Today started out like any other Sunday. Walked the dogs, went for a run, did some yard work.
Came back in the house and checked twitter and facebook. I see a tweet from @Mkescan about 10:45 that says "Report of Officer down in Oak Creek. Active shooter." Woah! I know a couple of guys that work for the Oak Creek police force. It has me a bit worried.
Keep watching my feed and a few minutes later I see this " @NewsHub: We are getting reports that 4 people were shot at Sikh Temple, 7512 S. Howell Ave., OC Police not giving out information" Holy shit! this is not good.
It is now close to noon and I'm riveted to Twitter and Fox 6 for information. By 4:00pm we know this. A man walked into the Sikh temple and opened fire. It sounds like he then went outside and was confronted by the two officers. They exchanged gunfire. One officer was shot, the other officer shot and killed the suspected shooter. Thew officer who was shot is expected to survive. Six other people were shot and killed.
Some background: I grew up in Caledonia. The town just south of Oak Creek. Growing up we did most things in Oak Creek rather than going into Racine. We would go to the high school and swim, use the library, shop and eat at restaurants there. In 2001, late hubby and I bought a house in Oak Creek. I loved that house. We had great neighbors and several of our neighbors worked for the Oak Creek Police Dept . We sold the house in 2008 and I bought a house where I live now.
You hear about things like this on the news. Most recently in Aurora, CO. You think it is such a tragedy but think that is can never happen to you, to your town, your neighbors and friends. Today that changed. This was my town, my neighbors and hopefully not any of my friends (as of the time of this post they have not released the names of the two officers who responded).
About 5:00pm it is reported that an area of Cudahy is being evacuated. This is about 10 blocks from me. The authorities are now searching the home of the suspected shooter. As of 8:30 pm the helicopters are still flying overhead. With the suspected shooter dead, we may never know why this happened. The FBI has classified this as an act of "Domestic Terrorism". That is a term for not fucking around. I don't think the FBI uses that term loosely or frequently.
Normally stuff does not bother me too much. This has left me rattled to the core. I feel very unsettled. This is not the way I wanted Oak Creek to be known for.
My thoughts and prayers tonight are for the friends and family of those who were injured and killed today in another senseless act of violence. My hope is that we learn from this and hopefully never have to read or hear about another tragedy like this.
