Shooting and gawking

THERE WAS A shooting in a large white house on the northwest corner of 10th and Washington last night a little before 10 p.m. Sheryl noticed a bunch of lights and I went out to take a look.

Many neighbors were also out. There were at least six police cars, an ambulance and a fire truck by the house. When I walked up an officer was leading a young man out of the residence in handcuffs and there was a lot of activity in the apartment entrance.

View from 10th. Entrance is just to left of small car.

Neighbors said they heard two gunshots. We saw a stretcher come out with the victim, who had serious injuries. Quincy Police say it appears the shooting was accidental and not random, and one person has been cited for reckless discharge of a firearm.

I don't blame people for gawking. I've been on the scene of more than a few shootings (including one on that exact same corner more than 15 years ago) and you learn to pick up the little things when determining what's going on. It looked like police had it figured out pretty quickly and there wasn't going to be much to see, so I went home. Most of the other neighbors were still out for the light show.

Hopefully the victim recovers. I'm not downplaying how serious this is, and our little stretch of Calftown has its issues. We've been here since 2009 and I'm not saying this a perfect neighborhood, but we still love living here, and someone getting stupid with a gun won't change that.

There was "live reporting" by one of our local TV stations this morning. The camera pointed west down Washington from 10th, and only briefly showed the house where the shooting took place. But it was live! Look! We are here! Whatever.

We'll just get back to fences being damaged, neighbors with tiny yippy dogs and Sheryl going on trash patrol every now and then. Oh, and the garden gets tilled this weekend after we finish painting downstairs. Also, the world remains on virus lockdown.

Who says it's boring in the hood?