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I live in a smaller city and own a retail store located in the heart of downtown. Like many

downtowns, ours is filled with its fair share of sketchy characters down on their luck from

drug use and sometimes mental illness. I have worked in the area for many years, often

alone in my store. So I came to recognize many people from this community and never really

felt overly threatened by anyone. Of course, I was cautious and aware of my surroundings,

but I didn't spook too easily. In May of 2020, our city was put on lockdown due to

COVID-19 and all non-essential businesses were forced to close. In order to continue

making a living, I created a website and offered curbside pickup. I still had to spend

time at the store, but we weren't open to the public. And since we were in lockdown,

the downtown area was very quiet and deserted. My kids were also in lockdown, so we were

doing online school which meant sometimes they would have to come to work with me and

do school work from there. One day, I had my younger daughter with me and she loves to

help in the store and change my display window and dress up the mannequins. We were near

the front of the store when I noticed this man standing on the sidewalk. I had never

...