From Decatur Police’s Jennifer Ross…
On July 1st, 2013 at approximately 10:30 pm, there was an attempted robbery of a single male sitting in his front yard in the 300 block of Second Avenue who was working on his laptop. The suspects circled the block in what appeared to be a light colored Mitsubishi SUV and returned approximately 10-15 minutes later. Two black males exited the SUV and approached the victim initially asking for directions but then demanded the laptop. The victim verbally refused. One suspect then pointed and fired what appeared to be a cap gun down the driveway, away from the victim. The victim fled to his porch and the other suspect ran after him. The victim struck the suspect in the face with a beer bottle and kicked him in the groin. The suspect struck the victim in the face with a closed fist. The victim fled inside of the house and called police. The suspects fled back to the vehicle and left the area. No items were taken.
While maybe not the safest decision ever, I think this “victim” was a bad ass! Kudos to him! I’m relieved he is okay. I’m sick of these thugs terrorizing our neighborhoods.
Corrina’s Corner, the pet food store on E. College, was robbed yesterday (?) by a few young black males–took his laptop too. this was the second time he’s been robbed since he opened a few months ago.
Jacque was robbed on Monday? I thought he was closed on Mondays?
also, when was the first time?
Jacque was robbed on Monday? I thought he was closed on Mondays?
also, when was the first time?
he was robbed on Monday? I thought he was closed on Mondays?
also, when was the first time?
someone please do something! ridiculous… scary… agree- kudos to brave victim!
Somebody kicked our door in Friday night at 8:15. Took an old laptop and split. Did some major damage l. We are just off 2nd south of East Lake Country Club. We had an attempted break-in a couple of weeks ago when I slipped and had a package delivered to my home. Neighbor saw kids grab the package and saw them come back and head town the driveway. They tore the screen off a window but gave up. I would love to have seen them open the box.
Wondering if the police could implement a system that when a robbery/burglary attempt call came in that the dispatcher could turn around and send a text/automated message to all subscribed residents in a 1 mile radius of the address to be on the lookout for a certain car, etc. Does such a thing exist?
There are some reverse 911 systems out there but residents have to opt-in.
Obligatory: police have a hard job. But I hope that every available officer and resource is being put towards solving these crimes. The press releases and increased communications are nice and all, but the only enhanced activities I’ve noticed recently are speed traps and traffic stops. I hope it’s because I’m not trained enough to notice the extra efforts or they are designed to not be noticed.
But these new reports are disheartening.
We’ve had a few break-ins in our subdvision in Scottdale the past couple of weeks (nice neighborhood). I believe all four happened in the morning after 9am. Someone jotted down the license plate of the SUV that drove away the last time, but apparently nothing has come of it. Young suspects. I used to turn my alarm on in the daytime while home every once in awhile, but now it stays on as much as possible. Urgh.
Unfortunately, tag numbers are of little use when the perps are using stolen vehicles, which most of these seem to be.
I rarely see a police officer patrolling Oakhurst. these robberies remind if the Oakhurst about 15 years ago. I know being a policeman is hard. but, we need a bigger presence here. as for me… I got my pistol loaded. period.
and there are now reports of an armed robbery at oakhurst park this afternoon about 5:30pm…we saw the cops fly down the street with sirens and lights but didn’t know what it was all about…message came thru on the oakhurst yahoo group.
Ok, that’s it. I let my children hang out in this park “free range”. 5:30 PM isn’t even close to dark or curfews. What can we do as parents? Neighborhood patrol time? Years ago, I lived briefly in Inman Park when they had one. I’ve tried to be calm about car thefts and break ins of homes when owners are away. But attacking people in their front yards and in neighborhood parks is not cool. I know I’m not supposed to use this term but I’m feeling a little Serial Mom-ish myself. What can parents and neighbors do that is constructive?
DPD says they’re sending me another release shortly. Thinking it may be this. Oy.
OK. DPD has confirmed it as well. Details coming…
Everything about this robbery (cap gun included) matches a report of a robbery in Candler Park this morning. Hopefully DPD is coordinating with APD and comparing notes to catch these guys.
I forwarded your comment back to DPD.
one of the perps used a cap gun in the Corrina’s Corner robbery too
I’d expect to see a continuous patrol around Oakhurst from now until they know that all the proper arrests have been made. Anything else would be negligent.
The incident at Oakhurst Park was confirmed by a representative from Decatur Active Living since there was a T-ball game going on at the time. Cell phones being stolen. Shots fired in the air.
Sorry to say, when these kids find the wrong/right armed victim, this will be all over.
