Horror close to home.
Sunday night, as Chris and I were on our way home from a beer tasting at a friend's house, we came through a familiar intersection not far from home where a police car was blocking the lanes of traffic into a neighborhood where we run part of our half marathon training long runs. My first thought was property crime with a suspect still at large. That's kind of par for the course out here in the suburbs. I couldn't imagine the absolute horror that had just transpired. We went on our way, picking a sleeping Jonah up from the neighbor's, putting him to bed, then ordering some food to go from the pub up the street before turning in ourselves.
When we awoke the next morning, Chris notified me that a 70 year old woman, a mother and child had been murdered by a man with a serrated kitchen knife. A nine year old girl fled with her life to a neighbor's house to seek help, but it was too late. By the time he got back with a firearm to try to intervene, the police had arrived and the murderer had tried to kill himself with the knife unsuccessfully.
I'm refusing to look at the reports. I can't handle it right now. I made that mistake with the Colorado shooting. So all I know is what Chris has relayed and what I've gotten in emails from Jonah's school about how they're handling it for the children who are this little girl's classmates and friends. She's a fourth grader at Jonah's school. They've set up an account to help with funeral costs for the family and anything else they might need in this absolutely horrifying time.
I can't help but put Jonah in her place. What kind of life could he live after something like this? It shatters my heart into a million pieces. It just goes to show that this sort of thing can strike at any time, in any place. Safety is an illusion. And nearly anything is a weapon that can cause untold devastation.
Posted via LiveJournal app for Android.