Our Community's Tragedy

In February our community was rocked by the tragic shooting of two policemen at a local Panera where David and I eat lunch several times a month. A woman noticed her abusive ex-husband at the restaurant, called the police, and when one of the policeman approached the man in a very friendly manner, the man pulled out a gun and shot the officer.  This happened right in the restaurant which was filled with families and children out of school for a snow day.  In the ensuing foot chase that occurred, another policeman was shot and killed before the man himself was killed.  In the weeks following this incident there was an outpouring of love and support for our local police officers.  It was definitely hard the first time we went back to Panera to have lunch and see all the little tokens and flowers and signs of support that had been left there.

Flags were flown at half mast throughout the county...

and there were huge memorial services for the fallen officers.

During the second weekend in March, the Panera where the shooting took place held a fundraiser where 100% of sales earned over the three days were given to the families of the fallen officers. The kids and I made sure we supported it.

It's still so hard to believe that such a tragedy occurred in our little community.