Chapter 437
Xiao Hei’s house.
Eight o’clock in the morning.
Blackie was in the kitchen in his apron, cooking breakfast, quite the home cook.
“Da da ……” A footstep sounded on the stairs, Julian walked down from the second floor with a big belly.
Xiao Hei hurriedly walked over to hold his wife, “Hey baby, didn’t I tell you, you must hold on to the handrail when going down the stairs.”
Julian laughed, “Inspector Marcus, I’m not too old to walk, I’m just pregnant, there’s no need to be so nervous.”
Blacky helped Julian to the table, “Sit down for a while, breakfast will be ready soon.”
“Actually, there’s no need for you to get up early and cook, I can cook for myself.”
Black took a look at Julian’s big belly, “No, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Julian picked up the milk bottle and poured himself a glass of milk, “You’ll be a good father.”
“Or a good husband.” Black turned the omelette over with a spatula, “My mom might be over later, let her know what you want to eat.”
“I may be pregnant, but I’m not weak, there’s really no need for that.”
Blackie said, “I told her that, but she’s still unsure.
She’s had miscarriages before, otherwise, I might have a brother or sister, who knows.
Don’t tell her I said that.”
Julian pulled out his cell phone and flipped it open as he said, “Did Luke buy you a drink last night?”
“Yeah, the guy even got a Fobler identity this time he went to New York.
What an asshole, I can’t believe he didn’t consult me.”
Julian said, “Maybe there was something inconvenient for him.”
“What pisses me off is that I’m the last one to know about it ……,” Black grumbled, “We used to be partners without a word.”
“You didn’t work yesterday, isn’t it normal to be the last to know?” Julian didn’t really see the problem, “Hey honey, you’re being too sensitive lately.
I’m just having a baby, it’s no big deal, every woman goes through it, relax.”
“Have I been tight lately?”
“Yes, you should try taking a deep breath, and if you get off work early today, do yoga with me, that might help.”
“No, I’m not doing pregnancy yoga.”
“That’s not maternity yoga, it’s for easing prenatal anxiety, it should help you too, just think of it as practicing with me.”
“OK, breakfast is ready.” Blackie put fried eggs, bacon, and toast on the dinner plate.
Julian, who was swiping his phone, furrowed his brow, “Hey, honey, I saw a really scary video.”
“Then don’t watch it, it’s not good for the fetus.”
“I think you should come over and watch it.” Julian turned up the volume on his cell phone.
Black walked over to the dining room table and put down his plate to look at Julian’s cell phone, the video was of a man in a skull mask sitting in a car with an AR-15 in his hand, his low voice had a hint of boyishness to it, “Hey, I’m already at the place.”
He pointed the camera outside, “See this supermarket? This is my target, anyone in the supermarket better leave immediately, I’m ready for a killing spree.”
The skull-masked man put on his helmet, opened the driver’s door, and gestured a cross, “Pray to God for me.”
Black raised an eyebrow, “Is this asshole joking? Or a prank?”
Soon, Blacky had an answer.
“Bang Bang Bang ……”
In the video, the skull-masked man fired directly, and a black woman in front of the supermarket fell straight to the ground, followed by another burst of gunfire, and two more people were knocked down.
“FUCK!”Blackie couldn’t help but burst out, “This asshole is playing for real!
Baby, I have to go, promise me you won’t look anymore, OK?”
“I promise, be safe on the road.” Julian got up and kissed Black on the cheek.
“I forgot about that video account, I have to look at it again.” Blacky picked up Julian’s phone and took another look at it before he turned off the video app and kissed Julian’s forehead, “Baby, take care of yourself.”
“You take care of yourself too.”
“I will.”
Blackie took out his cell phone, tapped the software, and continued to watch the live video feed, “Bang Bang Bang ……” There was another burst of gunfire.
Xiao Hei cursed as he walked out, “What a crazy person.”
He got into his car and quickly drove towards the detective station with a kick of the gas.
The gunman had wounded at least four or five people in the blink of an eye, this was definitely not a small case.
The Magic Noodle House restaurant, near the Palisades neighborhood.
If you look at the name of the restaurant alone, it might be a bit puzzling and not look like any serious noodle house, but seeing the green sign and the blue and white porcelain bowls, Luke knew that he hadn’t come to the wrong place.
This was a beef noodle shop.
It opened for business in the morning, and the owner was 80% Chinese-American.
Luke ordered a bowl of 3 fine ramen, the kitchen was open, sitting at the table you could see the ramen chef, and there was a foreigner taking pictures with his cell phone.
An Asian man in a white chef’s uniform fishes for noodles, adds broth, spreads large pieces of beef, a few thin slices of white radish, and serves himself with small ingredients.
