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June 4, 2014, Wednesday evening, a little past 7 PM AST, a 24-year-old man walked out of his home dressed in camouflage and carrying a couple of guns and a bow. He walked down the street of his neighbourhood knowing someone would call the police because there are a lot of kids in that area. Then he waited for the police to respond and walked up behind the first one and shot him. He then shot the two officers responding as back up and the two officers following them. Of the 5 officers, 3 died instantly or before help could get to them. Then the young man walked away and a massive manhunt started.

The area was bound by woods on one side and residential streets on the others. the wooded area had a ravine that cut through it and a high fence that followed the ravine. So the police barricaded along the ravine, down the main streets bordering the area in a large triangular shape and locked down the area. Residents were asked to stay inside and make sure their doors were locked.

By Thursday morning, all schools were closed, all businesses in the area closed, and the city buses were kept off the streets. Any cars trying to leave the zone were searched and no vehicles were allowed in. The gunman was spotted a few times walking across back yards or along side streets and his location reported to the police. Police came in from other areas to help search. The public was asked not to post the locations of police cars and searchers because the gunman was watching social media.

Moncton is a city of about 140, 000 people and the police force is a bit over 200 members. It took almost 200 police officers to man the barricades so the additional help was badly needed. Prince Edward Island, the smallest of Canada's provinces, sent 5 officers which sounds like it isn't much until you realize the entire province has about 25 officers in total. Officers came in from the nearest big cities - Fredericton, Saint John, and Halifax. In total, 300 officers manned the barricades and searched the locked down zone. The zone encompassed 4 residential subdivisions so it wasn't a small area.

I live in that locked down zone. I had not been listening to the radio so wasn't aware of what was happening Wednesday night. Thursday morning I found out, like many of my neighbours, from someone calling to make sure I was all right. My daughter had heard the news but both I and my husband were passed out when she came out of her room to tell us. So she made sure our door was locked and stayed up for a while keeping an eye on the various sites, twitter feeds and news updates.

For most of the people in the locked down zone, the close to thirty hours between the shootings and the time when he gave himself up were terrifying. Moncton is just about the last place I would have ever expected something like this to happen. The people who saw the shootings and the people who had small kids to worry about were traumatized and are in need of counselling help. A lot of people are wondering how secure our city is and are obviously shaken by the experience. But they will recover and eventually it will fade into the background. The families and friends of the slain officers will never forget and will have this be part of their lives forever.

We lived in Toronto and in Dartmouth, part of the Halifax Municipality. We had shootings occur anywhere from one street to three streets close by and various locations in both cities. When we were in Toronto, the mall across the street from where I worked had a store robbed and shots fired while I was at work one day. We lived on the only neutral street between two gangs, although the gangs didn't fight one another. In Dartmouth, one of the worst areas in town was separated from us by one street and a fence. It had cleaned up a lot before we moved but there were plenty of robberies and knife attacks and the occasional shooting during the twelve years we lived there.

For us, being in a locked down zone was unique but mostly it was an inconvenience. We had plans for the day and weren't able to get out. We spent the day waiting to hear if they had caught the guy. Hubby and I went to bed hoping they'd catch him so we could get out the next day. We needed groceries and he had presentations he was supposed to get done. Our daughter stayed up so she heard when they caught him a little after midnight. We found out when I got up with the cats. Life, for us, was back to normal.

My city is still returning to normal. Outwardly, it looks like everything is back to normal. Buses are running, schools are open although they had been closed Friday along with all government offices. Businesses are open. But there are signs of differences. The police are much more visible and you don't see just one car at a time any more. People are walking up to officers and hugging them. The area in front of the RCMP office is covered with small gifts of flowers, teddy bears, candles, etc in memory of the fallen officers. Churches and community centres are open for counselling and comfort. Announcements are frequent on the radio about the donation website for the families and about the funereal service to be held tomorrow.

At least they stopped the "Moncton is strong and will survive" announcement in a voice of doom. Honestly, the voice was so deep it sounded more like doom than something to encourage and support people. I think it was making the situation worse rather than helping but that's my opinion.

For all the fact that Moncton is a small city in size, in outlook and attitude it is a small town. Very few things are open past 9 PM (which is better than the 6 PM shutdown it had 15 years ago) and the bus service stops between 9 and 10 PM, depending on the route. This despite the fact that several companies have people working stock overnight and their shifts start at 11 PM or midnight. The first buses start running around 6:45 AM and some people need to be at work by 7 AM or even earlier. But that's the public transit service and another subject.

As I was saying, there is a small town attitude and mentality here. So this comes as even more of a shock than it would in a larger city. The fact that the signs were there and ignored are a matter of concern and I can foresee a lot of scrutinizing occurring in the next few weeks.

Despite people saying they won't let this change their lives and that Moncton will keep it's community spirit, I know from my own experiences there will be changes. Whether or not they are good changes will be seen. As far as I;m concerned, there won't be any changes. I'm already back to leaving my door unlocked. The crime rate here isn't high enough for me to worry yet. In the meantime, I'll keep an eye on my city.