Here is what I came home to tonight

[johnnie]

It was/is 6 houses away from me.
Kind of wild, the cops sent me back in to my house because of possible gunfire or something. I finally snuck around back and across the street.




"Authorities on scene of Cleveland house fire; armed man barricades himself in back yard"

# CLEVELAND -- Cleveland fire crews and SWAT team are on the scene of a house fire on Biddulph Road Monday night.See photos: Scene of house fire (1 of 6)
Police tell us an armed man has barricaded himself in the back yard of the home.
Some residents have been evacuated.

We have crews on the scene and will bring you the latest information as we get it.

http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_fullstory.asp?id=37766

[XanaDUer]

1. Sigh.

Our country is getting way too violent.

[johnnie]

2. This guy is in his 80s

I don't know the whole story yet. He is dead though. Why he decided to start his house on fire and threaten anyone who came there I don't know.

[Nite Owl]

3. Remember all the talk of

how bad crime was in the '92 elections? And then under Clinton and the prosperity we had everything go so much safer so why is there no talk of bad it is now? It's just not a hot topic anymore. Repukes are bad at everything they touch.

[XanaDUer]

4. They have the reverse Midas touch

everything they touch turns to shit for the average person.

[johnnie]

5. Update on what happened

In case anyone read this last night..lol. It doesn't look like it, but I thought I would update what happened. It's pretty sad really. Some of my neighbors called on this man because they haven't seen him in a while and were worried. When the cops went to check on him he barricaded himself in his house and set it on fire.
Chances are he just got confused and thought that someone was trying to break in and take his stuff or something. It was hard to get any info last night, but a few reporters talked to me.
It is sad that the old man had to go that way. I didn't know him or anything, I just feel bad that it happened and it was pretty wild to watch all this go down.

A few links.

http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_fullstory.asp?id=37766

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/4711685/detail.html
My house in one of the pictures on this one.

[Misunderestimator]

6. Oh no! That's really sad.

He was probably partly senile and scared to death of what he perceived as the cops invading his home. That's really horrible.

[johnnie]

7. I feel so bad for the neighbors who called

I'm sure they feel it was all their fault, but they were only trying to help.
The whole thing was pretty surreal.

[WCGreen]

9. I saw that on the news blip last night

On Channel 19, There Everywhere....

I just can't stomach local news anymore...

What neighborhood was it....

[johnnie]

11. Old Brooklyn

Biddulph and State.

[WCGreen]

15. I was just over there the other night.....

I hate when this stuff happens...

Hey, your new councilman, Kevin Kelley is a real stand-up type of guy. I have know him for years....

Or is your councilperson Merle Gordon

[johnnie]

17. Yes, it's Kevin Kelley

I haven't heard much about him yet, but it's good to know that you know him and that he is a decent guy.

[WCGreen]

18. He was a social worker for years, got his law degree

and has always had a great heart.....

If you meet him, tell him you know Chris Green.....

I still do his taxes...

[johnnie]

19. Will do n/t

[Misunderestimator]

10. Something like that... very like that... happened to a neighbor...

of nsma's a few years ago. I don't know the details, but some neighbors called out of concern, the guy was old and lived alone... he barricaded himself in the house, lots of cops showed up with guns. NSMA was able to convince them that he was ok, just scared, and they backed off and went away. Otherwise, I'm sure it would have been a similar outcome. Really, really sad.

The neighbors shouldn't feel bad, they did the right thing. I do wonder though, how the police were not able to break down a door once they knew that he set a fire.

[johnnie]

12. They knocked on the door and he didn't answer

From what I hear, they then took a window AC unit out and he was sitting there pointing a gun at the cops. A short time later the house went up and they didn't know where he was. I think they didn't break the door down because he had an arsenal in the house and they didn't know what he intended to do. We heard ammunition going off, but it might have been caused by the fire and not the old man.

[Misunderestimator]

14. Yeah, I guess with the gun it would be hard...

And the article says that the fire caught quickly. Awful.

[johnnie]

16. Our houses were built in the 1920s

That wood is pretty dry I would think.

[BlondieK143]

8. That's so sad!

That's just a horrible situation all together. :(

[johnnie]

13. It is sad.

I can only imagine that the man was just confused. From what I hear he died of smoke inhalation, but I also heard that he was shot. I don't know for sure.