The Excitement Never Ends

Today on the way home (remember I said it's usually SOMETHING every day), we had finally arrived at the Five Points Station in downtown Atlanta. As I was crossing Peachtree Street, I heard numerous fire engines or ambulances heading in my direction, along with about four helicopters hovering overhead. Five Points Station is near Underground Atlanta and alot of government buildings like the State Capital. My immediate thought was that SOMETHING had happened in the area which is usually true if you see helicopters hovering. And with that location, anything could have happened.

And, of course, something had happened. We speculated on what that was and someone at the bus area told us there had been a police shooting. Another commuter offered that Brian Nichols had another court hearing today and the ruckus was most likely because of him. I seriously doubted this suggestion and hoped that the City of Atlanta had not wasted that much manpower on that man who didn't deserve to even HAVE another court hearing, in my opinion.

Much to my dismay, none of the local news stations dispatched any "Breaking News" emails as I kept a vigil watch on my Blackberry for some word from the outside world. It was not until much later after I had arrived home that I turned on the local news and found out what had happened. It was, indeed, a police shooting involving a 21 year old suspect.

I tell you, I was scared to death at the time we were standing at the bus area. We were a few blocks away from the capital and could see the commotion in that direction with police cars everywhere. You could already see they had cordoned an area with crime scene tape so we knew something HAD happened, we just didn't know what! Intersections and intersections had been blocked off with police cars and policemen. Even the one closest to us but thank God they were allowing the buses through or we probably would have been stuck downtown for hours.

I had visions that the perpetrator was still at large and a man hunt was underway and he was about to run through the bus area waving a gun, scaring the crowd half to death. Afterall, with the intense police presence and activity that seemed endless, this had to be the case, right? Not . . . they had already shot the perpetrator, apprehended him, and he was well on his way to Grady Hospital to be treated. Who knew? It was just so darn scary, especially being so close to where it all happened and not having a clue what HAD happened. The unknown is always the scary part, isn't it?

But, in her usual fashion, our bus driver took control of that bus and navigated her way out of downtown Atlanta in a matter of minutes. Before we knew it, we were well out of any danger and speeding Westbound on I-20 on our way home. What a relief!

You just never know what you may happen upon on any given day during this commuting experience. It's a crap shoot, that's for sure. Or as Forrest Gump would say, "Life is like a box of chocolates . . . you never know what you're going to get."

Addendum: the story gets better, read this article from the AJC. Too funny!