[cookiedough]

I wouldn't be afraid to look around my neighborhood for a child who had been taken at gun point a couple of hours earlier. I'd figure the gunman was long gone, and the best we could hope for was to find a child so injured that she could not go for help, or her body.

Maybe the neighbors hoped that they would find Liz with enough life left in her to save her.

[freedox]

"I wouldn't be afraid to look around my neighborhood for a child who had been taken at gun point a couple of hours earlier. I'd figure the gunman was long gone......"

That sort of thinking might be understandable for a layperson, but not for a police officer. Initial police reports stated that there was no evidence of a vehicle, indicating that Elizabeth and her abductor had left on foot. Therefore, there was a possibility that they were still hiding in the area. I seriously question why the police would have allowed people to continue roaming about the neighborhood, looking for Elizabeth and a supposedly armed gunman. Isn't the police motto "To PROTECT and Serve"?

[Devil_Anse]

I'm with you, on whether I would at least try to help a frantic neighbor whose child was missing. I could see people going around in groups--it might make them feel safer, anyway. I can also see people not wanting to be remembered as the one who retreated into their home and ignored the Smarts' plight. I mean, those who felt less like Rambo might at least have tried to show their concern by walking around in the lighted areas of the neighborhood!

There's also the matter of adenalin. Ordinary people are capable of all sorts of things when the adrenalin is flowing. So often we see people on the news who say, "I realize now that I did a risky thing...I must have been crazy, but I was excited...All I thought of was saving the person's life..."