I just love having my problems put into perspective.

[nymysys]

I just watched six Hispanic guys beat the shit out of each other with boards and hammers. I'm pretty sure one of them is dead.

The DMV will be truly anticlimactic now.

Comments

[nymysys]

My balcony faces the street, and I had the door to said balcony open to let in some nice, if somewhat humid, air. I heard some yelling, but didn't think much about it at first, as Chicago in summer could possibly be defined by the yelling that goes on. After a minute or so the yelling become definite anger-yell and not just outside-yell, so I walked onto my balcony to investigate.

Six Hispanic gentlemen were in some form of altercation in the entryway to my condo complex. It looked as if two or three were holding another one down on the ground to keep him from fighting with the remaining two. Several of them were holding boards, and one had a hammer, but no one was swinging anything. As I continued to watch the one on the ground was released, and the two not involved in restraining him started walking away and across the street. There was still some shouting - which was entirely in Spanish and other than variations on "punta" I wasn't gleaning any of it - but it seemed to be over.

As I turned to go back inside one of the two who had been walking away walked up to an older, blue Ford station wagon and swung his board though the rear driver side window, shattering it. At that point I ran inside to get my phone. When I came back out with my phone he and the other guy were smashing all the windows of the car out. At that point the other four came running and it turned into an all-out brawl. I dialed 911 and was giving the address when I saw...Jesus. One of the guys hit the other one square on the head with a board that had a giant nail in it. It made a noise I cannot describe nor ever want to hear again, and that guy dropped straight to the ground. I'm trying to not scream, because I don't want to scare them off before the police come, but it was horrible. Every one of them was covered in blood, and they were still hitting each other with these instruments as hard as they could.

Finally, two of them branched off and ran south down the street and around the corner. The other three made a run for their fallen buddy, awkwardly scooped him up and wedged him in the back of the station wagon with the smashed windows and tore off north. I never saw him move after the hit to the head.

I got the license plate number, which I gave to the police when they arrived maybe one minute later. There's blood and broken glass everywhere, but unless anyone shows up at a hospital, they said it's a victimless crime. I'm still moderately nauseous three or four hours later.

[magdalene1]

Holy fuck. If I were not going out of town I would insist that you sleep here tonight.

[nymysys]

Appreciated, but it's all part of life in the big city. It amazes me that I see violence in Albany Park now when it's damn near fully gentrified.