Living in the "Hood"

Last night, we headed out to go to dinner. When we reached Portland Av. we noticed the road was blocked with police cars, right in front of our church. We turned the other way on Portland and I said, "It's most likely an accident." We continued on, had a wonderful dinner, and headed back for home about two hours later. As we came up Portland Av. we could see the street still blocked off; obviously, not an accident. We went home and continued with our night, not talking about the road block. This morning, when I checked the news, I found out, a guy stabbed his girlfriend, and was out in front of our church with a butcher knife. Police responded and needless to say, told the guy to drop the knife. He did not and resisted them. One policeman drew his gun and again advised him to drop the knife. Instead, he held it up to his own throat. Over and over, he was told to drop it. Then the policeman said "I am going to shoot you" three times. After more threatening gestures from the guy, the policeman shot him in the upper leg. All the people that gathered to watch the sensation, screamed to the police, that he had no business shooting the man. I don't know about you, but if a cop orders me to do anything, I have no problem following his orders, but there again, I would not be in his position, stabbing someone, either. The violence is escalating fast. People are shooting each other, stabbing each other, on a daily basis. I'm not sure what the murder count is in Rochester, NY but in four months, I guess it to be between 30 and 40 people killed, murdered, dead, gone from this earth.
I am not a violent person, but I believe the policeman did the right thing. For one thing, the man is not dead, nor did he stab himself. The situation is so sad, so sad. I ask all to pray for the violence to end. Prayer is all we have. Pray for our cities, pray for our law enforcement authorities, and pray for these enraged people, endangering our lives.