Where I was this weekend

(Note: BugMeNot suggests "butler" and "butler")

The Days Inn immediately became ground zero for an intense manhunt that sought the unknown shooter, who was believed last seen, according to witness reports, running toward the hotel.

Within several minutes, the first Butler Township police officers arrived at the crime scene.

A procession of additional officers from the township and other municipal police departments, as well as the state police and Butler County Sheriff's Office would soon follow.

Before long, a number of officers peeled off and headed to the Days Inn. A police dog appeared to confirm by scent the shooter's route toward the hotel.

While other officers, some carrying long guns, headed in all directions, up and down the road and in woods and across lawns, the Days Inn was placed in "lockdown" mode.

No one was permitted in or out, allowing police a room-by-room search.

The lockdown and search briefly disrupted the annual SIBCON convention sponsored by The Circle of Swords, a 200-member gaming enthusiasts' guild based in Butler.

That was the scene Friday night. Strangely, the hotel chose to indicate the hotel was in lockdown mode, with no one permitted in and out, by sounding the fire alarm. Call me crazy, but that sound tells me to leave, not to stay put.

From what I saw, the police did not come into the ballroom where the games were being held, so this event had little impact on me.

From another article came this pair of sentences:

As police were responding to the 911 call, a couple who had been dining at Burger King, just across Route 8 from the distributor, told police they saw a man wearing a dark shirt and jeans carrying something in his hands.

The search was made more difficult because most of the attendants of the Circle of Swords gaming convention in the ballroom of the hotel wore dark T-shirts and blue jeans.

Yes, dark T-shirts and blue jeans are the de facto uniform of gamers. But the similar clothes may not hide the perpetrator. It wasn't until a later article that the newspaper mentioned the suspect was a white man. If he were another race, he would not have blended in that crowd. While it varies by location, gaming is a hobby favored by white males, and almost everyone at this gaming convention was white.