At some point early this morning, I woke up to helicopters flying back and forth in my neighborhood. Since I had to wake up at a reasonable hour to conduct a training for work, I tried as best I could to fall back asleep. But of course, the helicopters managed to make their way into my dreams, with me back at the house I grew up in and looking at the helicopters from the back porch with my mom and brother. (How come I never dream about my current apartment, but instead dream of a place I haven’t lived in 12 years?).

Later, while I was drinking my coffee and listening to NPR, I heard briefly that a cop was shot about a block away from my apartment early this morning. Sure enough, when I headed to the training, the area was blocked off. And sure enough, on my way home this afternoon, the neighborhood was a circus with more cops, barricaded blocks, and media swarming around. I even had someone from the media lean out of his SUV (I know he was from the media, because he made it a point to tell me and show me the badge around his neck) to ask me where the closest Starbucks was and whether it was within walking distance. He looked deflated when I told him it was a 15 minute walk away — sorry friend, this is Brooklyn, not the Upper West Side. I should have pointed him towards Gorilla Coffee instead.

Park Slope is a pretty tame neighborhood in comparison with many others, and I think many Park Slopers tend to be complacent and forget that they live in a city with eight million people and plenty of crime, so I’m sure quite a fuss will be made about this. Anyway, you can read all about craziness here, here, and here. If the NY Times or the Gothamist run a story on it, I’ll be sure to add those links here too.

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Update: Here’s the link to the Gothamist’s coverage.