Grim News

Yesterday, in the wee hours of the morning, Reno police officers responded to a domestic disturbance taking place downtown about a block from where I live. Although details are a little sketchy (I don't know any more than what's in the press) the officers apparently ran into a man driving a stolen car during the investigation. Somehow or another the situation devolved into gunfire. Today one Reno police officer and the suspected car-thief are in intensive care with gunshot wounds to the head. This hits somewhat close to home for me not only because I live just around the corner from where it took place, but because I work with the RPD almost every day and know many officers personally.

This whole terrible episode illustrates just how far downtown Reno has to go. For all the gentrification that's taken place over the last couple of years, for all the significant improvements, the fact is that we still have an awful lot of--for lack of a better term--"bad element" hanging around. Although the above-linked story says that the suspected car-thief is a Reno resident, most of these folks who cause problems for the police downtown are not long-term Reno residents but drifters who come here looking for work or easy money or a good time or who knows what (my guess, and it's only a guess, is that this guy was only a "resident" in the sense that he has no permanent address aside from one of the many flea-bag motels in the downtown area that allow for weekly stays). More than a few of these guys are mentally unstable at best, and some are obviously not above resorting to violence at little provocation. Much as I love Northern Nevada, and fond as I am of my neighborhood, the fact remains that downtown Reno is still the sort of place where I don't want people I care about walking around alone at night. Maybe I'm being naive, but I look forward to the day when this community that I have so much invested in is the sort of place where something like this is unthinkable.