Shots Fired

Scott and I take turns writing each week. So, if you are dying to hear the rest of Scott's story, you're going to have to wait till next week when it's his turn again.

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Kansas City has some pretty bad neighborhoods and a high crime rate. Because of the nature of our product, the high crime rate is our friend and those neighborhoods are some of our best selling areas.

I had just finished the paperwork for a family that was very happy to be getting a new security system in the next few hours. I said my good-byes and opened the front door. As I stepped onto the front porch I saw a guy sprint between the two houses just feet from me. I watched him go by and jump the fence at the rear of the ally. “Only in KC,” I thought. I turned back toward the street to see two police officers in chase about fifteen steps behind the thug that just ran past.

“HE’S GOING EAST, HE’S GOING EAST!!!” the second one yelled into the radio.

“Wow, I’ve never seen a police chase in real life before,” I thought. I looked around hoping to see some video cameras from the show COPS. No such luck.

I made my way down to the street and looked toward the next house on my list. There was a police car blocking the intersection at the end of the street. I turned around and saw the same thing at the other end. This was a bigger deal than I thought. A squad car quickly pulled up to me and an officer jumped out.

“What’d you see?” he asked. This was going better than my last encounter with police here. (See “Cuffed and Stuffed in Raytown, MO”)

“I’m a salesman. I came out of that house,” I pointed. “Black guy, maybe 5’ 10”, 165 pounds, white shirt and jeans. Both about five sizes too big for him. The dude ran between those houses. I think he went up the street that way after he jumped the fence.” I pointed again.

“Thanks,” he yelled as he ran off. Just then a blue police helicopter came swooping in. The skids were almost touching the tree tops and one guy was hanging half way out pointing at things and looked to be talking on a radio.

This was getting cooler and cooler. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who thought so. Half the people on the block had made their way outside to see the spectacle. At that point I wished I had been a popcorn salesman, I would have made a ton of money.

Moments later, I saw the thug jump a fence into the front yard a couple houses down. He looked around for a second, and then jumped back over the fence. More cops were showing up now as were neighborhood spectators.

“This guy doesn’t have a chance,” I muttered.

POP!……..POP! I recognized the sound of gunshots.

Just as quickly as it had arrived, the helicopter peeled off and flew away. People left their front yards. Several police cars drove off… It was over.

Two guys dressed the same as the thug were standing about ten feet from me.

“That was Tyrone,” I overhead one say.

“He dead,” the second remarked nonchalantly as they walked off.

I watched as the scene continued to die down. It was interesting to see the reaction of the thug’s buddies, or hommies, or whatever. Made it seem like a common occurrence.

I continued to knock on doors. My thinking was that after a police chase through a neighborhood, EVERYONE would want a security system. I came to realize that such a common occurrence desensitizes people to crime and that, for whatever reason, a police shooting in someone’s backyard doesn’t translate into neighbors buying from me.