Shooting at Major League Barbershop

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Helicopters have been circling LoRise and HiRise for the past twenty minutes. No specific details yet: students saw P-Safe telling children and their caretakers in Traverse Square to clear out for safety reasons, because there was just a shooting.

[edit I: 6:35 pm] The shooting took place at Major League Barbershop, at the intersection of Williams and Broad streets (map above). Eyewitness News says that:

"three or four black men wearing red and black entered the barbershop, shot the person, then fled. This isn't the first time this barbershop has seen gunfire. In 2005, 26-year-old Marcus Perry opened fire at the business."

Shit! And I have such fond memories of my nonviolent MLB head-shave freshman year.

[edit II: 7:06 pm] Looks like Wesleyan picked the right day to start testing the phone/text security alerts - I just got a text message, robo-call from Dean Mike, and email about the incident with the following info, as well as worried phone calls from three separate family members who assumed I was there and barely escaped with my life:

Middletown Police has notified Public Safety that a shooting occurred off campus on William St between Broad and Main streets at approximately 5:25pm today 10/1/08. 5-7 individuals fled the area and several possible subjects have been stopped. There are no Wesleyan community members believed to have been involved in this and Public Safety has deployed several officers in the area while Middletown Police continue their search for suspects.

Brrrr! Probably not the best day for Middletown bar night. Although from my ostensibly safe two-block distance from the MLB crime scene, I will say it is pretty funny that the alleged perpetrators were wearing Wesleyan colors. More details as they come.

[edit III: 9:51 pm] P-Safe update:

Middletown Police with the assistance of Public Safety and State Police helicopters have completed the search of the area for possible suspects in this incident and there is no imminent threat to the Wesleyan community. Middletown Police are continuing their investigation into the shooting of one individual and anyone with any information is asked to contact them at 860-344-3200.

Also, Middletown Eye says that the only damage was one man shot in the leg, who was taken to the hospital. So you can tell your parents that yeah, there was a gang shooting two blocks off campus, but at least nobody's dead.

Photo below from Ed McKeon, at the scene earlier today:

Cold Water Log: Day 3

Today, I got out of bed and rushed to the faucet hoping there would be hot water. No, just freezing cold. I checked my email and found this from Maureen Isleib:

I'm sorry to report there is another mechanical issue at High Rise impacting the hot water. The air compressor failed that provides control air to all the pneumatic controls for the mechanicals, including the water heaters. The timing is unimaginable.

We will have this situation corrected by mid morning as the replacement compressor is on site and only has to be wired. We had anticipated this failure due to the existing machines condition and had the replacement unit shipped to us and delivered to High Rise earlier this week. Our electricians will be on the job first thing Wednesday morning. We will attempt to provide air temporarily by either manual means or babysitting the failed compressor long enough to get hot water to the building for morning showers. Terribly sorry for the inconvenience. I'll update you all on this latest development as soon as things are back to normal.

Useful would be the times they imagine the water being turned hot. Seeing as it'll only be a window and it'll be cold for god knows how much longer.