“For several hours, bewildered Ipswich [MA] residents wondered why so many police cruisers raced through town, as a State Police helicopter hovered in the sky,” boston.com reports. “During the nearly two-hour episode, streets leading to the bridge were blocked off, and Town Hall, a nearby school, and several homes were evacuated. Andrea Leroux, who lives on County Street, was on her way to a hair appointment when she saw the road was blocked by police. Although it was a mild sunny day, she thought maybe the river had crested and there was flooding. She said a police officer told her, that ‘it was a man with a gun and to keep moving.’ [Moving targets and all that.] The fact that all the commotion turned out to be all about a man with a walking stick did not bother her. ‘I’m just relieved,’’ Leroux said. ‘Evidently, the man said he would kill himself when he called the police. Whether it was a gun or not, I tend to err on the side of caution.'”