The 'hood is hoppin'

My neighborhood has been pretty a pretty hopping place lately. A few days ago, some kids got caught shoplifting at a liquor store in downtown San Jose. A security guard caught them, but they broke free ("if you love someone, set them free; if they return to you, send them to jail?") and the fled.

And where did they flee to? My neighborhood, of course; we seem to be a magnet for this sort of thing. The abandoned their car (no mention as to whether it was stolen or not) in the parking area behind a neighbor's house and took off on foot.

A neighbor (dare I say "fearmonger") sent out an email describing the event:

Last night after 10:30p.m. a red Dodge Neon, sped into our development and three young males abandoned the car and escaped the property to the street through a side yard. The vehicle was left with the keys in the ignition and lights and radio on.

One person was seen wearing a red shirt and dark shorts and another was seen wearing a white shirt and dark shorts (typical colors of the local gang). Campbell and San Jose PD came to the scene; the car was involved in a San Jose liquor store theft.

Apparently the security guard caught one person stealing a bottle of vodka, managed to get one handcuff on the person, but the guys escaped and left the scene in the red Neon that ended up in our development.

It is suspected that people affiliated with [neighbor with alleged gang ties] are involved; however no witnesses could identify the people running away, so there was nothing the police could do at the time.

Pretty cool, huh? I thought so too, at first. But something about the description didn't seem right. It took a day or so (Columbo would have been disappointed in me), but I figured out what it was. It was the colors the alleged perps were wearing. Go back and reread the blurb, see if you notice it too.

Did you see it (do you feel like you're in Mr. Roger's Neighborhood)? One of the perps was wearing a white shirt and dark shorts. As was mentioned, these are the colors of one of the local gangs). With me so far?

Another "young male" (I love the way that was written, it has all sorts of attitude behind it) was wearing red. RED - the story said another young male was wearing RED (as no mention is made of what the third perp was wearing, we'll assume he was unclothed for the time being).

You must get it by now! He was wearing RED. Red is the color of the OTHER local gang. So, we're left with a pretty significant dilemma. Did the two gangs band together to knock over this liquor store? If so, I think that's great. Admittedly, it's not so great that they knocked over a liquor store, but they're working together, demonstrating teamwork. Definitely a step in the right direction.

Or, more likely, is it the case that the story is true, but the writer has taken just a wee bit of artistic license with it in an effort to make the story seem more dramatic than it really is.

In the words of the immortal Johnny Cochrane, "if the red shirt don't fit, you must acquit."