Kirkwood Resident Shot While Working in Yard
Decatur Metro | August 22, 2009“S” posted this comment yesterday, but it got stuck in moderation. The AJC reported on the incident this morning, but some details differed from the account below.
Earlier today a Kirkwood resident was working in his yard when he was approached by 2 young black males, at least one armed with a handgun, demanding money. When the victim stated he did not have any, he was shot multiple times and currently undergoing surgery.
The shooting occured at Ridgedale Road near Branham Park.
One black female and two black males, traveling together in a bright red Kia SUV, partial tag # 4247.
– 1st black male dreadlocks multi-colored shirt appeared to very young.
– 2nd black male wearing a blue shirt appeared to very young.
– black female, no description
If you see this vehicle, please contact the police.
Valencia Hudson – Public Safety Liaison for Councilmember Natalyn Archibong
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The AJC account had three errors:
* reported as occurring in Oakhurst, not Kirkwood
* not reported as occurring in City of Atlanta
* reported as occurring in Fulton County, not DeKalb County (of course, that doubles error #1, since Oakhurst and Kirkwood are both in DeKalb County)
For those interested, the AJC Public Editor can be reached at .
I don’t think of Decatur as dangerous, but the frequent startling crime posts here lead me to believe that I may be naive. Please, your thoughts…
Brad,
I also don’t think of Decatur as dangerous. But the frequent posts and news stories about local crime sometimes make it feel that way. These stories are a double-edged sword; they keep us informed and on our toes, but they also tend to frighten. Thus, there is no easy answer on how to treat them.
There has been a lot of discussion on DM about the economy and crime. I have no idea if there is a direct relationship, and I don’t want to restart that discussion. But I do believe a weak economy, with its high unemployment, volatile markets, decreased home values, etc. make us all feel vulnerable. And that adds to our fears that crime may be more abundant and more violent these days. Is it? Dunno.
Anyway, no matter what we see/hear/read, and no matter the economy or anything else that seems to add to criminal activity, the message is the same. Watch out for yourself, your family, your neighbors and your community. Be constantly aware of your surroundings. Don’t hestitate to call our outstanding police department. And finally, don’t let the fear change what you enjoy doing. If you do, the terrorists (oops, I mean criminals
) win.
As I have said before here and elsewhere, crime seems to be magnified in Decatur because of our normal relative lack of it. Crimereports.com shows a total of 12 crimes other than traffic stops in the past 7 days. That’s not a large number, and of those, only 2 were crimes against persons. It’s also useful to remember that Decatur has not had a homicide in 2 1/2 years.
Unfortunately, we are adjacent to Atlanta, where this incident actually took place, and some crossover is going to happen. Eric has put forth good advice about being aware and vigilant and calling for even the least little thing that doesn’t seem right.
Which goes back to my point a few weeks ago that Decatur is a not a suburb but actually an urban area with all the attendant issues.
Seeing Decatur crimes posted on Crimereports can be alarming until we consider that few area agencies participate. If we could compare apples to apples with Atlanta, or even the rest of Dekalb County, I bet Decatur would look pretty good.But we can’t know.
The flip side of that is one might conclude that the whole metropolitan area is a stinking cesspool of crime and we should be armed to the teeth ready to kill or be killed. This kind of data is new to me so I don’t know which way to take it.
Either those gunmen were idiots or they were just looking for someone to shoot. Who keeps any form of money on them when they’re mowing the lawn??
I’m betting that it was some sort of gang initiation. They meant to shoot that guy no matter what he said or did. I also think it was local kids and that they’ll get caught because they can’t be that bright. When there are shootings and crimes like this done by underage kids, the law should also come down on the parent(s) or legal guardian…Hard.
AJC reported a shooting at Chevron on Candler Road “near Decatur”.
Given that Decatur is the the most densely populated city in the state, with a crime rate as low as it is – Jane Jacobs was right. Keep those eyes on the street. They are more powerful than guns. Viva urbanity!
A similar incident just occurred in the neighborhood behind Edgewood Shopping Center. 3 teens shot a male as he was getting out of his car. They asked for the keys to his BMW, he threw his keys down, began to run away from them and they still shot him. The neighborhood residents know who these boys are, they have been spotted since, and yet the APD has not done anything. This is definitely a gang initiation, and while the community and neighborhood residents DID come together and find out who those boys were and even where one or more of them lived, they have not been arrested.
It’s a shame that our neighborhood residents cannot expect more from the APD.
Hopefully we can expect more from the City of Decatur Police!
APD knows these boys are the shooters and aren’t trying to apprehend them? Come on…
Also MFC, can you give us your source for this info?
Sorry, they pay me to be skeptical.
From Andisheh a few weeks ago:
http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/freshloaf/2009/07/28/perception-of-crime-in-atlanta-another-person-shot-in-the-back/
Sorry just signed back in – thanks Rusty Diamond for the link. Jason is a friend of mine.
Thanks for the link Rusty and the detail MFC. I think I just got a bit confused when you said this event had “just occured” MFC.
This stranger-on-stranger crime is becoming more and more disconcerting.