2 dozen people and the ice cream truck

Do none of them know what "Shelter in place" means?

I just took Blue for a walk. It had been 6 hours since the first texts from the university telling us to stay home and stay inside started coming in. The action of the manhunt is concentrated probably 5 or 6 miles away. However since he hijacked a car once to get to Watertown there's no reason to think he wouldn't do it again if it would help him escape and then he could end up anywhere. So the whole city is now on lockdown.

It's been quiet lately on the siren and weird noises front and Blue was rather desperate so I thought I could probably get away with 5 minutes. I counted at least 2 dozen people loitering in the park: playing basketball, sitting in the sun, running on the track, walking from here to there. And then the ice cream truck went by playing its song. Really?!? The ice cream truck? The city specifically asked businesses to close today. What is wrong with these people?

A guy walking his dog asked another guy sitting on the benches with his phone if there had been news of it being wrapped up yet. Bench guy said no, they're still looking for him. And then both continued with what they were doing as though that weren't cause for alarm. While the odds of anything happening in my park are really rather small, THAT'S NOT THE POINT.

I am very much one for not living my life in fear. I flew to London a month after a friend died in the PanAm 103 bombing. I was living in DC at the time of 9/11 and the snipers and the anthrax scares. You can't let them win. But you can maximize your safety for a day - or a month - by staying inside when there's a manhunt on for someone willing to throw bombs into crowds, or filling up your car at the gas station next to Fort Meade.

And it's not just making yourself safer, it's making it easier for law enforcement to do their jobs. If there's not other people around then the suspect will have a much harder time blending in. Don't think it's not near me, it doesn't matter. Law enforcement has asked for the entire city to stay inside so you stay inside. They are doing a really difficult and dangerous job. One of them has already died. I think it is awful that these people would be wandering around the park like nothing is going on.