Last Night

Have you ever experienced a moment where your reality was, maybe not shattered, but definitely shaken?  Last night was one of those for me.  Romeo, Tybalt and I are fine and safe.  And as far as I can tell by nosing around our apartment complex today in the daylight (I put Tybalt in his stroller to "go get the mail"), everyone else is too.  I can't guarantee that last fact, but I didn't see like any body outline in chalk or anything, so I'm at least 75% sure.  If anyone was hurt they left the premises alive, let's say that.  Don't know who they are or where they are now, but it doesn't appear that anyone was seriously injured.

I guess the reason I'm so shaken is that 1) All of this is new to me--I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, not like an inner-city "bad" area by any means, not the richest part, but middle class suburbs.  And since I've lived in Las Vegas, I've been able to live in almost all good areas.  There was only one "shady" area I lived in a few years ago with a roommate before marriage and family.  But if I didn't feel safe there, I wouldn't have chosen to get an apartment there.  And 2) It's completely unexpected--Because right now, Romeo and I are in the safest of all the places we've been.  We live in what anyone would consider a "good" or "nice" part of town.  Which is just south of what most people consider the "swanky" and "best" part of town.

You're probably going, "Whoa, Juliet, back that up...WHAT?"

I'll leave my middle of the night note typing to speak for itself.  (The following does not have perfect punctuation, which you know I hate doing to you, but it's REAL.)  Here is what I started typing around 1am as I was reflecting on the last few hours, and was *about* to post on facebook as a status, but realized I probably shouldn't.  I did copy and paste it though so I could save it and use it here for your entertainment and enjoyment.  *She nervously laughs.*

So now, "Mommy And The Sin City" Theatre Presents...LAST NIGHT:

"Can't sleep. 10:30'ish pm: I happen to hear two men yelling. Figure it's drunk tenants in the parking lot. A little later hear what sounded like a manual garage door and thought it was weird someone was going into their storage so late at night. 11:41pm: Polite but extremely late knock on our front door. Freak out cuz [Romeo] says he sees cops through peephole. He answers and they are asking if he heard anything because there was a shooting by the apartment pool. (Which is next to our building.) [Romeo] didn't because he was out grocery shopping but I piece what I heard together with what the officer is saying. Officers tape off our entire building/breezeway area from our porch to our rear neighbor's porch which is the other end of the building and next to said pool. 12:15am: Different cop now BANGS on door to wake us up in case we were sleeping. (Yeah, right!) I answer this time and he asks if I heard anything. Then asks who lives with me and if we are all okay, because a shooting happened and bullet went through our rear neighbor's wall! Rear neighbors, as in--we share a wall with these people! 1:09am: Cop car circling complex slowly, using searchlights.

Update: 1:40am: Every little noise, creek, light through window, etc. is creeping me out and scaring me to death. Police tape still up. Have seen so many cops around the property in the last 2 hours I can't count. One is walking breezeway outside front door with flashlight. SUV (unmarked cop car?) is parked at red zone curb right outside my ground level bedroom window. Plain clothes cop (detective?) was heard knocking on upstairs neighbor's door. Saw him walk with neighbor downstairs and neighbor is now gesturing to where he saw/heard things right outside my porch/bedroom window."

And the only things I should add:

A little before 3am I did hear the SUV's doors close--three of them I think, so multiple detectives/cops/officers, and the engine started and it drove off.  By the time Romeo left for work this morning at 7:15am the police tape was gone.  And like I said, at about 3:00pm today I got up the nerve to take Tybalt out and walk around.  No sign of like a murder or victim, so who knows what really happened and if anybody was hurt or if it was gunfire without a victim (I'd like to think so, I guess that would be the best outcome at least), but there were 7-8 police evidence "marks" (they look like post-its with arrows) on my rear neighbor's wall. It would be their living room wall and living room windowsill.  They mark 2-4 bullet holes and the rest are paint chips (where maybe bullets grazed?) !!!  I didn't have time to "snoop" and do exact counts, but you get the gist.

Man, I wonder what happened and if we'll ever really know...