Luke put in cilantro, scallions, a large spoonful of chili, half a spoonful of vinegar, and asked for an extra plate of small gazpacho.
A bowl of ramen in the morning was a refreshing experience.
It was kind of a perk of living in a Chinese neighborhood to get Chinese food on a regular basis.
Luke was halfway through eating when he received a cell phone from Blackie asking him to watch a live streaming software.
At first, Luke was a bit unimpressed, after all, Xiao Hei had never been very reliable.
But when he saw the content of the live broadcast, his heart was shocked, the video image looks like in a supermarket, a mess, goods scattered on the ground, you can also see a piece of blood, the video also came out of the wailing and screaming.
The screen turned, Luke also saw the supermarket employees who were down and struggling, as well as the customers running around.
“Bang, bang, bang ……” the video revealed half a gun being fired at the crowd.
The sound of gunshots, screams, and wails of pain mingled together, and it was like hell on earth.
The live feed lasted about a minute, and so did the shooting.
Luke saw seven people who were wounded, including a supermarket security guard.
Luke didn’t see the person in the video, but based on what the footage showed, he was able to surmise that the person had been in the supermarket from the beginning to the end of the kill, searching for survivors.
After a while, no more survivors appeared on the screen and the gunfire stopped as a man’s voice rang out, “Hey, that’s it for today’s broadcast.
I hope you guys had as exciting and enjoyable a time as I did, bye.”
The live video turned off and Luke took a sip of his noodle soup, left his meal and tip, and left the restaurant straight away.
Ten minutes later, Luke drove to the Detective Bureau.
He came to the Detective Bureau instead of going to the crime scene for two reasons, first, he didn’t know the exact address of the supermarket where the shooting occurred. By the time he found the address of the supermarket and drove there, it would be too late.
Secondly, there are police patrols on the streets of Los Angeles, once a shooting occurs around the police will quickly arrive at the scene.
Luke parked his car in the parking space before Blackie’s Toyota drove in.
The Palisades neighborhood was only a ten-minute drive from the detective station, which was one of the reasons Luke had purchased the villa.
Luke got out of the car and waited for Blackie for a while before the two of them walked into the Detective Bureau building together.
Blacky asked, “Do you think this case will be turned over to us for investigation?”
Luke didn’t answer directly, “How long did you watch the live video?”
“Three minutes or so, at that point, he hadn’t shot anyone.”
“How many people did he kill in total?”
“At least ten, I’m guessing likely twelve or thirteen, definitely a national sensation.
This cocky guy actually runs a live stream.”
Luke belabored, not only the whole country, I guess the whole world knows about it, “Whether the case will be assigned to us or not, it mainly depends on the danger of the gunman, if the gunman is caught on the spot by the patrol, naturally there will be nothing for us.
If the gunman escapes, things won’t be easy.
Like you just said, this case will have a big impact, and those media won’t let go of this piece of fat meat.
Once the gunman escapes, in order to calm public opinion as soon as possible, the General Directorate will definitely send the most elite police force to investigate.”
Blackie said confidently, “Looks like we have our hands full.”
Luke said, “Don’t idly look for work for yourself, from the modus operandi of this gunman, it doesn’t look like a guy who is afraid of death.
Even if he encountered the police he would probably have gone straight into a firefight, no chance he would have already been shot down by the local patrol.”
Black sighed, “Why are there so many perverts?”
“You’re asking the wrong person, I wouldn’t be a cop if I knew.”
Luke and Blackie both pushed through the door into the office one after the other, the Vice Squad, Jenny, and Jackson were already there.
The vice squad looked at the two Luke, “I bet you guys watched the news about that supermarket shooting.”
Black subconsciously asked, “How did you know?”
The lieutenant glanced at his watch, “Otherwise you two guys wouldn’t be here so early.
Too diligent, not your style.”
Blacky “……”
“The vice squad is right, you’ll have to come earlier from now on.” Luke patted Xiao Hei’s shoulder and took himself out directly, asking.
“Lieutenant, you watched the live stream too?”
“No, I watched the news, and trust me, those newscasts don’t get any less than the live feeds.”
Jackson said, “I saw the news too, that gunman was a brutal asshole, he actually shot a teenage girl.
If I had been there I would have shot him first, never would have let him hurt so many people.”
Luke also followed the vice squad’s example and started to pay attention to the news.
When this kind of vicious injury incident happened, the reporters were much more excited than the police, and rushed to the supermarket where the crime happened in a swarm, broadcasting the scene at the first time.
Luke casually opened a channel that was broadcasting the news of the supermarket shooting.
