While walking around our neighborhood the other day, we noticed a couple of cop cars outside a residence, with the fuzz scurrying about. Being the nosy, concerned citizens that we are, we immediately went back to our apartment, glanced out the window a couple of times, and scoured the internets for any new news. (Last time we didn't bother to figure out why there were cops around, live grenades were found in a closet......

You don't have to write the SFist Blotter to notice that we've had a disturbing uptick in violent crime over the last few weeks -- we've now had 14 murders in the last 17 days, with six murders taking place this weekend. Two parents were shot in front of their children on Friday night in Mission Terrace (the five-year-old knocked on doors in the neighborhood until someone came out to help), a man killed his......

So many crime stories of note today that we're running an off-cycle SFist Blotter! A man flying back to his home in Vermont from a trip to San Francisco was repeatedly stung by a scorpion that somehow got on the plane. No, he hasn't seen Snakes on a Plane (someone asked). "I'm pretty selective about what I see," he said. A casual carpool driver from Hercules was carjacked this morning. She picked up the usual......

Folks, you've just gotta learn to let it go: today's fourth-runner-up in the Great SFist Blotter Crime News Gathering (i.e., a frantic search of all the area news sites to find something interesting and not too morbid for your Tuesday or Friday am light reading) was the man found mysteriously dead at home. As it started out, Donald Frailey, a 66-year-old man in Woodside, had called 911 yesterday to report a beating and carjacking. When the cops raced to his house, he was already dead. However, he had no blood or bruising on his body. Weird! We were like, "OMG, this is just like the beginning of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire! He was Avada Kedavraed! Lord You-Know-Who walks the earth again!" Then we found the story about the San Mateo woman with Alzheimers and put her in today's blotter instead. So later this morning, the Woodside cops announce that they've figured it out. Turns out Frailey had been involved in a road rage incident earlier that morning. A guy driving behind him (who he knew) was trying to pass him on Skyline Blvd., and Frailey kept speeding up. After the other driver cut in front, he claims Frailey then tailgated him. They pulled over, words were exchanged, and then the other driver grabbed Frailey's keys and threw them in the bushes. The electrician hasn't been charged with any crime (yet). The police think Frailey must have then walked the three miles home, and suffered a heart attack from the stress. Poignantly, the cops found a spare car key underneath the chair on which they found Frailey's body slumped. Well, on the bright side, at least it's not Lord You-Know-Who. Picture from Autobytel.com...

See Sudden Fear tonight at the Balboa's Reel SF film festival! Someone's killing pets in San Jose: neighborhood residents in Willow Glen had been getting -- and ignoring -- increasingly-threatening notes complaining about various pets over the past seven years -- until a King Charles spaniel named Jackson was killed last week. Jackson's owner had received two notes complaining about barking a few years ago, and then came home to find that Jackson had been poisoned with antifreeze. Another neighborhood resident's cat had been found killed seven years ago, with a note on its collar saying, "I warned you about your cat." Police are saying it's probably just a weird coincidence that a woman was murdered early Sunday morning in the Western Addition at Eddy and Divisadero was killed a few blocks away from where her father was killed two months ago. Man, you don't want two members of your family featured in the SFist Blotter! And a Pittsburg police officer shot in the line of duty over the weekend has died. His family is donating his organs. ...

Afternoon shows at the Bottom of the Hill, like Saturday's Earlimart Noise Pop show, are so excellent -- the buses are running, the sun is out, you don't have to worry the whole time that you'll become a poignant entry on the SFist Blotter ("Ladyfest becomes Slay-dee-fest as music lover is killed: Victim loved jangly guitar-driven pop") -- and, if you're fortunate enough to run into SFist Emily on the way in, you can grab a coffee at Farley's and hear about her interview with them! Well, we did almost get mowed down by some aggressive sparrows (it was like The Birds, only embarrassing), but it was a great afternoon. Earlimart is a Fresno band with five members, many of whom rotate through various instruments (it is darn cool to have two drum sets on stage, can we just say?), who crank it up and play dreamy wall-of-sound indie rock, in that My Bloody Valentine/ Creeper Lagoon/ Dealership kind of way. This is Earlimart's fourth or fifth Noise Pop outing, but, as lead singer Isaac Espinoza noted, with a tone of genuine amazement, "This is our first time headlining." The show was jam-packed full, with not only the usual coterie of Bay Area indie scenesters (ironic t-shirts, layering with hoodies), but Earlimart's other mass following of LA Silverlake scenesters too (exposed midriffs, jean jackets with shearling linings). People solemnly shaking their moneymakers, digital cameras artfully tilting above the crowd, and a whole mess of instruments, after the jump. Map of Earlimart, California off mapquest.com...