It was a normal night during this state-at-home pandemic with nothing going on other than Netflix, but then …
Pop!
Pop! Pop!
As I sat here in my home office, I considered the possibilities once hearing what all my neighbors heard. Fireworks, which are frequent, or was it a worst-case scenario situation that had not taken place in this area of East Wheeling since before we purchased these properties a decade ago.
But just like that, there it was. I watched a man struggle with a gun wound for the first time in my life.
My wife urgently told me about the staggering black man falling his way down 14th Street. He then collapsed between vehicles in front of the House of Hagar at 114 14th Street. The shooting, based on what we heard and the search we witnessed, took place up the street closer to the intersection of 14th and Wood streets.
One of our neighbors, Elizabeth, said it looked like a gun battle on that corner. While she sat on her front porch, she saw people shooting at each other. That’s how she described it. She told my wife there has to be more than one victim. She said it looked like fireflies up on that corner even though it’s only late April.
The Usual? No.
Local residents, though, likely think these things are expected in East Wheeling because of ancient stereotypes, but those brandings are no longer fair for this neighborhood. It is understandably difficult to believe after this incident, but who thinks less of Dimmeydale after a stabbing took place there two weeks ago?
The man made a choice, and that choice, whatever it was, got him shot.
We watched the spectacle that is a scene of a shooting and how the officers operated while deposing the victim and searching for shell casings and collecting statements from our neighbors. Hours later, the blue and red lights were gone and so was the Police Line tape from the area where the victim was found.
Oh, and yeah, the crowd had returned to that corner, too, and I guess, minus at least one.