A reminder for everyone to be safe, alert and most of all – prepared.
Hope neither of these things happens, but I’m not sure which would be more heartbreaking: a kid with a cap gun getting shot or someone assuming it’s a cap gun and paying with their life. I personally would never assume cap gun.
I think it’s pretty clear which one is more heartbreaking….
I think it depends on whose heart you’re talking about. Either scenario represents an unimaginable tragedy for somebody.
On the one hand we have the perp with cap gun trying to terrorize and rob.
On the other we have an innocent victim.
Its a tough call all right.
I can see where the proper placement of tears would depend on one’s perspective.
I wouldn’t stop to take a breath before shooting somebody I thought was going to hurt me or anybody with me. At the same time, I’m not interested in shooting somebody over a TV or laptop, and especially not an underage person that turns out not to have a real gun. Obviously, others feel differently.
“that turns out not to have a real gun”
How would you know? If you were in that situation, would you proceed as if the gun was real or would you assume it was a harmless cap gun? I know what I would do.
I wouldn’t know. That’s my point. I’ll shoot anybody any time to protect life and limb. I’m not shooting anybody over a damned cell phone or TV. Others feel differently, fine, whatever. I’ll tell you the notion of a bunch of middle-class suburbanites running around Decatur’s parks locked and loaded scares me a lot more than these latest waves of burglaries and robberies. (As someone pointed out, the two are not the same and I think conflating them all into one big threat is misleading and counterproductive.)
Like AHID, I want to know if the robbery vics in the park did any screaming, and just how things went down in such a way that other people using that very small park weren’t immediately aware something was amiss. In this environment, screaming and attracting attention is one of our best tactics.
“I’ll tell you the notion of a bunch of middle-class suburbanites running around Decatur’s parks locked and loaded scares me a lot more than these latest waves of burglaries and robberies.”
Wow, that is the most irrational statement I’ve read in a while. Congratulations.
Thank you. I guess one person’s irrationality can be another person’s glaringly good sense.
Walrus, you beat me to it!
STG, I think your bias is clouding your judgment to the ponit where you have none left. Those suburbanites have no intention of using their weapons. The thugs committing these crimes are not only planning to use them, they are pulling them on innocent people. Which is scarier? If this continues, invetibably someone is going to get hurt (and more likely than not, it will be the unarmed Decaturite).
smalltowngal, I know you’d pop a cap if needed. The more of these incidents that happen then the risk rises of some young, addled-brained being shot committing this same crime. The more times they do it, I’d venture, the more likely it becomes for a victim to suffer personal, physical damage. That’s the way a bear would proceed and I fear a person would do much the same.
I live in Oakhurst with a lifetime of experience with firearms. I would very easily spot a cap gun and would not use deadly force in that instance. The idea that people who go through the all the effort of firearms training, obtain a carry permit, just to go blasting their way through the neighborhood is a childish, uninformed stereotype.
If the criminal is armed with a real weapon, it is a different story. The recent murder in East Atlanta, the murder of the bartender at the Standard, the murder at one of the parks in Kirkwood all have the commonality that the victim complied with the criminal’s demands and was still killed for their trouble. No one can assume automatically, that if they just give up their stuff, they won’t be harmed. If someone makes an onsite judgment that they can comply and survive the experience, that is a risk they’re willing to take to avoid violence, but I’m not going to judge someone that immediately assumes that once they’re facing a loaded weapon, they’re facing a lethal threat.
I thought SMG was referring to the fact that even teen-age thugs may have moms or siblings or friends who are decent people who care about them. At a certain age, children you love pull away, are influenced by things outside the family, and become their own people, for right or for wrong. You can love someone while hating who they become and what they’ve done, because you have known them since they were an innocent child with all sorts of potential.
Exactly. I don’t want to be a person who killed a teenager using a cap gun to commit his first hold-up. It’s worth it to me to surrender the phone to avoid that risk. If they’re in my house, threatening my person, different story.
You keep saying “over a laptop/phone”, but you don’t know what they will do to you after they get it. How do you know once you hand it over, they won’t put a bullet in you ala Patrick Cotrona? If you want to take that chance, be my guest. Not me.
I don’t know what they will do. None of us knows what anybody will do. I’m just saying what I’m inclined to do. Every time one of these conversations gets going, the “lock and load” and “cops aren’t doing enough” and “show these animals who’s boss” contingents start trumpeting what they will do, so I am just taking the opportunity to say what I would do. Not asking anybody to agree, fully expect to elicit a certain amount of derision. I’m okay with it.
