WARNING! This blog entry is not for the squeamish. It is in no way bird related but is just a slice of my life...I can't believe I just used the word "slice". Be warned and keep reading at your own risk.
Those who know me well, know that I have neighbor issues. The house next to our apartment building is owned by a man who has a soft spot for those in the music industry and we get neighbors who like to show movies on the side of their house out 1am, play frisbee at 3am or just sit out and laugh and joke all night.
Last night at about 3am I heard sirens just outside our building and at about 4:30am I heard some talking and poked my head out the window. It wasn't the usual neighbors but a whole group behind our apartment building drinking and talking about EMT's coming down the stairs and CSI guys all over the place. I shouted down "Hey can you keep it down to a whisper!?"
"Sorry, dude, it's the beer." was the lame apology.
"I don't care, I just want to sleep!" and went back for another hour and a half of sleep.
When our alarm went off Ian and Margery were talking to "Waldo" a reporter from KSTP who is on about as regularly as I am. An odd assault had happened in the Uptown area of Minneapolis. Waldo reported that one to three people had been injured by a samurai sword in an apartment building on Lake and Lyndale. Non Birding Bill and I looked at each other--that's our block. I recalled the sirens and the strange conversations of the drunks behind our building. NBB asked, "What other apartment building is on our block besides ours?"
We turned on the news and sure enough, there was our apartment building--the scene of the samurai sword attack! I dropped an email to Ian and Margery telling them that was my building in the story. I walked out into the hall:
First, I find that crime scene taped has been used in our hallway. I walked to the front stairwell and WOW!
The trail of blood went from the third floor all the way out into the street. There was purple stuff splashed on the wall with the blood, which I can only assume must be from investigators trying to find prints. There were also wrappers and towels all over the third floor from crime scene investigators. I could see the KSTP news truck outside and said hello to Waldo--we later ended up on Ian and Margery. Margery commented that she loved how their guests connect under the oddest circumstances and how is it that I'm always in the thick of things?
NBB and I walked around as other neighbors were coming out of their apartments for work, not prepared for the bloody mess in the stairwell. We told them what we knew and then one of our neighbors came out who had witnessed some of it. It happened in the apartment above him. He heard a huge fight, he saw at least three injured people, two of whom took off. He called the police and when they arrived one of the injured who couldn't get away was taken to the Emergency Room. Body parts like fingers were bagged and walked out of the apartment. It was 7am at this point and our neighbor had a beer. He apologized but said it had been a rough morning. I now wonder if he was one of the drunks I yelled at around 4:30am?
According to news reports right now, the two other injured people showed up at the Emergency Room, with injuries consistent with a sword. I think they've been arrested.
Ian and Margery both wondered who the heck would have a samurai sword in their apartment...well, we do. They are very dull and probably couldn't slice chilled butter, but we've used them for shows. NBB wondered if his friends saw the story. "Great, Aaron and Dale are going to see that it's our building on the news and a samurai sword and think I've finally snapped."
We've lived here 8 years and it's always been a really nice building with great neighbors...except for the noisy bands next door. Now the stairwell smells like blood. What a way to start your work day. This just blows my mind. Perhaps it's time to move?