Five Years Ago Today....

I had forgotten about the timing. Thanks for the reminder. I spent a great deal of time in that area myself, so I remember it was a shock to my system when it happened. Reminds us how all it takes is one sick jackass too commit a random act of violence and end it all for any of us.

 

Remember thinking immediately, when that one sheriff kept handling the press briefings, that this was a role Charles S. Dutton was born to play. And sure enough, he did!

Also, and I say this in all seriousness: How did we all avoid the race card being played in some ridiculous fashion during and after those shootings?

 

Because we are somewhat mature, J-Will. I lived two hours from D.C. at the time, and allegedly our neck of the woods was next as he progressed northward from D.C. to Baltimore to Harrisburg.

 

Of course, the "witness" lying about the white box truck made things a bit more difficult.

 

I had forgotten about this being in early October. True story. I covered a team that was forced to postpone a game with the same opponent for three straight years due to incidents. FIrst, in 2001 it was September 11. Then (after a change in the schedule moved the game to Ottober), the DC Sniper, and finally in 2003 the game was postponed by a hurricane (I forget which one). All three times, the game had to be played at the end of the season.

 

I had forgotten when this happened. I had some friends living in the D.C. area at the time and didn't know if they were OK until a few days later.

 

Man, I can't believe it's been five years.

I remember talking to our desk guy on the first day and even he joked, "Watch out for the box truck, dude." If only we knew...

As time went on, I frequented only one gas station not far from where I lived. The mini-mart was in the middle, and parking on one side meant you were essentially covered on three sides and exposed only a little bit on the fourth.

We saw one public HS football game played at MCB Quantico. It was weird being outside and not being afraid.

I won't ever forget when they hit in our county. That Sunoco station wasn't but a mile from where I lived when I first moved here. I shop at the Home Depot in Fairfax from time to time, too, and I can't help but think of the victims when I'm there.

 

I had completely forgotten about this.
So much has happened in the meantime.
At least they caught these murderous loons. I don't know how I'd feel if I'd known one of the anthrax victims, an event which had also slipped my mind until this thread popped.

 

Yeah, I meant Fairfax County. But yeah, it ain't far from where we are now... not a mile, but not too many miles.