Opening paragraphs.........................

     The shots that fired the bullets that entered Pumpkin's head were heard by no less than eight people.  Three instinctively closed their windows, checked their locked doors, and withdrew to the safety, or at least the seclusion, of their small apartments.  Two others, each with experience in such matters, ran from the vicinity as fast if not faster than the gunman himself.  Another, the neighborhood recycling fanatic, was digging through some garbage in search of aluminum cans when he heard the sharp sounds of the daily skirmish, very nearby.  He jumped behind a pile of cardboard boxes until the shelling stopped, then eased into the alley where he saw what was left of Pumpkin.
-John Grisham,  The King of Torts