Shooting in the middle of town

It's terrible what happened on Sales and South 14th. A young man was shot and killed in front of several witnesses and in the middle of town. When I drove up to the scene people were still in shock, and many were hugging and consoling each other in the street. It's never easy to see that kind of thing, no matter how many times I have seen it. The worst part was seeing the mother of Austin David, the man who was shot, consoling David's girlfriend, who was in the car with him at the time of the shooting.

Photos of Austin David shared by his mom

Here is what scares me about things like this. It happened at an intersection we have all driving thousands of time, and any of us could have been in that area at that time, and any of our families could have been there too.

I don't know if you have ever listened to a police scanner all day long, but here at KTAB we do, and when I here something like this, or a high speed chase, or a vehicle accident, I think, "Where are my wife and kids?" My wife is a stay at home mother, who enjoys taking the kids out and about while I am at work. They could be anywhere in town at any point in the day. If I hear a bad accident near my home, I sometimes call my wife to make sure they were not involved. If I hear a high speed chase, I call my wife to make sure they are not in the area. It's very scary to think that at anytime someone could make a bad choice that would affect others around them in what ever way. The people who witnessed yesterday's shooting may not have been hurt, but they saw what happened and those images will be with them for a long time. The families of both men involved have to be devastated, and I know people in Abilene are still shocked at what happened on our streets.

Tim Johnston's "Wardrobe Malfunction"

Tim, checking in, with yet another "non-crime" related blog. Sorry.

I'll get back to that stuff soon enough.

But for now, allow me to amuse you with a silly moment I recently had while anchoring a weekend show!

I've been anchoring the KRBC Weekend newscast for just a handful of months now, and if you've watched, you've likely caught some silly moments in my shows.

I'm human.

It happens.

Keep watching, I'm bound to top it. (a la Girl Scout Cookie Moment-- different blog for a different time)

Back to the blog- Working at KRBC, and in the "real world," for 2 and a half years now I've learned a lot of things.. like tying a tie and how to "Dress for Success."

I'm confident enough to tie my tie without looking...

Only thing is, I'm not consistent enough. Yep, that's a good 4-6 inches ABOVE the belt line.. not even trying to hide it. How's that for dressing for success? (Btw- Mom, I'd never go out in public like this!)

Good thing, as an anchor I have a jacket that covers this "malfunction" and a desk to further hide the lack of length.

Maybe that's why most male anchors wear the jacket buttoned up, or even why men like former WFAA Weatherman Troy Dungan went away from the tie and rocked the bow tie.

Hmm, he might be on to something...

Anyway, I hope my malfunction amuses you as much as it did me, maybe I'll give you more to enjoy on the weekends! Thanks for watching!

Laugh with me.. Leave a comment!

A Little Christmas Laughter is No Crime

Hello blog readers-- it's Tim and I want to start by saying Happy Holidays! I hope everything is going well for you and your family during this time of year.

So this post really has nothing to do with Crime-- but more about a fun little moment my family shared during Christmas.. and well.. I wanted to bring you in on it.

A little history-- My sister is an Aggie (God bless her) and she recently returned home from a semester-long study abroad in Chile. She returned home nearly fluent in Spanish which makes me a proud big brother!

With such an intensive study and length of time spent, she came home with hundred of photos. So one of her projects (before she forgets everything) is to create photo albums with the pictures to document her trip. She started using a web site, Snap Fish, to quickly put together her books.

To help her out this Christmas, I donated to her cause, but I felt that merely passing along money was impersonal, and well that just wasn't enough for me. I wanted to bless her. I wanted to maker her laugh. I wanted it to be a memorable gift for her..

So using my resources here at the station, a little help from my coworkers, and some creative editing.. I came up with this gift!

The gift was a hit! She loved it. I've now seen her post the video to Facebook showing it off to her friends.

I'm happy it blessed her. I always take joy in making others laugh and smile (including you, the readers so maybe you, too, will get a nice little laugh at my expense).

Anyway, I hope everyone had a nice holiday and remember this time of year is better spent with family and friends!

See you in 2011!

-Tim

Drive-Thru Nudist

Tonight (Wednesday night) on the ten o'clock news, we brought you a story of a man who decided it was a good idea to go nude at the Schlotzky's Drive-thru. (So many jokes...so not appropriate)

Anyway, the story goes a little like this: girl working at the window catches the bare man who is there to pick up lunch, during the "lunch rush." The female employee can't believe what all she is seeing, but does her best to keep composed while serving the man his meal. Word quickly spreads (like you can hold that kinda gossip back) and soon customers are crowding the window to see if it's really true.. It was.

So many questions are firing.. Why go nude? Especially for lunch during a busy time, unless you want to be seen, still what is there to gain? That question has yet to be answered, the manager says the employee was too shocked to even ask why he was "sans-clothes."

I would be, too. How can you maintain "professional" composure with a patron "dressed" like that?

You tell me-- what would you do, if you were there/saw that?

Abilene Cold Case Cracked

For the avid TV watcher, you may know of the TV show "Cold Case," I'm not hooked on it, only because I work during the prime time watching hours, and I don't have DVR (gasp!).

While the show is entertaining, in reality, cracking a "cold case" isn't all that easy. The suspect doesn't come forward, often times the small details aren't that easily recalled, and they definitely are not solved within 45 minutes. Just generalizing.

Still, the grim reality is that cases... difficult cases... emotionally draining cases, can take years and still may never be solved.

