunman was still on the loose.

Our neighborhood was off lockdown around 9pm-ish & the cops & everyone else started to leave.

The news reported that law enforcement was pretty confident the man wasn't in our neighborhood since they had searched it so thoroughly.

This made me feel a bit more safe, but still on edge since he hadn't been caught.

It was a pretty restless night for me.

On to the next morning.

Tat & I turned on the news at about 7am to see if anything had transpired over night.

Right after we turned the tv on, we heard a ton of gunshots...which seemed to be right outside our house.

I froze. Honestly, my heart stopped.

I prayed this meant the cops had just found him, & not that he was running around my neighborhood shooting.

INSANE.

Again, seconds later we hear the sirens, followed by the helicopters.

Tyler wanted to run outside to see, I said ARE YOU CRAZY?!?!

We turned on the news & they were saying reports were just coming in about the shooting & speculating that it was the cops shooting the gunman.

Then we see our neighborhood on the screen, this time we see the houses right down the street!

We went outside (after we saw on tv that the cops were out) and this is what we saw from our driveway:

Our intersection blocked off because the cops had just shot the gunman moments earlier only houses away from ours.

Awesome. 

Although nobody knows for sure where he was hiding out all night, whether in an evacuated house or in a yard, all I know is that it was within a minute walking distance from our home.

Wow. 

This craziness has been called the biggest manhunt Silicon Vally has ever seen.

& it happened right in our backyard!

I'm so grateful nobody in our neighborhood was hurt. 

& I pray this NEVER happens here again.

Thanks to everyone who checked up on us throughout the day & kept us in their prayers.