A Shooting, a Stabbing, a Standoff. Oh my.

It's been a good month, in an alliterative way. A shooting, a stabbing, a standoff, and a stalker. Which makes it not such a good month. But good in the sense it's job security for cops, and reporters on the cops and courts beat.

Today was the standoff. The stalker at the school came yesterday. The stabbing was Sunday. The victim will live. The shooting was a double homicide. Pretty nasty. Today's standoff is just a block from the shooting. Both are just two blocks from a middle school.

The stalker was looking for a high school student. It's a wonder they don't just lock the schools down as a preventative measure at this point. Sheesh.

Back to the murder. As of March, 2004 I'd covered 14 of them. The last killer at that point was Jayson Garrett. Since then, we can add: 15 year old Joey Stanford, killed in an argument over a shovel. Then there was a murder-suicide last spring. Now a double homicide this spring. So now I'm up to at least 17 murders, with more than 17 victims. No, I'm not a serial killer. Just a TV reporter. It's a little weird to think about. Sure gets the adrenaline pumping. But also adds to the stress. Let's hope this current Nebraska crime spree settles down quickly. Or it could be a long year.