gunfire in the warzone

There have been so many shootings lately that it's hard to keep up with them all. I've mentioned TheTrace.org before. It does make me feel better when outside monitors like them also notice the trouble here in north Minneapolis.

See the map and read the depressing news about local violence...

Each red star is a person hit by a bullet. I live approximately where the word "Jordan" is on this image, indicating my local Jordan neighborhood of the city, nearly the direct center of these data points.

Inexplicably, the recent shooting that concerned me the most isn't even on this 30-day map of north Minneapolis. That red star is missing. It was a shooting at the "Handy Stop" gas station a few blocks away that left someone dead. I've mentioned it before. It's where I ducked down to avoid bullets in 2020. It's where I walked to the veterinarian with my cat last August.

Here's audio from a more recent fatal shooting. I think it was this one, about 7 blocks southwest of me, but they're hard to keep straight any more. There's also the home invasion about 12 blocks northeast of me, the hit and run, the overhead planes, the late-night gunshots (Ring camera recording), and just a few minutes ago another shooting about 2 blocks east of the grocery store I ride the bus to.

It's almost nice, sometimes, to hear crime news from the rest of the metro, beyond my north Minneapolis home. Like the wifi jammers being used to rob the homes of rich people. When crime finally gets organized?

Maybe you'll understand I'm unimpressed that the rest of Minneapolis gets upset when my local representative snaps and curses at a resident about a liquor store license. On any other day, sure, that's bad. But we're living in a warzone here, and we all have PTSD while everyone continues business as usual in the city council chamber. I might snap too, and I think I'm still managing to keep some cool after nearly a decade of listening to gunfire.

My coworkers in Pennsylvania this afternoon were discussing the potentially dangerous situations that came to their homes this week. Trouble is following people everywhere recently. As the kids say these days, "Welcome to late-stage capitalism, everyone." This is life in the USA now.

Stay safe out there.