DC
Alicia Knight
Mary, thanks for your kind thoughts.
It's all real close to home for us. My sister was filling up her car with gas less than 10 minutes before the shooting of the cab driver at the Mobil station in Aspen Hill. The shooting of the lady vaccuming out her car at the Kensington Shell station was across the street from my sister's office, and the lady who was shot on the bench in front of the Crisp and Juicy by Leisure World was the cousin of a friend of ours. The Crisp and Juicy is a great Peruvian chicken place that we have gone to many times. I go to the Michael's Craft Store at Spotsylvania Mall (Fredericksburg) all the time and was planning to go to a seminar at the Holiday Inn Hotel right across the street the same Friday as the shooting, but opted to go to another event in Richmond instead. My Mom lives about 15 minutes away from the Bowie middle school where the 13 year old boy was shot.
On Wednesday night, my dh got bitten by a brown recluse spider at home and went up to our health care provider for treatment just a few minutes away from the Sunoco station where the engineer was shot and killed. I was out at a meeting so DH took the boys with him. They were all in the area near
the shooting, but were never aware of what occured until they got home. (DH's spider bite is doing fine too, btw.)
Our local county schools are on lock-down and there are sheriff deputies
patrolling the grounds during school hours. No one is allowed to play outside and all outdoor activities are cancelled, as are field trips to anywhere.
Even we homeschoolers are affected. We had tickets to see the Lion King puppets at the Kennedy Center and that was cancelled. We haven't been letting the kids play out in the front yard, though we do allow the back yard since it is fenced and the children can't be seen from the street -- and they have to get fresh air somehow! I try not to be out alone anywhere, even though that's my favorite way to get certain errands, like my weekly shopping, done. No more. I get gas at stations that are farther away from the interstate.
The perp's first targets are in an area that I know like the back of my hand
-- Rockville, Wheaton, Aspen Hill, Kensington. I think the investigation
will find that the attacker(s) originated from that area. The routes are
well-known to people who live in that area, but probably not known to outsiders. The perp has gone farther afield to prove that he's got a wider range, but in each incident he's been less than a mile from the interstate -- Spotsylvania/Fredericksburg (I-95), Bowie (Rts. 50& 301, Manassas (I-66).
The shooting just south of us on Friday really hit close to home as I drive the kind of vehicle (white Chevy AstroVan) that was being stopped in the road blocks. I haven't driven it much since, partially because we're trying to minimize our trips to only essential errands and also because I don't want the children to be upset when the police come up to our family vehicle with their guns drawn. When I do go out, I make sure my drivers license and registration are on the dashboard before I leave the driveway.
It's been pretty awful coping with the steady drip, drip, drip of stress and warily waiting, helpless, for the next shooting to occur. We had a break in the weekend, but last night, another shooting in Falls Church. This time in a covered parking lot, with lots of concrete pillars and the woman victim was with her husband. She was doing all the things that police have been telling us to do to keep safe. I hope the perp is caught soon so we can get our lives back to normal again. I refuse to be paralysed with fear, but I am a lot more cautious these days. The world keeps turning, right?
Thanks for letting me vent here! At times it is very hard to keep a calm veneer for the sake of the children, so they will feel safe and free.
Alicia
(from her hidey-hole)
It's all real close to home for us. My sister was filling up her car with gas less than 10 minutes before the shooting of the cab driver at the Mobil station in Aspen Hill. The shooting of the lady vaccuming out her car at the Kensington Shell station was across the street from my sister's office, and the lady who was shot on the bench in front of the Crisp and Juicy by Leisure World was the cousin of a friend of ours. The Crisp and Juicy is a great Peruvian chicken place that we have gone to many times. I go to the Michael's Craft Store at Spotsylvania Mall (Fredericksburg) all the time and was planning to go to a seminar at the Holiday Inn Hotel right across the street the same Friday as the shooting, but opted to go to another event in Richmond instead. My Mom lives about 15 minutes away from the Bowie middle school where the 13 year old boy was shot.
On Wednesday night, my dh got bitten by a brown recluse spider at home and went up to our health care provider for treatment just a few minutes away from the Sunoco station where the engineer was shot and killed. I was out at a meeting so DH took the boys with him. They were all in the area near
the shooting, but were never aware of what occured until they got home. (DH's spider bite is doing fine too, btw.)
Our local county schools are on lock-down and there are sheriff deputies
patrolling the grounds during school hours. No one is allowed to play outside and all outdoor activities are cancelled, as are field trips to anywhere.
Even we homeschoolers are affected. We had tickets to see the Lion King puppets at the Kennedy Center and that was cancelled. We haven't been letting the kids play out in the front yard, though we do allow the back yard since it is fenced and the children can't be seen from the street -- and they have to get fresh air somehow! I try not to be out alone anywhere, even though that's my favorite way to get certain errands, like my weekly shopping, done. No more. I get gas at stations that are farther away from the interstate.
