My parents' neighbor

I posted the resolution without the full story so here's the whole story front to back.

On Friday evening I was standing out in my parents driveway with them when I saw a police car pull up in the neighbor's driveway.  I commented on it and then noticed there were two.  Then another came and another.  Then emergency vehicles: first a fire truck and then two ambulances.  I was trying my best to get a good look at what was going on through the hedges (being the nosy neighbor that I am, even with other people's neighbors) and all I could see (besides the cops) was an older lady standing by her car on the phone.  I thought it was really weird that she was outside.  We watched the firemen go in and then come back out and then the emergency vehicles left.  At that point I thought that John must have fallen or something and everything was alright.  But then the cops didn't leave.  My parents went inside but I just grabbed a blanket to wrap around the baby because I had to know what was going on.  I stood out there forever and after a little while my dad came back out.  Then a young guy pulled up in our driveway and said this was his uncle's house and asked if he could park there.  I said yeah and then looked at my dad who nodded.   A bit later my dad told me I should have told the kid to park in the grass so my brother could get in the driveway.  I couldn't go up and bother him but as we were standing outside we saw two black cars pull up and more cops get out.  Detectives.  My dad went back in but I stayed outside until I saw one of the detectives get some blue latex gloves out of his trunk and another one holding crime scene tape.  That was a bad sign.  When the cop came over towards my parents' yard unrolling the tape I asked him if he could ask the kid to move his car up into the grass.  That was when he told me John had died.  

A little later two cops came to my parents' door to ask some questions.  Well, at that point you know something really bad has happened.  He didn't tell us much except that John had been killed.  It  was unbelievable and I didn't know if we'd ever find out what happened.  

Fast forward to the next day.

So I know what happened to my parents' neighbor.  It was all very tragic and senseless.  Apparantly his roommate/caregiver shot him and took his car.   My neighbor was 67 and a retired lawyer (I never new he was a lawyer).  He was a good neighbor and a caring man.  It blows my mind that while cars were driving by and people in neighboring houses (including my parents) were sleeping he was being murdered.  I really hope that he never even knew it was happening, he was just asleep and one minute alive and the next minute he wasn't.  From what his niece and nephew told my parents when they came over, he was supposed to meet someone that morning and didn't.  Also they said someone was using his card and the company was trying to reach him and couldn't and they called his sister who went to his house and found him.  He was sitting in his chair with a blanket over him and she didn't even realize right away he was dead.  So that makes me think that it happened without him knowing it.  I hope he was asleep in that chair when it happened.  I can't imagine the killer would take the time to reposition him after murdering him.   I guess we'll never really know why, since the man who did it killed himself during a traffic stop in Zebulon (a town south of Atlanta).  That guy always did seem a little weird but as my dad put it, lots of people are weird.  It doesn't mean you think they are going to kill someone.  

I have been thinking about John a lot and remebering stuff.  Like how he came down (a little tipsy) on y2k new years and gave us glasses of champagne while we stood outside watching the fireworks.  And how one time he asked my mom why we didn't have a concrete pad beside our driveway to turn around on so we didn't have to back out onto the busy road.  He said "I worry every time I see them do it (referring, I think, to my brother and I).  I'm afraid it's going to be a bloody mess, just a bloody mess."  I was trying to remember if we went to his house on halloween and I'm sure we did since he's been there for a long time.  I don't think I was any older than 13 when he moved in (although my brother says it was later).  We took goodies to him at Christmas and he used to bring our dog a biscuit every day that he made himself.  He used to sit at night all the time with his living room blinds open.  I'm glad that we got to know him and I'm very sad that he was murdered.  It's so tragic and senseless.