After a long and stressful day at work, Detective Dave Culligan headed for home. He worked a double shift, working on a murder case that was pressed on him because he was the homicide specialist. Happy it was midnight, he hurried home hoping to get to sleep as soon as possible because he had work the next morning.

He pulled into his apartment complex and saw something out of the ordinary. He saw four people all grouped together outside his building, unable to tell who they are or what they were doing at such an hour. Upon locking his car and heading inside, he noticed that the individuals were teenagers, none of which he had ever seen before. “Can I help you guys with something?” he asked. One of the teens looked at him with a nasty look. “What do you want old man? You want to get popped?” he replied. Dave reached down and pulled open his jacket, revealing his badge. The looks on all of the youths’ faces changed. The one in the back walked up to Dave and said “Look mister, everything’s fine. Nothing’s wrong. Get your old a** inside now and get to sleep. It’s way past your bed-.” The teen was cut off speaking by another, who opened the front door and exclaimed, “Okay guys, we’re in!”

The teen looked outside at Dave and asked, “Who the hell is that?” Dave interrupted the teen next to him and said, “I’m a cop. Come outside now. I have no clue what’s going on here but this isn’t looking good.” The teen slammed the door shut, and the other teens immediately started running towards one of their cars. A neighbor came outside of the building in their pajamas, asking if everything’s okay. “Ms. Mahoney, call headquarters and let them know an officer needs assistance here. Tell them to come as soon as possible!” “Okay, Dave!” yelled the neighbor, shutting the door, running for the phone.

“I’m too tired for this crap”, he thought to himself. He reached behind him and reached for his Baretta 92FS, soon holding it low and ready at the door, backing up to see the entire front of the apartment. He could hear sirens in the distance, knowing that backup wasn’t too far away, also hearing the teens speeding off like lighting into the night. Never has Dave been so scared; never in his forty-six years of being a police officer had he ever been in this position. He decided to get started just so the situation could be over before he knew it. He was pondering many thoughts all at once, like: what if the teen inside has a gun? What if he has a hostage? Is he still in the building? Is the place wired? All these thought went through his mind. Screw it. Let’s get this done.

“Police! Come out with your hands up and surrender! We’re coming in whether you like it or not!” Dave yelled hoping the teen would cooperate; that wasn’t going to happen. The sirens came closer, and soon the police cars were in view. Dave’s friend Kelvin was on patrol that night. Getting out of the unit, Kelvin drew his Glock 17 and ran up to Dave. Soon, every officer on scene knew what happened and what was going on. A perimeter was soon set, making no way of escape from the apartment. Dave and three other officers, including Kelvin made their way to the door. Upon several attempts for the teen to open the door, the four officers kicked the door open, rapidly moving indoors to search and secure.

“I got him over here!” yelled Contreras, a rookie female officer who was as tough as she was tall. Everyone moved into the bedroom where she was at, rapidly entering the room to see what the teen was doing. The teen was filling a backpack with the tenant’s jewelry, not to mention the iPods in there too. “On your face!” yelled Contreras, aiming her gun at the youth. The teen surrendered and was taken into custody. After the teen was read his rights and was put into the back of a patrol car, there soon was a rushing dispatch on the radio, “Attention all units on the east end, we have a vehicle accident, fatal at this time. It’s a two door sedan with four teens inside; called in by a volunteer firefighter.” All officers scrambled to their vehicles, going to the accident scene.

The police cars sped off racing to the scene, leaving Dave all alone. “Well, I have a busy day tomorrow!” Dave said to himself.