Report of Armed Robbery in Oakhurst Park This Afternoon
Decatur Metro | February 11, 2009 | 5:30 pmUPDATE: Again, from the OMB…
DECATUR POLICE DEPARTMENT
NEWS ALERT
On Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 4:35 PM, the Decatur Police Department received a report of an armed robbery, which had just occurred. The victims were seated at the Oakhurst Park pavilion on Third Avenue when they were approached by a lone male. The male was dressed in a silver or bluish-gray “hoodie” jacket with his face partially concealed by the jacket. The male produced a handgun and demanded the victims’ money. The victims complied and neither was injured. The suspect fled the area on foot. At this time the suspect has not been apprehended. The suspect’s description is as follows:African-American male
Medium to dark complexioned
5’8″ to 5’9″ in height
Slender build
“dreadlocks” hairstyle
Silver or bluish gray “hoodie” jacketAnyone having information about this crime is encouraged to contact the Decatur Police Department at 404-373-6551 or the Decatur Police Department-Criminal Investigations Division tip line @ 678-553-6677.
Investigator J.S. Ross is the lead investigator for this incident.Sherina Clough
President
Oakhurst Neighborhood Association
Sigh…
Left Wing points out this new message on the Oakhurst Message Board…
There was an armed robbery at Oakhurst Park today 2.11.09 @ 4:30 pm. My wife was going up to Snap fitness when a young girl around 20 years old came running up to her car to tell her that someone came up to her with a gun. My wife called Decatur Police and 3 units arrived in less than 5 min. I will post more about this as I get more details from her.
Stay tuned.
AUGH!!! Stop the madness! I live less than a few hundred feet away from Oakhurst Park, and I go jogging around the neighborhood all the time. I’ve always felt pretty safe–at least safe enough to go running at 7pm during the winter, when it’s somewhat dark–but to know that this incident happened in broad daylight…that’s scary.
The crime situation was a cause for concern but it is now gone to the frightening place. It has gotten to the point around us that we cannot walk down the street and not be concerned that the guy walking towards you is going to rob you.
My wife walks our kids home from pre-school downtown to oakhurst and stops at that park to play. She already was on edge about strangers approaching them because of the uptick in crime but now she is done walking and has no desire to take them to the park.
Because of the amount of crime, we have neighbors who are cleaning their houses up to sell this spring plus 2 houses for sale already. While I personally think that is a little dramatic, it is totally understandable.
Yes, it is a “transitional” area but it is not that transitional and has not been for quite some time (for pete’s sake, my block is 90% families with little kids). It feels like people use transitional as an excuse to tell us that we should not get so worked up about the amount of crime and that we need to be more understanding that “times are tough and we just need to understand that we we live in a rougher area”.
Pretty scary and sort of goes with what I commented on in another post a couple of days ago. Even though Decatur hasn’t seen a huge jump in these types of crimes (armed robbery), the surrounding City of Atlanta zone has seen a huge jump, and that it is impacting us here in Oakhurst.
However, the worst thing that we can do is stop walking through the parks and putting a for sale sign in the yard to move. Where in the world are you going to move that is immune from crime anyway? I say we get out and walk more regularly if anything! As a matter of fact the dog and I are about to go walk through Oakhurst Park right now just for the hell of it!
BTW: I don’t think that it is necessarily that we live in a “transitional” area, but that we are surrounded by some pretty transitional areas and criminals don’t necessarily respect (or understand) jurisdictional boundries, particularly when they commit their crimes in broad daylight.
I live on 4th street. Its to the point where I wont let my wife go on walks by herself in our neighborhood. We dont feel safe walking our dogs in the afternoon.
I am wondering what if anything is really being done by our police and government to address all of the recent crime. Statistics are meaningless to me. Most of my intown friends have either just experienced crime or have witnessed it close by.
Isolated incidents are becoming less isolated.
I understand where you are coming from DanG, but really hope that our community follows the advice from Decaturguy. The more folks walking around outside, the less likely these types of crimes are to take place. I think that’s what is so unnerving about this particular incident: broad daylight. Other recent crimes seemed to be late evening and (fair or not) thus somewhat less of a surprise.
Maybe we need to copy Kennesaw and mandate gun ownership for all Oakhurst citizens? I’m kidding, of course, but it would send a message to those in the ‘surrounding transitional areas’ that they should think twice before venturing into Decatur in search of an easy target.
I’m with you, Decaturguy. I think our (Oakhurst’s) saving grace will be the high degree of community we have here. If ever there was the kind of place where people would get out, get active, say “hell no”, refuse to back down, etc., Oakhurst seems a good candidate.
