The strangest, scariest, most dramatic thing that you've seen in your n'hood

[jaxsue]

Another thread reminded me of this (the trash truck thread in Life in General forum).

The most dramatic thing to have happened in my former neighborhood was when a neighbor took his family hostage in their home. A big unmarked truck careened into our street, the police blocked off the road, and SWAT members poured out of the truck. They surrounded the home with the hostages inside and informed all the neighbors to stay inside. The stand-off lasted for a couple of hours.

Happily, no one was injured and the man surrendered and was taken into custody. His wife had been seeking a divorce and he had a mental breakdown. For awhile we were nervous that he might come back but in the end nothing more happened. Still, it was surreal to see that - it was like watching a movie. 

FTR, this was a boring, sleepy, middle-class suburban neighborhood. This wasn't something you ever thought you'd see there.

Anyone else?

[Reuth]

One evening I heard a woman screaming and I stepped out to see what was going on. I saw a woman running away from a car and a man chasing her. He caught up to her and punched her and knocked her down to the pavement. I immediately called the police but the couple was gone before they got there. As far as I know they did not live on this street, they had just driven down here for whatever reason. (It's a dead end street so I have no idea why they'd be here.)

And there was this, less horrifying but still scary: Fire alarm started going off in my neighbor's condo and there was screaming, and noises of running around or banging things. I went to look and the front door was open, and my other neighbor (a nurse) was inside, smoke filling the place. It turned out there had been a grease fire and the girl threw water on it. She was OK in the end though. (After a trip to the ER.)

[Outdoor Girl]

Not nearly as exciting...

About 10:30 one Saturday night, someone pounded on my door.  It was hot; I had to put on pants and then I answered the door.  It was a cop.

Someone had broken into the house two doors up and they were asking if neighbours had heard anything (I hadn't).

Then, earlier this summer, the neighbour one more up from that house ran out of the house in his boxers and nothing else because someone was trying to steal his boat.  He scared them off and the cops made extra patrols for the night.

[Giggity]

When I was growing up, so the early '80s, the kid across the street from us flipped out and took his family hostage. The cops woke us up and had our parents move everyone to the back of the house. Fortunately, it resolved peacefully.

Over here, maybe a year ago, around three on a Sunday morning, the Financier woke me up going for the gun, so of course I had to come down and see what was going on. Some dude out in the parking lot was hollering for Jessica to come out and talk to him. More yelling transpired, and it turns out he was so messed up he had no idea where he was. Cops showed up, loud guy was cuffed and removed. Someone (who may or may not have been Jessica) came out, rummaged around the back of a car parked out front, and removed what was visibly a baggie.

[Sharnita]

In my neighborhood where I live - nothing comes to mind.  In the neighborhood where I teach - several things.  Most recently the bullet hole that was in a window of the school and a corresponding bullet hole across the hall where the slug entered the wall - an inch or two away from the homecoming poster.  It happened after students and staff were gone for the day but it makes a significant visual impact.

[Kimblee]

The meth addict down the road running naked into our yard, sobbing that she was being chased and that "he's" gonna kill her. We tried to talk to her but she was hysterical. her meth addict husband showed up a bit later and took her back to the house, her still screaming that "he" was gonna kill her.

She's still alive a year later so i guess she was wrong, but I gotta admit, I wish the police had done something.

[CLD]

On Friday, just a couple of days ago, my husband and I left the house in the early afternoon. As we got to the end of our street, we saw a sheriff's car parked on the cross street to the left--unusual, but okay. As we turned right, we realized there are 5 more sheriff's cars parked in the next half-block.   We make the next right right in time to come nose to nose with the big bomb squad truck  We went off to our errands hoping the neighborhood would be there when we got back...

Police arrested two our neighbors for guns and drugs.  It was the couple of hand grenades that brought the bomb squad. 

I live in a tough city, but I'd have said before that my neighborhood was pretty quiet...

[nutraxfornerves]

Witnessing a drive-by shooting was interesting.

Coming home & seeing a zillion cop cars at the same house & having an officer tell me that they were doing a drug bust and took one look at the contents of a car trunk and called the bomb squad to deal with the illegal fireworks.

[kherbert05]

Senior year so 84 - 85 - A lower classman was failing math. So he built a pipe bomb. With the help of a senior he broke into the math wing and planted the bomb planning for it to go off during his class. Fortunatly his math skills were subpar - he didn't realize 1 something happens twice a day. They planted the bomb before midnight. It went off  during the night destroying the room and damaging the one below and to either side.

The Teacher had to take a leave of absence.

That isn't the weird part - the weird part was the Parents were outraged outraged I tell you that the district dare ruin those fine boys' futures by pressing charges. No I don't mean the boys' parents. I mean the parents in general after all boys will be boys (I HATE that phrase). Some parents brought a petition around for my parents to sign to get the district to drop the charges. My parents being sensible people were outraged. Had there been kids in the room - as was intended - people would have been seriously injured and probably killed. (Honestly the kids in my neighborhood built pipe bombs like they were model kits or something)

Current house
The boy 2 houses down to my left stood up to some want to be gang bangers at his HS. They showed up and shot up his house. Charges were filed, a restraining order was put in place. So he had to change schools - because the district couldn't force the gang bangers to switch school under the law at the time. The Texas legislature fixed the law last session (Might be the only sane thing they did). Now the bullies/criminals have to take a transfer and I think they lose UIL eligibility.

