Source : NEW INDIAN EXPRESS NEWS
For Norman, the evening was reminiscent of the 1992 riots in Los Angeles, when the city’s streets erupted after Rodney King, a Black man, was beaten to death by white police officers.
He said that night, his father had sat with a gun at the front door — his young son at his side — to protect the family “while streets were burning and people were shooting everywhere.”
He said he never thought he would see something similar in sleepy Altadena, a place he moved eight years ago.
The city, home to around 40,000 people, has been ravaged by one of the multiple wildfires that have torn through the area, razing over 9,000 buildings and killing five people.
The destruction was cruelly random: in some places an entire street has vanished; in others a few houses remain, while blocks away just one property was damaged.
But for those who count themselves lucky enough to have come through the tragedy, the thought of outsiders preying on their misery is almost too much to bear.
“I didn’t save that damn house to have some idiot come and steal from me,” said Norman. “That’s not happening.”
“There’s the thievery, but it’s made worse by the cowardice.”
Norman, who usually doesn’t even lock his car, said he will be back on his porch after sunset, and will make a few rounds of nearby streets to keep an eye out on empty houses.
SOURCE :- NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
