Police Action

Monday, I witnessed part of the manhunt for a local serial armed robber.

I had contacted a fellow named Russ via craigslist about buying some wargaming and roleplaying books. We met at a coffeeshop, Texpresso, near the Alamo Drafthouse to geek out and haggle. We wound up talking more about languages, local restaurants, and international travel than games or computers.

About five minutes after he left, patrons in the shop started noticing about a half-dozen police cars in the parking lot. Cops started milling about- most had their service revolvers out, but I saw three with readied rifles. A few minutes later, someone said that it looked like they cops had started to block off the parking lot. I very nearly left when Russ did, but I wanted to hit the net and try one of Texpresso's signature and eponymous drinks. A patron came in and told us that someone had robbed a bank, and the suspect had locked himself into one of the women's restrooms. Ah, Dame Rumor!

I sometimes have my digital camera in my laptop bag. Monday, I didn't. As fortune had it, my new whiz-bang Nokia 3220 (it's like a rave in your pocket) with a camera and a stock and this thing that tells time had just run out of juice. I had enough power to make a call, but not enough to run the camera. Shades of Apollo 13!

I started reporting to Judson via IM all of the developments. His first question? "Where are you in all this? You sitting on the floor? Assess your cover." Despite sitting near to a large glass window, I felt secure. Not only was I out of the line of fire, I could reach much better cover into the cafe and behind the counter very quickly. And who says that roleplaying games don't prepare you for real life?

I didn't want to leave the cafe, as I had two file boxes full of games, plus my laptop bag. I felt that the police would take a dim view of an unidentified man carrying two suspicious-looking white boxes into this situation. Also, one officer had stationed his car directly behind mine, using both my car and a white pickup as cover for his car, which he then used as cover. I did have a good view of his little staging area as he searched through the weapons in his trunk. "Great," I thought. "With my luck, a shootout happens and Progressive doesn't cover bullet holes. The city better buy me a new car."

About this time, speculation had it that the bank robber had hostages. People came out of the Drafthouse in ones and twos, and cops escorted three cooks out, frisked them, and let them go. I saw one woman sobbing into a man's arms about thirty feet past the window. By this time, the cops had largely holstered their weapons and had a much more relaxed attitude. Two Feds or detectives had pulled up and started talking to the civvies outside. Shortly after this, the office moved his car from blocking mine and I took the opportunity to leave and go have lunch.

When I got to my car, I plugged in my phone and took a poor-quality-at-a-distance shot of the restaurant draped in crime scene tape; I'll try to transfer it off my phone and have it available here for the teeming masses.

To see the shopping center where this all went down, check out these two Google Maps. Hope this helps!