Today, Kelsey and I went to the Hecht's at Wheaton Plaza around 5:30 to buy tickets for Warped Tour. (It's official: Next Wednesday I am losing my concert-virginity.) There were all these ambulances and police cars out front, but no one had any idea what was going on. The woman at the ticket counter said she'd heard some rappers had gone to Finish Line to buy shoes. When we left the mall, police cars had blocked off all the entrances, news vans showed up - we saw Roby Chavez from Channel 5! - and people just stood in the parking lot and watched as these medevacs came down and lifted people away. It wasn't until we were on University Boulevard heading home that we learned that there had actually been a stabbing in the Target.

What's funny is that this was Kelsey's first trip to Wheaton Plaza, and we witnessed a stabbing. Like I said, it's really nice now. The first place I know of where you can find a PacSun, Aeropostale, Hot Topic and a Hole in the Floor all in the same section of hall. But I guess stores geared towards a more high-end audience (well, maybe not Hot Topic) really won't do anything to keep trashy people from coming in and destroying the mall's reputation. I can't help but feel disappointed. I pretty much grew up in Wheaton Plaza, and like Downtown Silver Spring, I care about it a lot, and it hurts to see these incidents happen at places that mean a lot to me. Of course, there was a stabbing at Montgomery Mall earlier this year, but you never hear about it anymore. This could really hurt Wheaton Plaza, I think. I might even think about going to Columbia the next time I want to be a mallrat.