Okay, seriously... what the F***????

It seems that every encounter I have with my neighbors lately is under the cloud of crime.

Down the hall from me is a lovely family of four. I like 'em. The kids are sweet. The parents are good folk. So I ran into them as I did laundry and the mom called me aside.

I talk to the family a lot. I helped them with moving stuff while the mom was pregnant. When someone tried to break in via their balcony, I took a look and helped where I could with what they should do (call the police!!!).

I've also kept them in the loop when I've had my crime encounters around the building (encountering vagrants coming from the garage area, hearing from other neighbors about burglary, etc.). So today, the mom told me that she and her hubby are friends with a family in a house across the street.

Today they were the victims of what is called a home invasion. Someone came in through the unlocked back door with a gun and... well... robbed them at gunpoint.

Prior to this, we've had maybe annual burglaries. A car gets rifled through. A couple storage units got broken into. Maybe trespassing by homeless. Stuff like that.

Introduction of a gun to a crime around here is a whole new level of scary.

I've since spread the news to the folks next door to me and across the hall. I'm not sure how productive that is, as I'm really spreading fear, but I figure people should be aware of what's going on and be alert.

I gotta admit. Armed home invasion... this is freaking me out a bit.

Just sayin'