The one broadcasting the news was a white female reporter: “Good morning, this is CBE TV’s news reporter, Macarena, there has been a vicious shooting in this supermarket standing right behind me.
According to our investigation more than a dozen people have been injured inside the supermarket, the police have taken control of the scene and ambulances have begun treating and moving the injured, there is no definite word on the shooter yet.”
The white female reporter’s voice paused for a moment, her voice choked with emotion, “Jesus Christ, I just heard the terrible news that several of the injured have stopped beating ……
I’m so sorry, let’s pray for them.
God bless them and God bless Los Angeles.” The white female reporter wiped her eyes, “I’m going to step away for a moment, but we’ll keep following this case.”
Blackie, having seen the live broadcast and knowing that people must have died, asked, “Why is there no news about the shooter? These reporters shouldn’t be rookies, if the shooter was caught, they must be able to get the news, has the shooter been taken out?”
The lieutenant speculated, “Or maybe the gunman has escaped.”
Jenny shook her head, “Killing someone in public, with so many witnesses, I’m afraid it’s not that easy for the gunman to run.”
The lieutenant shook his head, “There aren’t as many witnesses as you think, when it comes to this kind of thing, it’s too late to run for your life, those who run slowly have already been shot, those who run fast don’t dare to go back and get killed.
And this guy brought several guns, and bulletproof vests, can be said to be heavily armed, indicating that this killing abuse is not random, the suspect should have chosen the escape direction and route beforehand.”
This case has become the center of attention of the 1st Squadron, and the team members who arrived one after another also joined the discussion.
In fact, not only the First Squadron, but the whole Los Angeles, even the whole United States, was focusing on this case.
Shootings happen every day in Los Angeles, but this time it belongs to a one-sided massacre, the number of casualties exceeded ten, and the murderer also carried out a live broadcast, many people have seen the shooting video, the network’s propagation speed is too fast, the impact is too great.
Half an hour later, Reed came to the Robbery and Murder Division’s Squadron One and brought the latest news of the case.
Reed swept his eyes over the crowd, “You all know about the supermarket shooting, right?”
Luke replied, “We have also followed the case, what about the casualties at the scene?”
“A total of 13 people were injured at the scene, 5 of the victims were hit on the vitals and died on the spot, 2 others stopped their heartbeats on the way to the hospital, and the condition of several other injured people is not very good ……” Reed didn’t specify, but the meaning of his words revealed that the death The number could go up.
“The shooting took place in a supermarket near a residential community, the nature of the shooting was so bad that it caused a huge panic among the citizens, the chief has already rushed to the scene himself.”
Black asked, “Has the murderer been caught?”
“The police didn’t find the murderer after controlling the scene, and it’s likely that he’s already escaped.
I just received a call from the chief, he wants us to send our most elite police force to take over the investigation of the case, to solve the case and catch the shooter in the shortest possible time, and restore peace in Los Angeles.”
Reed revealed a grave expression, “Is your 1st squadron willing to take over this case?”
This case is of a bad nature, the gunman live-streamed the killing process, it was widely spread and received attention from many parties in a short period of time, and will likely receive global attention, and the pressure to handle the case will be extremely high.
Reed did not directly assign the task, but the tone of the question.
Everyone looked at Luke.
There were pros and cons to taking over this case, the nature of the case dictated that it would definitely be known throughout the country, if the case could be successfully solved and the gunman captured, the 1st Squadron would naturally be making a great achievement.
If the case could not be solved and the gunman was allowed to go free, the responsibility would have to be borne by Luke.
Luke did not answer immediately, “Is there a time limit for the case to be solved?”
“Not at the moment.”
That is, there may be later, Luke does not like to solve the case in a limited period of time, it feels like wearing a shackle.
Solving a case is not like carrying a sack, you can finish it with your efforts.
Luck was important in solving cases, in addition to forensic skills.
However, Reed had already put his words to this point, and also brought out Director Frank, Luke could not refuse.
Taking a step back, the fact that Chief Frank and Chief Reed were in trouble and had already found the 1st Squadron proved that they wanted Luke to take over the case, and if they backed out at this time, how would they look at Luke?
If he couldn’t withstand this pressure, Luke’s promotion would come to an end.
Having figured this out, Luke clapped his hands, “Guys, pack up and meet at the parking lot in 5 minutes.”
“YES, Sir.”
Reed nodded back with satisfaction, “I’ll notify the patrolman at the crime scene to assist you in your investigation, call me if you need anything.”
“I will.” Luke took a deep breath, he didn’t really like the idea of being in the spotlight on a case, but it had been pushed up and he didn’t have a choice.