New Gods of North America.

Chapter 293: Fishing for people
"You mean, except for the shot that hit you, you fired the rest of the shots yourself???"

In the college's patrol officer's office, the on-site security chief confirmed with the arrested gangster in astonishment.

The other party nodded sincerely, blood still seeping from the bandage on his shoulder. "Although it may sound unbelievable, it is true."

Then he thought about it and refined the setting, "The lever rifle can actually fire very quickly, and I also brought a pistol... so there will be other types of sounds."

Standing beside them and watching were Seth Grayson, Wayne, Inissa, Lina, and seven or eight other members of the detective agency.
The roles played by everyone at this moment are "college students who accidentally encounter danger", "rich kids who happen to be walking by the lake", and "rich family's bodyguards who bravely act to help others".

After the target surrendered,
Seeing that the situation had gotten out of hand, some members of the detective agency packed up their things and hid away, planning to evacuate in batches in secret.

The rest of the people took the prisoners who were willing to cooperate and took the initiative to find the patrol personnel to "report the case", on the grounds that they had caught criminals who illegally fired shots.

"The right of citizens to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" is written into the Constitution of the United States of America.
But the Constitution is only a "broad principle".
In actual management, "permitted to possess" does not mean "any gun can be legally possessed", and "permitted to carry" does not mean "people can carry it anywhere".
It does not mean that you can "show it at will" or "shoot it easily".

At this time, in the prosperous states on the East Coast, the "defensive weapon" that is usually less problematic is a small-caliber pistol or shotgun.
Lever rifles, shotguns, and large-caliber pistols are firearms that the police in various places will not take the initiative to check everywhere these days, and sometimes they will turn a blind eye.

But to be honest, they are not legal in most cities. In theory, you still need relevant documents or permits to own them.

If the police find out, or if something happens where the police "should have known that you were in possession of an illegal firearm," the police still have to intervene - for example, if you took out an illegal firearm in public and were witnessed by multiple citizens, or if someone formally reported the case to the police.

Therefore, in order to avoid disputes and troubles, the other lever rifles of the detective agency were taken away by the evacuated members, leaving only one as the "murder weapon" of the criminals.
Wayne, Inissa and Lina are both formal students of the academy and learners who are receiving course education at the academy. According to the academy's management regulations, the three of them should not carry weapons within the academy.
Therefore, the people who fired guns in the script can only be "the criminal who illegally carried a gun" and the "bodyguard who stopped the criminal."

The college patrol officers certainly cannot be considered "police";
However, as a relatively independent and special small community, the college also has the autonomy to hire security personnel for defense, and the patrol officers are usually not very easy to talk to.

However, even though the members of the detective agency hid and planned to evacuate some of them in batches, there were still quite a few people left. Even if each member of the detective agency only had a pistol at this time, the patrol officers were not willing to engage in a firefight.

So the situation became what it is now.
It is hard to say whether the target cooperated and became the "shooter" if no one was actually injured.
The remaining members of the detective agency, as the "good citizens who acted bravely and reported the case" who were in large numbers and took the initiative to report the case, could wait for the police to arrive on the basis of cooperating with the patrol officers' inquiries without being treated harshly.

Wayne and his friends are innocent students or witnesses. Although they cannot leave for the time being, they are not suspected of committing a crime.

The security chief at the scene listened to this plot which was unanimously approved by all the characters.

He held his forehead with one hand and rubbed his temple with two fingers. He felt that it was outrageous, but he didn't want to make things worse.
Anyway, the criminals have been arrested and no students were injured. Although several people have come to report the gunfire by the lake, the situation has been calmed down for the time being, and there is a suitable reason to write a report.

The beautiful blonde lady was obviously frightened and cried until her eyes were red.
Looking at the number of bodyguards around her, the patrol officers were a little worried that such an outsider learner who seemed to have a good family background would complain to the college because of an unexpected shock.

In the end, he chose not to delve further:
"Okay. Anyway, I've already sent someone to contact the Georgeburg police, and I'll also send someone to notify Sheriff Bill Tench as you requested. When the police arrive, you can go with them."

……

As the night progressed, the patrol officer was very considerate and wrote Wayne a note to prove that he had not intentionally violated the college's accommodation regulations.
What surprised Wayne a little was that the person who took the lead to lead the people was not Bill Tench, but David Mills.

David Mills's current official identity is a senior inspector of the Georgeburg Police Department. In theory, he is higher than Bill Tench and is considered the pinnacle of the local police.
After easily leading everyone away, David Mills ignored the nonsense and called Wayne into the carriage alone. On the way, he started asking directly:
"Wayne, what is your detective agency investigating this time?"

Almost everything Wayne said could be considered true. "We found a suspected 'fallen person'. There are witnesses who can accuse him of having a connection with the School of Life, so we arrested him." "Is this a mission arranged by the Cathedral?" David Mills asked.

"The cathedral hasn't made any formal arrangements for this. But the job of our detective agency is to assist in maintaining law and order, so when we found a suspected 'Fallen' in the academy, we launched an investigation directly," Wayne replied.

This is actually a borderline ball.

David Mills knew that the detective agency had a charter from Bishop Corleone and that Wayne was a student at the academy.
But it is difficult to figure out whether there is any connection or deeper meaning between these two things, and most people probably don't dare to confirm with Bishop Corleone.

As for the possible conflict between the detective agency and Reverend Pycelle, Wayne felt that it might be best for David Mills not to tell him.

"It was Pastor Bazzini who sent someone to notify me to come here."

David Mills seems to be unhappy in Georgeburg recently. "According to the church regulations, unless there is an instruction from the bishop, Georgeburg Church has the right to take over matters related to local fallen people. The suspects you arrested should be investigated by us later."

Well……

Wayne thought for a moment and said, "I remember Tom Hagen seemed to have said that the church usually does not take the initiative to conduct detailed investigations on professors and students in the college?"

David Mills nodded. "That's true."

As a former small town sheriff, Wayne is very sensitive to the issue of "scope of law enforcement":

“I’m not sure about the specific internal terms, but according to the church’s regulations, is the college not actually under the daily management of Georgeburg Church?”

This is something that people usually don't notice easily, but it's not hard to guess if you think about it carefully.
Not taking the initiative to investigate means that there is no need to take responsibility for negative events that occur in the college. Therefore, when defining the scope of management, it will naturally not be included - this is related to the issue of how to define "dereliction of duty".

David Mills was stunned for a moment and frowned. "The management of matters related to the college should indeed be the responsibility of the college church. However, the daily affairs of the college church also need to be guided by the Georgeburg Church."

"Then I understand."

Wayne smiled at David Mills. "I'm not targeting you, but the bishop has tacitly allowed our detective agency to assist in investigating 'cross-regional' cases. We also participated in the investigation of the 'Fallen' case before, and the cathedral obviously did not object.

"Our detective agency is very serious about 'complying with church regulations'. If the Georgeburg Church wants to take over, then I'm afraid we need to receive clear instructions from the cathedral, or have Reverend Pycelle, who has jurisdiction, contact us directly."

We sheriffs, who come from small western towns, sometimes do things this way.

It’s not that I want to go against the local church, but we just caught someone and now someone is coming to rescue him. It makes me feel insecure...

David Mills didn't seem to expect this to happen. He thought about it and seemed to think there was nothing wrong with Wayne's statement.

He sighed and said, "Okay, I will report to Pastor Bazzini truthfully when I return."

(End of this chapter)