I parked in front of Sumas' house, expecting a nice walk over the bridge to free Friday at the Grand Prix for my buddy and me.

We stepped up for a chat beforehand, and heard what we thought was a round of fire crackers a few blocks away. Thought nothing of it. A few of the neighbors looked down the street, too.

Walked a few blocks down Field, then over to the Boulevard, where we saw an oddly-dressed officer with a wee four-wheeler blocking the sidewalk. Considered it a bit odd, since he looked like a DNR officer...wondered why he'd be off the island. He was watching closely back towards Field on the next sidestreet, probably Agnes.

When we got closer, I saw another 4-wheeler at the alleyway...and it took a while to realize its owner was searching through the overgrowth...with his gun drawn. He wasn't happy. They two MORE 'Conservation Officers' another thirty feet down...guns drawn, looking for someone. Something.

WTF?!

It didn't take but a minute to realize we were in the middle of a manhunt. We made sure to put the two houses between us and any potential flying bullets.

At the next corner, there was an impromptu parking lot with a few cool guys attending...and we asked them what action we'd missed. Apparently someone tried to rob the party store/payday loan giant next to Tim Hortons...and there had been two near-simultaneous volleys of automatic weapon fire.

More State Troopers than I'd ever seen in one spot had converged on the store...along with a few Detroit boys-in-blue. The Conservation officers were called in to help the search for the perps.

Holy shit. Talk about your impromptu inter-departmental co-operation! I hope they caught the guys.

I'm guessing nobody was injured or killed, since the crime scene was completely cleared and the joint back open for business when we came back across three hours later. I'm sure an investigation would've taken much longer...

Another day in the city.