By MELISSA PEACOCK

Twelve shots fired, 11 people hit. Only two are carried away from the crime scenes alive.

An analyst for the FBI was gunned down outside of a Home Depot in Virginia Monday. Ballistic tests proved that she is just the latest victim of a crazed gunman shooting men, women and children with no real motive.

A 55-year-old man was killed outside of a grocery store. Another man was shot in the back as he mowed his grass. A police chief’s eyes fill with tears as he announced to the public that a 13-year-old student was critically wounded at his school, his organs damaged by a bullet.

Gas stations, parking lots, a post office – the locations and times of the murders are as different as the victims themselves.

Residents are terrified of leaving their homes. Women, too afraid to get out of their cars, drive miles out of the way to get gas from convenient stores offering “full-service” gas pumps.

He kills with a single shot and, during the first shootings, left little evidence for investigators. In recent weeks, police found a tarot card with a written message at the scene of a murder. Eye witnesses are calling police hotlines to report a mysterious white van in the vicinity of the killings.

While police believe that they are moving progressively closer to finding the killer, the shooter remains on the lose. How many more lives will be lost before he is caught?

The nation is riveted by the mysterious sniper murders. It is not, however, the intrigue alone that attracts us to murders hundreds of miles away. It is our own mortality, the fear that our town too could be stalked by a predator.

St. John the Baptist Parish is generally classified as rural. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the population of St. John Parish in 2000 was about 43,044. Tradition is an integral part of everyday life in the parish.

But small does not necessarily mean crime-free. Every week, another person is arrested for murder, robbery, burglary, drugs. Read the arrests reports in the local paper. We are a small community – a small community with our fair share of problems. At some point, we too may be targeted by a killer. Will we be ready?

Recently, St. John the Baptist Parish Council, at the request of Sheriff Wayne Jones, installed street lights along a dark portion of Airline Highway in LaPlace. One of the main entrances into the city, Sheriff Jones said the strip of roadway has, in the past, been the scene of some criminal activity. Light, Jones said, could be a deterrent to crime.

The lighting project has suffered some setbacks over the years, taking longer than either Jones or the council anticipated. But, despite the lengthy delays, residents and visitors are glad to finally see the new poles roadside. Now, it is up to the parish to monitor the lighting, to study its quality and effectiveness. It is just one way the parish is working to improve security.

The local administration, schools and industry are also working closely with Civil Defense and other emergency organizations to prepare emergency plans in the event of a disaster. In September, “table top” drills were performed to prepare for a surprise emergency drill planned in November. No one knows what kind of emergency will be simulated – a hurricane, tornado, a terrorist attack or a shooting. All they know is that they need to be prepared.

Meanwhile, St. John the Baptist Sheriff’s Department has been cracking down on crime in St. John public housing. Just this year, officers raided Reserve Oak housing development, arresting multiple suspects during early morning hours.

We may not be ready for the kind of catastrophe that Maryland and Virginia are seeing. That does not mean that we are not trying.

Preparation and cooperation are key to surviving disasters, whether natural or man-made. Lately, it seems, there are a lot of both – preparation and cooperation.

While there is still much work to be done, progress has been made in St. John.

MELISSA PEACOCK is a staff reporter for L’Observateur.