Ok, so this happened last Friday. Me and four friends wanted to hang out over our Spring Break and we'd already done the basic things like the movies, beach, etc. Well one of our friends suggested we go play laser tag because it's pretty cheap and fun. So we're like yeah cool, let's do this. One of my friends was staying at my house so we just went and picked up our other three friends and made our way over to Q-Zar (it's the laser tag place and it's about 35 minutes away). Well to get there, you have to go down a huge street called Dale Mabry. Everything is going smoothly until we hit TONS of traffic. We figured it was just rush hour and it would ease up. Well after 30 minutes of barely moving, we saw cop cars rushing by us so we figured it was an accident. We tried going down another street and avoiding the accident but the police had blocked off a huge chunk of the road and nobody knew why. It just so happened that the laser tag place was in that chunk of road so we had no idea what to do. We started just driving around hoping to pass time and go back later when the accident was cleared up. Well as we're driving around, we pass a HUGE "military rescue vehicle" that looked like a tank. We're like uhh, something isn't right. Next we saw a bomb squad pass us and now things just aren't making any sense. Next thing we know, my friend gets a call from his dad and apparently the building RIGHT NEXT to Q-Zar was a shooting gallery where 5 hostages were being held. All surrounding businesses were in lockdown. So me and my friends were like wow, if we had been there 1 hour earlier we'd be in lockdown right now. We went out to dinner and just went home and all of our parents were like freaking out. Well the stand-off lasted 10 hours but in the end, the suspect committed suicide and the hostages were all safe. It was a crazy night and for about 3 hours we were just driving around not having any idea where to go or what to do. Hundreds of people were standing on each street end watching what was unfolding. It was a crazy day and here is an article about it: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> TAMPA - After a tense 10 hours, a police standoff and hostage situation that snarled Thursday’s rush hour traffic finally ended early Friday morning. All five of the hostages taken in the incident made it out safely. The gunman, 42-year-old Jeffrey Dudney, shot and killed himself, according to Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee. Dudney had a long criminal history, and had recently been arrested by Tampa Police. He faced three charges of attempted murder along with DUI charges following a recent road rage incident, and he was out of jail on $150,000 bond. According to Sheriff Gee, Dudney went into the Shooting Sports Gun Range on North Dale Mabry Highway around 5:00 p.m. on Thursday with the intent to steal a gun and take off. But Gee said a customer inside confronted Dudney, and that’s when the 10-hour stand-off began. He took five hostages—three of them being customers of the store, and the other two being employees. Deputies say they were seriously concerned because they believed Dudney was capable of killing all five people. "We had a situation here where we had a lot of high-powered weapons that were in there—a lot of long guns, a lot of ammunition-- and so it was basically a fortress. The doors were welded shut on the inside," Gee explained. Gee described an incredibly volatile scene that unfolded over the hours, with Dudney constantly threatening to shoot the hostages inside. "He came to the door several times with a gun to the head of some his hostages," said Gee. "Every time we would talk to him, he would bring all of the hostages to the front of the store. He would prone some of them out on the ground, and others he would hold in front of him as a shield." Negotiators say though Dudney was clearly unstable, they tried to meet all of his demands throughout the ordeal. They say he asked for things like a car, and medication. All five hostages were finally released safely. Sheriff Gee said some of them were frustrated with the length of time it took negotiators to free them. "Some of the hostages were upset that this process had taken so long," said Gee. "Of course with the negotiators, that's part of this process—just to slow this whole thing down." Detectives say they believe Dudney felt he had nothing to lose. Because of the recent charges against him and his criminal history, he would likely have been going to jail based on the 10-20-life law, and they say he was determined not to let that happen. The situation brought police and deputies from across the county, some toting full SWAT gear and driving armored tank-like vehicles. The FBI was even called in to assist. The ensuing standoff forced the closure of Dale Mabry, leaving evening commuters to find another way home. “Going east on Waters, it was gridlock. Westbound was gridlock to the Veterans. I tried to go up Manhattan and all the neighborhoods were just backed up,” complained John Wallace, who had finally given up and parked his car. Authorities said Dale Mabry Highway was reopened just before 5:00 a.m. on Friday, and traffic flow has now returned to normal.</div> Source: Fox <--- (picture of guy next to article)
damn, you weren't kidding when you made the title of this. glad you're all right anyway. coulda been a lot worse. you could of just as easily been next door when all of that happened. scary stuff man. and all this within two days of the virginia tech tragedy? whats wrong with the world today.
<div class="quote_poster">hoops4life Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">damn, you weren't kidding when you made the title of this. glad you're all right anyway. coulda been a lot worse. you could of just as easily been next door when all of that happened. scary stuff man. and all this within two days of the virginia tech tragedy? whats wrong with the world today.</div> Yeah it was so crazy. It was actually on Friday, April 13 (FRIDAY THE 13TH ) so it wasn't within two days of the VT shooting but still, it was damn close. Pretty crazy that there are evil people out there who would do stuff like this.
