  Hutt Member Username: Hutt Post Number: 39 Registered: 10-2005 |
Maybe its just me, but I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this before. A couple months ago I was getting ready to turn in and all of a sudden there were about 7 shots LOUD with about 8-9 shots of return fire. Then, flashing lights and sirens from 3 police cars and an EMS. Granted this was at about 3AM, but it was LOUD. Now just this past weekend the house across the street was fire-bombed. Flames jumping out of the windows, 6 firetrucks, a couple other fire vehicles and a cop car all with sirens and bright lights flashing. Again, this was about 4 in the morning. In both instances I spoke with quite a few neighbors who said they didn't hear a thing. For the shooting we were the only ones outside, and now for this fire thing there was only 2 other people who dared to step outside and see what was going on. I don't understand how you don't hear a thing when this is happening right outside your door. | ||
Chuckjav Member Username: Chuckjav Post Number: 1181 Registered: 09-2007 |
Hutt....maybe, those folks have lived in the neighborhood longer than you - perhaps they're more accustomed to the carnage? | ||
Thecarl Member Username: Thecarl Post Number: 1465 Registered: 04-2005 |
http://freep.com/article/20081 124/NEWS01/81124013: Investigators believe four gunmen intended to intimidate a 42-year-old Detroit man when they doused him with a flammable liquid and set him on fire at his Southfield Road apartment building early this morning. A shooting had taken place overnight Saturday next door to the man’s apartment in the building at 9215 Southfield Road, Detroit Fire Department arson investigator Capt. Steve Varnas said today. “It was just a message maybe: If you saw anything, don’t say anything,” Varnas said today. The man was burned on his back after four men, two wearing masks, kicked in his door at 12:45 a.m. today. He was in stable condition this morning with third degree burns at an area hospital and is expected to make a full recovery, Varnas said. | ||
Rjk Member Username: Rjk Post Number: 1313 Registered: 11-2003 |
Is this one of those snitches get stitches deals? If you don't admit that you heard something there's no point in the police even talking to you. | ||
Hutt Member Username: Hutt Post Number: 40 Registered: 10-2005 |
No Chuckjav, this is different, to me anyways. I have lived in Detroit for many years. It seems like people have stopped caring even a little about their neighbors, and it wasn't always so. Its like people are disspirited, just plain scared and give off this sense of being defeated. But what if that were you? If that were me I would want SOMEONE to ask if everything was OK and if I needed anything. Is this the best any one of us has got? | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 14829 Registered: 12-2003 |
It might be a symptom of a greater ill. Lotsa people scared, drawn tight, stretched thin...damn shame they cannot see how withdrawing alone takes away one of our potential strengths. Working together can be our greatest one! | ||
Chuckjav Member Username: Chuckjav Post Number: 1182 Registered: 09-2007 |
Hutt...that is a damnable shame; sounds like someone/some group has a powerful grip on the neighborhood. Perhaps vigilante justice is the only answer - fighting their fire with something stronger. Some extra-legal measures | ||
Thecarl Member Username: Thecarl Post Number: 1466 Registered: 04-2005 |
quote: gannon, heaven bless you. but, we saw on the warrendale thread that a community which was working together to patrol and prevent a pre-halloween arson spree, was met with guns, and orders to buy drugs or leave. it's sad to know that citizens are being called upon to provide parenting and policing of their community which parents and police elsewhere are unable or unwilling to do. there is anarchy in the city, and good citizens must be as vigilant and heartless about beating and killing the thugs, as the thugs are about dominating neighborhoods with guns and arson. otherwise, there's no contest. | ||
Sumas Member Username: Sumas Post Number: 378 Registered: 01-2008 |
Most neighbors are pretty good. It is disheartening sometimes when police fail to respond. I do understand your dismay however. Our house was broken into years ago. Our neighbor, had the nerve to tell us he was in the bathroom across our driveway from our door that was broken into. He heard the noise. He never bothered to look. Some people are just plain selfish. Most neighbors are caring and watchful.Keep faith! | ||