[EngineerChick]

The neighbors I had for a little while, who would yell various drug dealing and violent comments to each other, while leaning on the front door of my apartment.  A co-worker of mine moved into this same apartment complex when I moved out, as it was safer than the one he was living in, where someone was shot (gang related violence).

Evacuating high school on 2 separate occasions for bomb threats.

[MsCopper]

This was a while back. But I remember it like it had just happened. I grew up in a very working class neighborhood in a close suburb of Boston. All double and triple decker houses. All close together. No Porches just stoops. I was walking home from getting a manicure and I noticed a few people on the corner talking. As I got a little closer to my house there was an elderly couple sitting on their stoop enjoying the nice weather. I got to my stoop and open the screen door to my house when I hear a loud series of *POP* *POP* *POP*!!

I run down the few steps and notice the people on the corner weren't standing anymore. They were all laying in the gutter. The elderly man had his wife on the sidewalk. He was covering her with his body to shield her.  I call 911. Police show up. Shut off my whole street. I guess the people that were standing on the corner had just left court. They had a land dispute with their brother and were trying to obtain a restraining order. He didn't like that so he shot and killed his family. A stray bullet flew and almost hit the poor elderly couple! It hit the stoop a few inches from where they had been sitting!

 Thankfully they were safe. The police caught the guy. He went home after and just sat in his chair to watch tv like nothing had happened.

It was and still is the scariest thing I have ever seen. I now work for the Police Department in the city that this all happened in. Funny how that worked out.. 

[Baxter]

1 - A naked man climbed onto my neighbours roof and wrestled their chimney.  He then declared himself the winner and did a naked victory dance.

2 - Bikies blew up the cafe around the corner (perhaps they didn't like the coffee?)

3 - A row of a about 20 cars pulled up at the stop sign across from my house one night about 2am.  Everyone got out of the cars and started dancing to some music I couldn't hear, then after about 5 mins got back into their cars and all drove off.

4 - Someone tried to steal my bbq out of my backyard!  Who steals a bbq? I often wonder if he just would have walked off down the street, pushing this great big thing along as innocent as anything at 1am.  Anyway, one of the wheels fell off it so he left it on the pavement.

I'm sure I have many more, I'll have a think.

[LadyL]

Not where I lived but at a club where I was a promoter:

Our club was the second building from the corner. I came outside and someone said there was a fight at the club around the corner. I walk over and peek around the corner and indeed there is a group of guys and girls yelling at each other. I turn around and get a few steps and then hear  POP and a kid comes running past me. He fired a shot about 15 feet to the left of where I'd been standing a minute ago .

A car peeled away and I wrote the license plate number on my arm in eyeliner to give to the cops. They caught the whole group about 30 minutes later. We found the bullet shell on the ground in the middle of the street. It was unsettling to say the least - your adrenaline just starts pumping and you don't realize the severity of the situation until much later.

[Jaelle]

When DH and I had our first apartment ... we were both home one evening when I heard fire sirens. We were near a major highway, so I merely noted them. Then they came close, very close.

I grabbed a notebook and camera and ran outside, when DH on my heels. The apartment building next door (it was a complex) was on fire ... flames shooting out of an upper story window. The trucks were there very quickly and the fire department actually got it out before it did more than minor damage to the other apartments. I was very worried until I saw one firefighter down on his knees with his arms around the two hysterical boys who lived there with their family. (They were home alone and we found out later that one had been playing with matches.)

Then I saw a firefighter in full smoke equipment carry out the family cat and kitten, who didn't make it.    I burst into tears. Some hardened reporter I am.

(Aren't memory and the senses funny things? Typing this, I can smell the smoke ...)

[weeblewobble]

When I was growing up our neighbors were crazy with a capital CRAY.

The mother literally sat at the front window and watched us all come and go, particularly the kids. If she thought we were doing something inappropriate, she would blindside our parents as soon as they pulled into into the driveway. My parents went out of town when I was 16 and let me stay when then BF, now DH and his parents. I forgot something at the house, a contact case or something. So DH ran me back over to the house to grab it. We were inside for maybe ten minutes and then we returned to his house.  My parents hadn't even unloaded their luggage when Mrs. X came barreling into the driveway to announce that, "Your DAUGHTER was ALONE with THAT BOY while you were away!  They were inside for 10 whole minutes!  Who knows what they were up to during all that time!"

Trust me, there was none of that behavior in "10 whole minutes."  We were good, but we weren't that good. 

Mom said she wasn't so worried about my behavior, but she was concerned about why Mrs. X thought it was OK to spy on Mom's children. Mrs. X spluttered, "I don't appreciate you exposing my daughter to that kind of behavior!" and stomped away.

But the craziest thing was the night that Mr. and Mrs. X got into a rip-roaring argument, which wasn't unusual. But the argument spilled out into the yard and the driveway. Mr. X got into his car.  Mrs. X got behind the car and yelled that he wouldn't leave as long as she was standing behind the car, he didn't have the guts to run her over.  It turned out Mr. X DID have the guts, because he started the car and backed over her! By some miracle, she wasn't hurt.  She popped up to her feet, screaming obscenities, and chased him down the street.  Someone called 911.  Mr. X drove back just as the cops showed up. Mr and Mrs X exchanged blows in front of the officers and were hauled away to jail. We were all super-relieved when they moved.