I can't think of any appropriate title for this.

On Saturday night, someone was murdered in the park behind my apartment. I heard the shots from my couch.

(09-24) 11:45 PDT Mountain View - -- An alleged gang member has been arrested on suspicion of fatally shooting a friend over the weekend- Mountain View's first homicide in two years, police said today. Marco Jauregui, 25, was booked on suspicion of murder in the weekend slaying of his friend, Rene Escalante, 24, said Mountain View police spokeswoman Liz Wylie. Police said Jauregui shot and killed Escalante at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday at Whisman Park on the 300 block of Easy Street. Escalante was pronounced dead at Stanford Medical Center. A motive for the shooting was unclear, and police were investigating whether the shooting was gang-related, Wylie said. "All of the involved parties are affiliated with the Mountain View Sureños," Wylie said. "We're still trying to figure that all out. We're not quite sure why a good friend, who is affiliated with the same gang, would kill his friend."

I thought it was fireworks at first but then I heard people yelling. I went out to my porch to see what was going on, then decided it wasn't a good idea to be back-lit on my porch if someone had a gun and went back inside. An ambulance and police showed up in 5-10 minutes. I could see where they were putting him on a stretcher from my porch, and it isn't more than 300 feet from my apartment. Helicopters were circling low overhead for the rest of the night.
View Larger Map I'm somewhat accustomed to having violence happen in my neighborhood, but this is the first time I've actually witnessed it. The most chilling part was the pauses between the shots. There were three or four shots fired and they had a couple of seconds gap between them. It didn't sound like a burst of rage. The person fired, stopped and saw what they were doing, and then fired again at least two more times.