In LA it was normal to hear gunshots 6 out of seven nights every week.  Usually off in the distance; sometimes close by.  (Like the time the guy on the corner was assassinated on his front porch.  Scroll to the bottom to read that story.)

But the gunfire was just part of the background noise you get used to. And police helicopters.  If the gunshots were local, we could count on soon hearing a police helicopter circling overhead, even shining their searchlight in our back yard.  That was always reassuring.

Our first house in Michigan was in Portage, adjacent to Kalamazoo.  Three bedrooms on a third of an acre (a 9-condo footprint if in L.A.)  in the middle of Michigan suburbia.  Kalamazoo county population a bit more than 250,000.  And after a few months we realized two things we had not heard since our arrival: gunshots and helicopters.

Fast forward to our new home in rural Vicksburg.  We are out in the middle of nowhere.  Surrounded by farms and woodlands.  No helicopters, but plenty of gunfire.  But not from rival gangs.  Hunters hunting.  Hunters working on their aim before hunting.  Or just people enjoying target practice.  Once you get over the anxiety of a stray bullet, it is the least startling version of gunshots we’ve ever heard.

Anxiety-free gunshots?  We’re not in L.A. any more.

The time the guy on the corner was assassinated on his front porch?

It was about eight o’clock at night.  We had just sat down to watch TV in our den which was at the front of the house.  The windows were open as it was a typically warm L.A evening.  We heard six gunshots in rapid succession; close by.  Rapid succession as in as fast as you could pull a trigger.  We both (wife Carrie and I)  jumped up and headed outside and toward the sound of gunshots. (I am not able to explain this behavior, but it was not an anomaly.) I was dialing 911 on my cellphone by the time we got to the sidewalk.  Before the 911 operator answered we heard four more shots.  Ten in all; the magazine limit in California.    I was giving 911 the details as we approached the intersection just 200 feet from our front door, where we saw the car full of bad guys pulling away.

The police arrived in force in an amazing 60 seconds from my call.  We gave them the description of what we had heard and seen.  About 20 of our neighbors slowly came out to gawk.

We learned later from our officer friends that this was a revenge killing. The dead guy had recently been released from prison.  He had at some point, testified against the shooters.