One other thing that differentiates us from a lot of places: My wife went out to Steinbecks in the village last night and said you couldn’t swing a cat without hitting a Decatur cop. They were everywhere. So, no, the problem’s not solved but it’s nice to know our PD’s not taking it sitting down.
James,
How long have you lived in the neighborhood?
Just wondering because there is no such thing as 4th “Street.” There is a 4th Avenue. I just find it sort of unusual that you wouldn’t know the correct name of your own street.
Hey now….let’s not start swinging cats around….the last thing we need would be a bunch of PETA freaks dressing up like Klansman in Oakhurst:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2009-02-09-peta-westminster-kkk-protest_N.htm
Believe me that I am the last one to suggest that we not be concerned. However, I think that it is important to keep perspective. Be vigilant, but I don’t think that we should let this rule our lives. Media reports, especially ones involving violence are ones that are very easy to remember and when we hear of any incidents, these end up reinforcing a belief that we are under siege by crime. The truth is that we’ve had a bit of an uptick in property crime, and we’ve had a very substantial uptick in coverage (e.g., a few years ago, i probably never would have heard of this incident and thus, wouldn’t have been worried.) The result is to make us much more prone over reaction. Again, let me emphasize that I am not minimizing the victim’s experience, nor am I suggesting that caution is not called for.
Simply put, crime will happen just like car accidents, tornados (!), and lots of other unpredictable events. For all of these, we can take precautions and not be stupid but at the end of the day, we need to live our lives. Decatur’s got a very responsive police force, strong neighborhoods and community feeling, and I think these make it not a very hospitable place for a large increase in the crime rate. We can make it even less hospitable by keeping an eye out, being concerned about our neighbors, and not barricading ourselves inside and letting these incidents dominate how we live.
Just my two cents.
Glock is right on. As I’ve said many times before, though there is an undeniable uptick in crime in surrounding areas, “crimes against people” were down last year inside the city limits. Crime is definitely an issue everywhere intown, but part of the perceived “increase” is in fact the increase in communication among residents…ie Decatur blogs and neighborhood message boards.
@decatur guy
I have lived here since last feb. and your right its 4th avenue lol. I am a bit out of it this morning. We live near 4th and Gordon.
Seriously though, there is a definite increase in police presence… but the bad guys dont seem to care. Or they are too desperate to care.
We should be upset about street crimes but in order to reduce it we should be taking action to improve the economy (yeah stimulus bill) and stop opposing increased mixed- use high density development. I have lived within blocks of this park and downtown Decatur for decades as well as a brief stint living in the Ponce-Highlands area of ATL. That is a much more densely developed area, mixed residential, offices and commercial uses, almost 24 hour “street life”, and I always felt much safer walking around at any time of day or night then I ever feel in my Decatur neighborhood (Oakhurst and/or downtown Decatur). Complaining about street crime and diversity won’t solve the problem
I’ve lived in Oakhurst for 20 years and I remember when walking to school that we could not even go thru Oakhurst Park because of the drug dealers, etc. The Police Department and the City of Decatur has made a lot of improvements and they protect us every day. People are trying all kinds of things right now because of the economy and I know the City will stay on top of things.
OK. Sorry James. Sorry that you are frightened, but I have lived in the neighborhood for about 6 years now and walk by that intersection nearly every day and have never, not once, felt “unsafe” in doing so.
Again, yes, there has been an uptick in crime. But no, it is nothing nearly as bad as it was just a few years ago. And, being frightened and afraid to walk out the door and do things as you normally would is only going to make matters worse.
@decaturguy
I agree with you guys, we shouldn’t be frightened, and looking over my comments I was pretty dramatic. Nothing more then normal intown common sense is necessary.
Oakhurst has such a great neighborhood feel to it today, that some of the other ‘intown’ areas don’t, so I am surprised to get news like this.
Is this type of thing getting worse? Maybe I am just getting old. But I am beginning to see some of the safety appeal of the ‘burbs (ack!).
To add to the litany of neighborhood incidents, my 9-month pregnant neighbor on Lake thwarted a mid-day home invasion at her own home and shoed-off robbers breaking into her neighbors car.
Let’s blame it on the economy. I know that I have lost my job and it has given me a powerful hankering to go out and do crimes!
B. Steal, you’d better check the stats and read the paper before you assume the ‘burbs are safer.
I will use the AJC as my guiding light.
Having just seen Gran Torino, I have some thoughts on how we might solve this problem.
I have started carrying a little friend (legally) that I would be happy to introduce to any punks that feel lucky..
I just hope the decatur police know we are concerned and read these concerns
Anyone who thinks the ‘burbs are safer should check out the Sandy Springs blogger’s column in Saturday’s AJC.