Just Another Boring Day in Elmwood Park

So Tuesday morning starts out just like any other day, except for the fact that Katie has the day off and I got a few extra minutes of shut-eye. The first indication that something was screwy was the glimpse I caught out the kitchen window of three cops running out of the school next door. Dressed in full SWAT gear with automatic weapons drawn, they sprinted across the street and took position beside a neighbor's car. "Hmmm," I thought. "This is different." Then we noticed the police barricades blocking off our street. "Maybe they are finally getting around to fixing those potholes," I said. Turns out some moron had run from the cops and barricaded himself inside a motel that happened to be located on the other side of the school, and he was holed up threatening to shoot himself and anybody who came near. As a precaution, the NJ State Police locked down the school and sealed a three-block area, which happened to include our house. There were news crews crawling all over the place, and helicopters hovering above the scene, giving the entire situation a surreal and exciting feel. Eventually the doofus in the hotel gave up, and everything returned to normal, but it was a pretty cool couple of hours on Miles Street. The best line was delivered from a cop outside our house when I asked him if there was any real danger. "Don't worry," he said. "You won't get hit by one of our bullets." Gee, thanks.

Read the Bergen Record story here.

Here the NJ State Police address the concerned parents who had gathered outside the secure perimeter.