It was probably inadvertent fire.
The kind that can kill you or me or the kid playing hopscotch on the sidewalk.
There had been a bunch of teens, maybe two bunches of them, and some fireworks and a call for service and the two officers in the unmarked car responded.
The story isn’t clear but one was a veteran and the other might have been new. The new guy was in the driver’s seat and the veteran was in the passenger seat, with his window open.
That was Jeremy Nash.
Before dawn the mayor would tell the television cameras that he had a 3-week-old baby at home.
Before the hour was out a reverse 9-1-1 call would alert a large swath of the neighborhood to shelter away from windows, in the safest part of the house.
But that was all ahead still as Nash and his partner drove up North Street.
Up North Street and past Clifford Avenue, in what another mayor once called “no-man’s land.” Up where you can't hear the music from the jazz festival downtown. Near where DiPonzio was shot, and Strassner, and just blocks from where Pierson was killed. Up where a lot of blue has shed a lot of blood.
Up where a lot of families have said a lot of prayers, where the police tape flutters in the breeze and the street-side memorials accumulate. Where good people try to keep their families safe and bad people have the run of the streets.
It was up in there, with his window open, that Jeremy Nash got shot in the head.
It hit him like a pile driver.
We know that because he lived to tell. Because as the blood flowed he was able to key the mic and call in the troops as his partner roared to the hospital.
It was one of those “non life-threatening” wounds we hear so much about. Non life threatening, but so often life altering. Like this one might be.
Officer Jeremy Nash was hit by birdshot that passed through his eye and lodged in his sinus.
That’s not good for your vision.
And it’s never good to get shot in the head. And he’s in stable condition at the hospital, but he’s still in the hospital.
Was it targeted? Was it an ambush? Was it about Black Lives Matter and the escalating violence against law enforcement? Or was it stupid people doing stupid things? Was this cop collateral damage in the war on the streets? Was it just a piece of lead flying through space looking for a life to intersect?
We don’t know.
But the word went out and the manhunt began.
And in the neighborhood clustered around the scene of the shooting, residents responded as they’ve responded before.
“At 11:25 we get the call from 9-1-1 to stay in our home and away from all windows,” a neighbor said. “So we all get in mom’s bed because, in the back of the house, that’s fenced.”
As the family huddled there, following the developing story, they became angry, and concerned.
“We looked out the window to see if we could see anything, but nothing. We could hear the helicopter circling the area. We wondered if it would be shots heard, but nothing. We prayed for the cop and his family. We were scared to leave the house thinking he or they could be hiding and would hurt someone to get in.
“We talked about our young people and how they have lost the value of life. I'm a church girl, and my young men at church are productive, smart, kind young men. So it bothers me that … the few idiots that do things like this is how our black men are (portrayed.) For every stupid thug I could bring you five good young men. That bothers me.
“We discussed that, and how the breakdown of family has changed our world. No values.”
The shelter-in-place order was lifted at about 9:30 Sunday morning, and families scrambled to get to church on time. Inner-city churches where some congregations have repeatedly prayed and fasted for peace and safety in the streets.
Twice in the night the chief spoke, and the mayor as well. He and his deputy went to the scene, to take command. She and her deputy went to the hospital, to offer support. Strong, clear, resolved. Condemnation of evil, support for good, information and leadership on Twitter and TV. Police officers came in from around the county, reporters converged, the command post and the SWAT vehicles rolled up. The Pudgie’s Pizza man from Goodman and Norton brought in food and drinks for the cops, gratis, and then went to buy coffee for the reporters. Citizens came out to tell the police what they knew. The officers worked in pairs and squads, with long guns, sweeping the neighborhood, finding nothing.
And then the new day dawned.
With the same old reality.