I hear you. And I am certainly not saying that pulling a gun in every situation would be the right move, because it certainly would not be. I just want to have that option.
I don’t object to your having the option. I claim it for myself.
I don’t object to you or STG having the option either. But I do wonder at how some gun owners are able to delude themselves into thinking that simply having that gun will instantly grant them absolute control of the situation. It’s pretty much a given that a perp who might have had no intention of actually using a gun suddenly becomes infinitely more likely to do so when you pull yours. He may shoot first. Even if he doesn’t, you may think very highly of your marksmanship, but if you miss or otherwise fail to fully incapacitate him with the first shot, you’ve just bought yourself a much more dire outcome. I think where I diverge from many (not all, mind you) gun owners is that I think adding that gun to the equation complicates things rather than simplifying them. I do believe that in many cases it represents added security, but I think in just as many it represents a FALSE sense of security.
“If they’re in my house, threatening my person, different story.”
In all of these cases, they have threatened the victims. The in-person hold ups carry with them, at the very least, an implied threat of violence. When the perp in the story above “demanded” the laptop, he did not ask politely — he was saying, in essence, give the laptop or something bad will happen to you. Then you have the other robberies where a gun, whether real or cap, was involved, and those clearly involve a threat of bodily harm. Maybe the threats were bluffs, but who can know for sure? So I don’t understand the distinction you’re making.
What happens if and when these pukes are caught and are 15 or 16 years old? My guess is a slap on the wrist and back on the street.
decatur needs to be doing more–police,mayor, more patrols, just more! Making it known not to show up in our town
While there is no magic bullet (so to speak) and robberies are very different from burglaries, one thing we can all do to help is record the serial numbers and model numbers of everything in our homes and garage with such numbers. If stolen, DPD can enter that info into a state-wide database which will get triggered if there is any attempt to pawn it. Obviously stolen goods get turned into cash in other ways, but it’s one less avenue available to the perps to make a living off of our hard work.
DPD also suggested putting your phone number on any type of lawn equipment or items that can walk off. That way, if an officer does stop someone and suspicion warrants it, they can call the number on the item immediately to confirm if it should be walking down the street or not.
It’s going to be a wet Fourth of July so many people will be stuck inside. Why not take the time to write down all your serial and model numbers on one sheet of paper and sharpie your phone number on everything in the garage?
“For the past several weeks, Decatur Police have used overtime assignments and reassigned staff to address increased criminal activity in the area. Those efforts will continue and be on-going. Please report any non-emergency suspicious activity to the Decatur Police at 404-373-6551 or in the case of an immediate emergency dial 9-1-1.”
On the other hand, one can argue that those measures are overdue and papering over prior misplaced priorities. It was just a few weeks ago that DPD set up jaywalking “sting” operations, for lack of a better term, and the amount of resources directed to traffic enforcement seems quite significant. I can recall multiple instances where not one, but two DPD vehicles were monitoring speeding on E. College within a mile of one another. When criminals know where the police are, they also know where they aren’t. I don’t know that any of this opened the door to these criminals, but I wouldn’t dismiss it, either.
We’ve has similar issues in Avondale, where the police are reliably parked off Covington trying to raise revenue, while we’ve had daylight robberies in town.
Geez, I didn’t realize when I was posting yesterday that two more break-ins had occured that same day here. Never seen anything like this in 10 years. “Here” is three miles from downtown Decatur on the YDFM side… not specifically Decatur and not the nicest area surrounding our neighborhood, but it is still frustrating. Seems an alarm system did scare them off one home.
Time to lock & load.
We live on the Dekalb / Decatur line and met with police from both sides a few months back when we had an uptick in car break-ins. The clear takeaway was arresting these guys was nothing more than inconvenience for the criminal and all we could was make our property less convenient / appealing than your neighbor. At the time the police said their activity level would change drastically if crime moved from cars to homes. We’ve since had a handful of home invasions and likely even more attempts with minimal, if any, increase in activity on the law enforcement side. While I understand they are trying, I have little faith they can provide any assurance this type of crime will not continue. Meanwhile, I’m turning our dream home into Ft Knox while slowly realizing “assurance” may only come with moving. That idea makes me sick and no area is perfectly safe but this level of crime is ridiculous.
Please make the proper distinction between home invasion and burglary.
Well, I guess this is one way of addressing burgeoning enrollment in City Schools of Decatur. We may seem a little less desirable to families wanting walk and roll neighborhoods.
Anybody have any experience with 3M security film for their windows?