via google maps
“Dear PoPville,
Tonight, October 31st at around 8:30pm there was an armed robbery in the 1300 block of Columbia road. The heavy police presence in the vicinity peaked my interest, but something was clearly wrong when a black sedan carrying 4 passengers ran a red light at 11th and Harvard, almost t-boning me through the intersection at twice the speed limit. Police pursued this vehicle. 15 minutes later, I asked 4 officers what had happened. One hesitated to answer, then replied “not a shooting” and refused to say more.
Another two officers on Columbia road said “nothing important”. A black sedan was in the middle of the street about 50 yds from where I inquired, surrounded by police and crime scene tape. I approached one more officer on 11th st, who admitted it was an armed robbery at gunpoint. He answered my questions professionally, but I am confused as to why it was so hard to get a straight answer. On the night of Friday October 25th, I noticed an unusually high police presence on 14th street. An officer replied to my inquiry with something condescending like “we’re just out here keeping bikers safe!”. When I road past Columbia rd immediately after, there were a dozen police cars, just like tonight. I can’t help but think that, after 6 people were shot back in September, there is an effort to keep crime in the area under-reported. It is hard to find information on crime in this area online; I still don’t know what happened in the 1300 block of Columbia Road on October 25th.”