You know what’s crazy? I’ll tell you what’s crazy?
The break in.
I don’t know which part of the story bothers me more.
The fact that a man had his home broken into and his personal possessions stolen, or the fact that the thieves who did it are barely old enough to shave.
The victim is an avid gun collector. He works hard for his living and travels as part of his job with the railroad.
Over the course of a lifetime he has collected dozens of expensive, high-powered fire arms.
He has hand guns and long guns and tactical weapons. He has weapons worth thousands of dollars.
His guns are lethal, beautiful, meaningful to him.
He is a collector, an American, a hard-working, tax paying citizen who expects justice, who expects his home is safe from intrusion.
Then there’s the horde of thieves.
They are mostly dope smoking, beer guzzling, lazy snakes. They are pimple faced and greasy hair and indolent pukes who could be working for a living, but instead they decide to steal.
So they go to the man’s house and they take his prized possessions.
They steal $50,000 dollars worth of high impact, high velocity, expensive collector’s weapons.
The thieves are led by a 34-year-old ex-con. He is cold and ugly. He has tattoos that rise up his neck toward his ugly pug face.
He has a history of assaults and thefts and violence.
Now he has military assault style weapons.
The deputy I’m talking to is on edge.
He shows me the weapons they have recovered. He picks up one of the long guns. It is menacing. It is an AK type assault weapon, one of two, laying on a table in the sheriff’s office.
The weapon is quiet, shiny, made of sleek, hard steel.
The AK looks ominous and beautiful at the same moment.
I can see why the collector wants it back.
I can see why a desperado with a death wish would want this too.
It has a banana clip will hold 10 rounds. The bullets are also stacked on the table. They are formidable, like tiny metallic silos of death.
They are bronze and sleek and they too are quiet, deserving respect.
“They kept these weapons in the woods,” the deputy will tell me.
We have recovered half, but the other half are on the streets.
The long time law man will tell me that the gang traded the guns to dope dealers for money or drugs.
The leader has threatened to harm the rest of his gang and their families if they talk.
The leader with the ugly face has made it known to law enforcement that he will not go back to prison alive.
The sheriff’s deputy is on edge. He holds the rifle and tells me; “this weapon in his hands is not good for law enforcement or the community.”
He’s right.
I put the man’s face on my Facebook page.
The dialogue generates immediately, quickly.
People in the community know him.
They question whether he has vowed anything.
“When did he vow not to be taken alive?” someone queries.
Facebook cracks me up. Not a thought unpublished.
They talk about him like he’s the boy next door wearing a scout uniform helping old ladies across the street.
I laugh.
Is he a boy scout? Or is he the ex con who vows not to be taken alive?
Life is often not so black and white?
Sometimes teenage scum bags can learn a hard lesson and change their lives.
Sometimes an ex con gets the wrong end of a gun.
This story isn’t over, but I’m afraid it won’t end well.
As of this writing, a SWAT team is on call and locations for the perpetrator are ongoing.
Law Men want to go home to their families. To a cop; going home without a bullet in your chest is job 1.
That makes their trigger fingers extra itchy.
Cops don’t shoot to maim a suspect. If they fire, they are taught to shoot center mass.
I hope for the sake of everyone that the ugly man puts down his high-powered weapons and surrenders peacefully.
Go back to prison and do your time.
Give the Facebook family and friends something to do, rather than attend your funeral.
UPDATE:
Late today, I got a tip about a high-speed chase lasting 30 minutes. I have learned that the ugly man was captured after a brief manhunt. I do not believe any shots were fired, nor do I believe that anyone was hurt.
The best possible outcome for all involved.
Go write that on Facebook, people.
LIFE’S CRAZY™