Dannyv Member Username: Dannyv Post Number: 488 Registered: 08-2007 |
True story. I was awakened by a loud bump on the window of the bedroom I was sleeping in. I awoke and looked out the window but didn't see anything amiss so I tried to go back to sleep. I couldn't. I got up and started my morning breakfast routine. I opened up some curtains in the back addition and noticed there was a car backed into my neighbor's driveway with the back door open and a couple of guys with hooded jackets carrying stuff from the house into the back seat of the car. My neighbor's driveway is on the far side of his property line from me so I called the neighbor on the other side who had a better view of what was going on. He also happened to be a Detroit police crime scene investigator and I figured if it was a break-in, who would more quickly get a police response than him. He pooh-poohed my suspicion that it was a break-in and thought it was some friends of our neighbor whom, he surmised, had been storing some things at the neighbor's house. I went back to my morning breakfast. About 45 minutes later I got a call from the cop-neighbor telling me his son came home and noticed what was going on at our neighbors and recognized one of the guys as the kid who lived next door to them. The cop-neighbor went outside with his service revolver and called the guys out. The guys ran from the back porch into the car and sped off. The cop-neighbor was afraid to use his service revolver because he felt he wasn't under any threat from the thieves and was close to retirement and didn't want to jeopardize that in what may be misinterpreted or mischaracterized. The thieves had made a second trip to the house when it came to the cop's sons notice. One of the thieves was the kid that lived on the other side of the cop's house and he got some juvey time. His parents were alcoholic and when they'd get drunk on weekends she would come out of her house wailing "white motherfuckers put my baby in jail". The wife of my neighbor who got ripped off blamed me for not contacting the police directly. They got over with their insurance company by claiming more than what was actually stolen. Sound familiar. | ||
Giver108 Member Username: Giver108 Post Number: 29 Registered: 06-2008 |
Sounds like some haggard neighborhoods. I'd either: A.) Move B.) Buy a gun and learn how to use it | ||
Diehard Member Username: Diehard Post Number: 647 Registered: 03-2005 |
I don't know about you, but when I hear gunshots outside my door my first instinct would be to duck, not run outside. | ||
Eastsideal Member Username: Eastsideal Post Number: 82 Registered: 10-2007 |
We were always taught to hit the deck when we heard shots. | ||
Sumas Member Username: Sumas Post Number: 386 Registered: 01-2008 |
One of the weirder stories of Detroit gun fire I have was that many years ago a friend and I visited a friend on Cadillac Blvd. Our hosts explained that there was a drug war going on but that there was always a warning shot. Sure enough that happened. We moved our card game to the floor. Scares me now to think of it and how young and stupid I was. | ||
Southwestmap Member Username: Southwestmap Post Number: 1137 Registered: 01-2005 |
Is there trouble on your street? I have found it best not to call 911 from your home. Too many mix- ups and once in a while the caller gets identified somehow. I just get something together that looks like I have an errand - a shopping bag of stuff or a trash bag. I get in my car and drive right to the precinct where I report what's going on to the officers on the desk. I make them call it in to 911 (this is sometimes hard). Then I go away for awhile. This works for on-going disputes. You should not be home, peering out your window when the police come. You should be away, appearing unconcerned and uninvolved. Don't get a reputation for calling the police. | ||
Peterhuntprincess Member Username: Peterhuntprincess Post Number: 41 Registered: 03-2008 |
