Breaking news - "I wasn't shot"

Sometimes I am all but oblivious to the world around me, as was the case yesterday evening.  I say this because things were transpiring in my neighborhood and I was well unaware, at least until today, almost 24 hours later and even then only because of a couple of phone calls.  I worked later than normal, so I missed the first phone call from Rich, but not the second from my mom, both of which asked the same question as to whether or not I had been bullet riddled.  Well Rich's called asked that on the message, my mom just asked for me to give her a call and then when I did it was because my family, mainly my aunt Mary, had seen about a shooting on the news.   I returned the call to my mom and started getting bits and pieces of the story, there was a shooting in Pittsburgh (not a rare occurence) near a pizza shop (again, not all that rare a locale) and was I okay.  With my mom on the phone and me at my computer I tried ferreting out some information, a skill set I have somewhat after 12 years of ferreting out info for radio shows.  But the intial information I was given was St James Street, of which there are quite a few in Pittsburgh, the closest being well north of my location, on the border between North Oakland and Shadyside.  With the idea that a) I hadn't been shot and b) it didn't look like it was close to my apartment, my mom and I chatted for a few more minutes before wrapping up our conversation.

I proceeded to take a nap, and when I woke up I decided to see if there was any new info on this story that almost had me in my grave.  Lo and behold there was no new info, but at least the paper had the non update update of the suspects are still at large.  Why that is important is because it corrected something my mother had said, but also made more sense of the phone calls I had gotten.  It seems it wasn't St James Street where the shooting occurred, it was St James Drive.  Why this might ring a bell for a reader or two, St James Drive is .........

Crack Alley, from Pittsburgh Walking Tour Fame, literally right around the corner from my apartment.

As for the specifics of what happened, here is the Post Gazette non update update.  By the way, I wasn't shot!!!!

Suspects still sought in Oakland home invasion

Friday, February 05, 2010

By Moriah Balingit, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Police are looking for two men who they say are responsible for an armed robbery in Oakland that left a University of Pittsburgh student in critical condition.

The victim was in his bedroom at his house at 3464 St. James Drive when two men entered, one wearing a black ski mask with a pointed nose and wielding a black pistol at around 8:45 p.m., said city police. The victim described the armed man as close to 6 feet tall and between 20 and 25 years old.

When the armed man pointed the pistol in the student's face and demanded money, the victim attacked him and attempted to take away his pistol, police said. It discharged three times, striking the victim in the chest, abdomen and neck. The attackers then fled, leaving behind the gun. Police said the injured victim fired at them as they ran.

The victim was taken to UPMC Presbyterian and remains in critical condition tonight.

Anyone with information about the burglary is asked to call the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police Robbery Squad at 412-323-7151. Callers may remain anonymous.