The morning after in downtown Raleigh: updated 6/1
Last edited Mon Jun 1, 2020, 09:44 AM - Edit history (2)
and a few from the action last night.
Link added with several videos and news conference from Raleigh's white female mayor and African-American female Chief of Police.
https://abc11.com/raleigh-police-chief-calls-violence-disgusting--vows-more-arrests/6223006/
The violence started after dark last night. Apparently there was a peaceful protest beginning around 5 pm. It got ugly after dark. Most of the destruction was on Fayetteville Street, which is anchored by the performing arts center at one end and the State Capitol Building at the other.
The riot police were out--throwing tear gas--to disperse the crowds.
Part of the crowd headed east toward the park across from my building. I watched from inside my apartment. They were breaking windows. Started a fire in the DGX down the block from me.
Eventually, part of the crowd came back to the intersection below my apartment. Rolled a garbage bin out in the street and lit it on fire.
I called 911 to report it. Waited and waited. No FD, no police. Then, gun shots. The crowd had broken into the office across the street and were beginning to bring out furniture to throw on the fire. I called 911 again and the dispatcher told me they couldn't let FD into the area until the shooting was contained. About 10 minutes later, the riot police rolled up, threw tear gas, and then the FD rolled in. By then, the fire looked like this, black smoke billowing up in the sky to the level of my apartment on the 17th floor.
I tried to go to sleep around 2 am. About 2:30, I heard more gunshots, then almost immediately, sirens.
Someone had been shot and was taken away in an ambulance. There were at least a dozen police cars closing down the intersection, cordoning it off, securing the access to prevent vehicles from approaching the intersection.
I heard from someone in the elevator this morning who witnessed the shooting from the 7th floor that it appeared to be accidental. The guy who owns the barber shop across the street had been standing out front--with his AK--to keep people from breaking his window. The crowd was looting wine from the coffee place on the corner and he fired warning shots--apparently to tell them to stay away from him--and ended up shooting himself. The woman in the elevator told me it looked like he had shot himself in the abdomen. Don't know his status.
This morning I took my camera with me when I went out to walk Snowy.
Here's what I saw. All either on my block, across the street, or down the street from my apartment.
These shots are from the little restaurant that anchors one corner of my building.
The door on the right of this next photo is the emergency stairway fire exit from my building
The coffee place that anchors another corner of my building just got finished replacing glass that had been broken by a homeless man throwing rocks through windows in the area. I witnessed him breaking two windows one Sunday morning several weeks ago when out walking Snowy. I watched him be arrested by police. No force. No guns drawn. White cop, black man. Treated very respectfully as he was caught red handed breaking the windows.
The remains from the fire in the intersection directly below my apartment.
My favorite little French bistro right across the street.
Furniture from the office across the street that didn't make it onto the fire
Another fire had been started in front of the concession facility in the park
Photos of the DGX on the corner where a fire had been started last night
Cleaning up the mess this morning in the intersection from the fire
And one last photo taken just now on our 11 am walk
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Another night of destruction in Raleigh. It spread to North Hills and Triangle Town Centre.
At 2 am, windows in the lobby of my apartment building were broken and apparently the crowd came in and made a huge mess. It was pretty roughly cleaned up this morning when Snowy and I came back from our 7 am walk.
Tenants had received an e-mail saying that management was adding more security last night (we're already the only downtown apartment building with 24 hour staffed desk in our lobby). So much for that!
News reports indicate the Raleigh Mayor will be announcing a curfew to go into effect tonight. Governor Cooper has authorized deployment of the National Guard for Raleigh and Charlotte.
