Jun 12, 2010

It may seem that I'm turning this blog into a crime blotter. 

Here in Hooterville we have our fair share of sensational crimes, so I have to tell someone about it.  I really have no choice.

For instance, about ten years ago a prominent local hustler named GT was blown up as he started his car.  A scene right out of the movies.

GT had just finished a round of golf at a posh country club, and was on his way to a birthday bash, when kaboom, no more GT.   The list of suspects with motive was long as I understand it.  GT. had pissed off a lot of folks.

Just this past month, the first of the co-conspirators in the GT case was sentenced to life.  The crime was perpetrated by GT's ex and her criminal boyfriend.  GT made the mistake of carrying a lot of insurance.

This morning there was a crime that might have been ripped from the pages of a mob novel.

A thirty-nine year-old fellow was sitting alone in a restaurant waiting for the other members of his Christian business networking club to arrive.  Just another day trying to make a buck and dragging God along for good luck.

Sitting a few tables away was another fellow, not doing God's work, but bent on murder.  The killer rose, walked to our victim's table and without a word, shot him dead.  Then he strolled out of the restaurant and disappeared.

My first thought was that this was not your garden variety homicide.  This guy pissed off the wrong person or persons.

I'm not making light of this situation.  The deceased left a loving wife and four small children.  This was a needless and senseless tragedy.

However.

The cops quickly realized that there is a possibility that the killing might have something to do with the deceased's connection to a real estate and mortgage fraud indictment which named him as a defendant.  According to the Arizona Attorney General the victim, along with a number of other folks participated in a multimillion dollars real estate and mortgage lending swindle.

This scheme led to the foreclosure of 130 homes and stole upward of $10M from banks and ordinary folks.

So, the thinking at the moment is that it is possible that the gunman might be a victim of the fraud, exacting revenge.  Or, I suppose, it could be the work of a random nut.

Even the life of a lowly hardware man is not without its brushes with the criminal underbelly of society.

Just yesterday, I was trying to help a fellow with a plumbing problem he was having, when three police officers stormed the plumbing aisle and swept up my customer.  He was cuffed, taken outside, put into a cop car and driven away.


The worst part was that they didn't even have the decency to give me any lurid details.

It's a world gone mad.  If we just had a guy like Joe Friday.





Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky

4 comments:

Steve Reed said...

Wow! I hope you find out what your customer's offense was! How dramatic!

I agree about the guy in the restaurant. These crimes are very rarely truly random. He no doubt made a lot of enemies with his fraud scheme.

The Bug said...

"Just another day trying to make a buck and dragging God along for good luck." - I laughed out loud. Sorry he was killed since I think that lets him off the hook a little too easy in my opinion (if he's guilty).

I am MUCH to nosy to tolerate not knowing what the plumbing problem guy did. Guess there's no way to find out though.

Kurt said...

If only you could have any customer hauled off at your whim.

Barbara said...

Wow! I didn't realize there was so much excitement in your sleepy little university town. I hope your customer was legal or otherwise with your new laws he's probably already back in Mexico.

As for the guy murdered in cold blood, most likely there is an actual motive. The God thing was probably just a front for illegal activity. Murder is a pretty extreme way to take revenge.