But don't tell that to the detectives who refuse to give up. I've worked with a few on some cases, the Jennifer Servo mystery comes to mind, where the detective knows exactly where that case file is, at the mere mention of the case. Last time, I asked, he said he still gets tips every now and then, and he still believes that one can be...and will be solved.

I may not be a police detective (although I've been asked that at many crime scenes... I guess a man dressed up at a crime scene suggests detective or reporter...) I can only guess at the frustration and elation that comes with every twist, turn, and new lead that pops up on these kinds of cases.

Why am I writing all of this?

To thank the detectives who labored away for six years to finally, name a suspect in a sexual assault case from 2004. A case that was passed from detective to detective, and hour after hour leads were investigated.

Now, a lead has identified a suspect using DNA, that was a match to the evidence from six years ago... leading to an indictment of Bruno Carrillo last Thursday.

Relief comes to the detective in charge of it, and relief is finally coming to the victim who has been carrying the emotions for so long.

Burgalry suspect runs right by me

Yesterday is an example of why I love my job. I had just gotten in to the newsroom after a day of gathering news. Arrests, and overnight burglaries, the usual stuff. Then as I always do I sat down in front of Bob's desk to tell him what I had done for the day and what I would have for the news that night. This was a little after 2 in the afternoon. I had just started talking to Bob when he heard a "burglary in progress" call over the police scanner. Not that unusual, I was half way paying attention to the scanner and continued to talk to Bob.

Then, if you know Officer Jim Craft, with the Abilene Police Department, then you would recognize his voice on the scanner, and if you have ever listened to a police scanner then you would know when an officer is running after someone. Well we heard Craft say over the scanner something about what direction a suspect was running. We could tell Craft was running after him. I jumped up from the chair in front of Bob's desk, ran into the other room in the news room, grabbed a portable scanner and ran to my car and headed to green street.

On my way I could here that the police had lost the suspects (I latter found out that Officer Craft had to stop the foot chase because he had pulled a hamstring) and they were calling a K-9 to come in and try to track them. The K-9 officer had gotten to the scene just a few seconds before I did, and while the dog had picked up a scent and was following it, other officers were driving the area looking for the two suspects, so I did the same thing. Then I heard on the scanned that the dog had followed the scent to a home just down the block from where the break-in took place, so that is where I went. Police surrounded the house because not only did the dog track to the area, they also found a hat on the back porch of the house that one of the suspects was wearing.

From that point there was a lot of standing around while police were trying to find out who lived in the home and they were working on a warrant to go in to see if the two suspects were actually in the home.

As I waited and police had the house surrounded I decided to walk back to the house where the break-in took place to see if I could interview the home owner. I had seen her standing outside her home when I arrived so I new was at home. What I did not know till I talked to her is that she was home when the two suspects went into the take her t.v. and that the suspects new she was home.

She locked herself in a bedroom when she heard her back window break and saw someone come inside. According the girl in the home, the suspect saw her and still came into the house. So she told me about that and I walked back to the home that police had surrounded. One officer was in the back, and there were Town in the front. I stood across the street from the home and just waited. That is when I heard an officer say "I saw him peak out of the blinds."

Just a few minutes after that I heard another officer say "he's running!"

I turned to look and saw a young kid running from the front door of the home. He ran across the street right by me, across a yard and over the back fence into another back yard, and over that fence. I new he was headed to the creek so I jumped in my car and headed that direction. That is where I saw Officer Craft who was parked on the side of the creek. I parked behind him and got out of my car as he was getting out of his, and that's when we saw the suspect run down the creek and try to hide in some tall grass. Craft told him to get down when the suspect realized he had been seen and he popped back up, and thought about running again. Craft pulled his Taser and told the suspect to get down but he would not comply. After several warnings, the officer finally had to take the suspect down himself and handcuff him.

That's why I love my job, because a normal day can turn into something like this in an instant!

They Stole My Fryer Grease-- WAIT, REALLY?

On Sept. 15th, I first brought you the story of a North Side fast food joint that had someone steal their fryer grease from the grease trap. Here's a more satirical view..

As I read the crime report, listing the theft, I couldn't help but think, "WHY?" I mean really, who steals used grease? What is the significance?

After speaking to the Golden Chick owner, he vented his frustration and disbelief, but added grease can be liquid gold. He described that used grease can be used as a form of diesel.

Now, I've heard about this being done, and I've heard of engines that run solely on the grease from restaurants like this... but I've never heard of someone syphoning off the stuff in a grease heist!

Please, understand I'm not making fun of the damages and lost money that will set this business or any others back... That is never a good thing. Nor do I condone the act of stealing grease.

But honestly, what's their master plan?

Will they steal so much grease that our fast food becomes dry, and dare I say, less greasy!?

Do they plan to hold Abilene hostage by holding the monopoly on grease?

What do they want from us!!???

Picture this, the master mind behind this grand theft sitting in his outlaw clubhouse/hideout, tapping his fingers together and chuckling a sinister laugh, as he plots his course to steal used fryer grease.

Sure, he probably weighed the risk, like what if there isn't enough? What happens if it spills out onto the ground, covering him in slick grease, or even worse, what if he gets caught...

But then he quickly dismissed it because, oh the smell of old chicken grease!

All the same, he's probably sitting at home just sniffing the grease and fighting back cravings for fried chicken and other fried foods.

Or maybe not.

Anyway, I've given my wild, imaginative view of this grease theft... but in reality, it's still a crime that needs a resolution. If you know anything, call Crimestoppers at 676-TIPS.

See the story here!