The perp's first targets are in an area that I know like the back of my hand
-- Rockville, Wheaton, Aspen Hill, Kensington. I think the investigation
will find that the attacker(s) originated from that area. The routes are
well-known to people who live in that area, but probably not known to outsiders. The perp has gone farther afield to prove that he's got a wider range, but in each incident he's been less than a mile from the interstate -- Spotsylvania/Fredericksburg (I-95), Bowie (Rts. 50& 301, Manassas (I-66).
The shooting just south of us on Friday really hit close to home as I drive the kind of vehicle (white Chevy AstroVan) that was being stopped in the road blocks. I haven't driven it much since, partially because we're trying to minimize our trips to only essential errands and also because I don't want the children to be upset when the police come up to our family vehicle with their guns drawn. When I do go out, I make sure my drivers license and registration are on the dashboard before I leave the driveway.
It's been pretty awful coping with the steady drip, drip, drip of stress and warily waiting, helpless, for the next shooting to occur. We had a break in the weekend, but last night, another shooting in Falls Church. This time in a covered parking lot, with lots of concrete pillars and the woman victim was with her husband. She was doing all the things that police have been telling us to do to keep safe. I hope the perp is caught soon so we can get our lives back to normal again. I refuse to be paralysed with fear, but I am a lot more cautious these days. The world keeps turning, right?
Thanks for letting me vent here! At times it is very hard to keep a calm veneer for the sake of the children, so they will feel safe and free.
Alicia
(from her hidey-hole)
Shyrley
On 15 Oct 02, at 2:03, Alicia Knight wrote:
wont be going to the HS Moms night out in Manassas and I feel
nervous going to the supermarket. My DH just scoffs and quotes
statistics at me. It makes me nervous that he has to stand by a
bus stop in Reston in the mornings to get into Arlington (best
update his life insurance..)
It's the not-knowing. Wondering how long I can hold off before going
to get gas or groceries. I even considered taking the kids home to
England but thats not practical. We don't know how long it will take
to catch this guy.
My mum is flying over from England this Friday. I've been trying to
assure her that going to The Mall in DC will be OK and that we'll be
safe but I don't feel very safe myself :-(
I'm taking her to NYC for 3 days next week. Funny how I now will
safer about going their than staying here!!!
interuppt the Simpsons to talk about it) but I have to explain to
them why I leave them here when I fetch groceries and why they
shouldn't stand still in the car lot. My daughter panicked on the
weekend when I went out and was gone two hours instead of my
usual one (I went witha friend who is sloooooow at shopping) and I
came home to find her in tears, convinced I'd been shot :-(
Hey Alicia, maybe we should go sjopping together. Safety in
numbers maybe?
Shyrley
>Know what you mean Alicia. The constant stress is getting to me. I
> It's been pretty awful coping with the steady drip, drip, drip of
> stress and warily waiting, helpless, for the next shooting to occur.
> We had a break in the weekend, but last night, another shooting in
> Falls Church. This time in a covered parking lot, with lots of
> concrete pillars and the woman victim was with her husband. She was
> doing all the things that police have been telling us to do to keep
> safe. I hope the perp is caught soon so we can get our lives back to
> normal again. I refuse to be paralysed with fear, but I am a lot more
> cautious these days. The world keeps turning, right?
wont be going to the HS Moms night out in Manassas and I feel
nervous going to the supermarket. My DH just scoffs and quotes
statistics at me. It makes me nervous that he has to stand by a
bus stop in Reston in the mornings to get into Arlington (best
update his life insurance..)
It's the not-knowing. Wondering how long I can hold off before going
to get gas or groceries. I even considered taking the kids home to
England but thats not practical. We don't know how long it will take
to catch this guy.
My mum is flying over from England this Friday. I've been trying to
assure her that going to The Mall in DC will be OK and that we'll be
safe but I don't feel very safe myself :-(
I'm taking her to NYC for 3 days next week. Funny how I now will
safer about going their than staying here!!!
>Yeah, my kids are twitchy. I try and keep it off the news (but they
> Thanks for letting me vent here! At times it is very hard to keep a
> calm veneer for the sake of the children, so they will feel safe and
> free.
interuppt the Simpsons to talk about it) but I have to explain to
them why I leave them here when I fetch groceries and why they
shouldn't stand still in the car lot. My daughter panicked on the
weekend when I went out and was gone two hours instead of my
usual one (I went witha friend who is sloooooow at shopping) and I
came home to find her in tears, convinced I'd been shot :-(
Hey Alicia, maybe we should go sjopping together. Safety in
numbers maybe?
Shyrley
>"You laugh at me because I'm different. I laugh at you because you are all the same."
> Alicia
> (from her hidey-hole)
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