This reminds me of when I was in Littleton right after the shooting there (I have 3 nieces that attend Columbine). It was about 9PM and I was in my sisters home, and my nieces had several of their friends over. Of course, all of these kids were mental wrecks, and mostly were just crowding around the TV watching the 24-hour coverage and crying. A few were outside talking, and just basically hanging out. Well, all of a sudden a couple of the kids came running into the house scared out of their wits. I asked them what was going on, and they said that a car was driving slowly by, and the people in the car were wearing trenchcoats and staring at them. A couple other kids that were outside said the people in the car were just normal people...no trenchcoats or anything. Anyway, after calming them down, my sister and I got to the bottom of the story that it was just the neighbors up the street, and no trenchcoats were worn. So about 10 minutes pass, and all of the sudden the doorbell rings. I get up to answer the door, and upon opening the door, a Littleton cop is looking at me and reaching for her gun! My hands immediately shoot up into the air, and I'm saying "it's cool! it's cool!". She (the cop) relaxes a bit and asks me if I called 911. I said I didn't, and she says someone called from this address and said that a man was holding someone hostage with a knife! I told them it wasn't me (and by this time, my sister was there to confirm it), and after talking to us for a few minutes, they departed.
This is just an example of some of the weirdness that followed the Columbine tragedy. It was a surreal place to be during that time.
-Joe |
