So for 10 years I have lived in the same neighborhood and apartment and thankfully (knocking on wood), I have never witnessed or been a victim of a crime. That all changed last night. I was lying in bed around 11:30pm trying desperately to go to sleep when I heard people arguing outside. As the voices got raised, I turned up my radio to drown them out, but the arguing and foul language kept up for a bit. Then I heard a car reversing, then moving forward, then reversing and moving forward again. Through that, I heard someone scream really loud. I then jumped up, ran to the living room window, and looked down. There I saw about six people crowded around someone who was lying on the ground. I watched the scene for several minutes and could see that many of my neighbors in surrounding buildings were doing the same. After about 5 minutes, an ambulance showed up and I went back to bed. I assumed the person would be fine.
Then, this morning Racquetball Guy woke me up around 6:30am asking if I had heard what happened last night. He had seen a report on the news about a cabdriver being killed on my very block, in fact less than 100 yards away from my building. Apparently, the cabdriver and his passenger got into an argument over the fare and things got quite heated. The argument turned violent and the cabdriver was basically murdered in the heat of the argument. Now that I know all the details, I am shocked and a bit freaked out. Granted I was six floors up and in no real danger, it is still scary to find out that what I heard last night was someone being killed. Scary to think that someone who lives in this neighborhood or knows someone who lives on my block would get so out of control over what I am sure is no more than a $10 to $30 cab ride. How sad. How very very sad.