Paige Garrison

Media Writing CM-105-02

Feature Story
Date Due: 10/20
Local Causes Havoc to the Little Town of Mendon

What seemed to be a normal day on March 5, 2021, took a complete turn for the worst.
It started off on a Thursday morning in Mendon, Massachusetts and my day began as usual by
getting ready for school. It was a regular school day that consisted of tests, boring classes, and
loads of homework to do. Once school was done, it was time for dance classes. Dance usually
goes till the end of the night, but on this day, it ended earlier than I had expected.

Halfway through dance my father, Todd Garrison, showed up to my dance studio looking
concerned. He was followed in by one of our local police officers where they broke the news
that my sister and I needed to leave immediately. As confused as I was, I followed them out into
the parking lot. My father then mentioned to us that our neighbor across the street had decided
to set his own house on fire.

With no time to react to what was happening, we were then escorted by the police back
to our house. Once we got onto our street it was blocked off with what seemed to be 1,000
police cars and firetrucks. When I was able to get back into my house my mom, Jennifer
Garrison described the event as “It was completely unexpected. I was inside the house when it
started to smell like smoke. I had walked down to the bottom of the driveway where I saw our
neighbor’s house completely on fire!”

My sister, Kaelin Garrison, who was also at the house said, “It smelled awful from
everything burning inside and on the outside. Everything was on fire, and it lit up our entire
street. The fire made it so warm in our house and outside too. I guess you could say that it's
getting hot in here”.

Time passed, and a police officer came to our door and mentioned to us that we needed
to stay inside and go to the basement. The police officer then proceeded to tell us that, “The guy
is locked in his van and intends to set off the bomb attached to him if firefighters try to put out
the fire”.

As shocked as we were, we waited until we got the okay that it was safe. A few hours
later the bomb squad got into the van where they discovered he was only wrapped in electrical
cords and there was no real bomb. Police took him into custody and at that point the house was
completely gone.

The next day was when we all got clarity on the situation. While his wife and children
moved out of the house, it was getting foreclosed, and our neighbor didn’t want anyone else to
have it. He thought the best option was to burn everything to the ground. That night was the last
time we had seen or heard from him ever again.
Staff, G. T. (2021, October 21). Home. Telegram & Gazette.
https://eu.telegram.com/