Back in the old hood there was a lot of drug activity, it seemed to be all over my block. When the shots rang out, me and my big sis always got low. For some strange reason my mom always went toward the window, and in some cases straight out into the middle of the street to see who got hit! No one ever called the police... When I got into one of those positions, alone in the house when some goons started breaking in downstairs, I decided to give the police a call. These guys were banging for at least 20 minutes trying to break down the trademark 2x4s hinged at both the top and bottom of the back door. My children and I hid in the living room closet in horror listening to them for another 20 minutes or so, until a family friend arrived, gave off a few warning shots (he's licensed DFD) and rang the door bell letting us know it was safe to come out the front. About another 20 minutes later the cops showed up, 4 cars flashing lights with blaring sirens, almost an hour after I called multiple times begging them to hurry. They were upset that there was no 50 year old lady being robbed at gunpoint! Apparently the neighbors had been calling the whole time giving fake stories, trying to get the cops to come. These cops were not the Blue Pigs who came and sang at my elementary school. They had nasty attitudes and went knocking on my neighbor's doors trying to find out who made the story up! If it had not been for the broken down door frame and trashed downstairs, they would have thought I made the entire story up! So I guess I'm siding with the rest of the hood in saying that 911 is a joke. You would have better luck calling the neighborhood thugs to rescue you than the police. I can't believe I just said that, but WOW; I just did... I didn't hear anything either. | ||
Hutt Member Username: Hutt Post Number: 42 Registered: 10-2005 |
Southwestmap--streets quiet now. Peterhuntprincess--I feel your pain with the 911. | ||
Royce Member Username: Royce Post Number: 2840 Registered: 07-2004 |
I hear gun shots often. That's probably because, like right now, I am up at a time when most people are sleeping. Most of the times the gunfire is in the distance (a half mile to a mile away). Given the distance, why would I bother to call 911? With that being said, many people probably do the same thing that I do. After years of hearing distant gunfire, you get used to it. Up to this day, I have never seen anything going on when I've heard the distant gunfire. If I did, I wouldn't hesitate to call 911. | ||
Leannam1989 Member Username: Leannam1989 Post Number: 124 Registered: 06-2008 |
"I didn't hear a thing" may mean "I don't want to say a thing". But I slept through an earthquake. And I sleep through thunderstorms often. Some people are just heavier sleepers. | ||
Lombaowski Member Username: Lombaowski Post Number: 129 Registered: 11-2004 |
"I didn't hear a thing" may mean "I don't give a shit as long as it's not me that is getting shot at. All for one and one for me. I don't care about my neighbors' stuff, why should I? I have to live in a neighborhood where no one saw anything and the cops take 2 hours to get here. If I heard or saw anything I might be next, no reason to take that chance." | ||
Crew Member Username: Crew Post Number: 1475 Registered: 02-2004 |
Everytime I just about convince myself to sell the house in Royal Oak and move to midtown or Woodbridge, I read a thread like this and decide to stay put. | ||
East_detroit Member Username: East_detroit Post Number: 2309 Registered: 11-2003 |
The same Royal Oak where the woman killed a cyclist and tried to cover it up with a fake accident? People only giving a damn about themselves has no government mandated boundaries. | ||
Dannyv Member Username: Dannyv Post Number: 489 Registered: 08-2007 |
So, therefore, they are all guilty? And all the murders and assaults and rapes and theft that goes on in Detroit amounts to what? | ||
Hutt Member Username: Hutt Post Number: 43 Registered: 10-2005 |
Crew--If you heard shots right down the street now in Royal Oak, wouldn't you be concerned for your neighbors? | ||
Hutt Member Username: Hutt Post Number: 44 Registered: 10-2005 |
Lombaowski-C'mon, there's not one neighbor on your block that you might be concerned for? | ||
Oldestuff Member Username: Oldestuff Post Number: 97 Registered: 01-2007 |
There are no more neighborhood precincts to run to. Depending where you live in the City, you are assigned to a District. Each Police District conducts a monthly neighborhood/community meeting. At these meetings, they listen to the complaints about 911 responses and offer the telephone numbers directly into the district office. Supposedly if you do not have a reasonable response from 911, you are invited to call the district office direct. Thank goodness I have never had to resort to this, so I can't tell you if it is effective. I urge everyone to find out when your Police/Community meeting is and where it is held and ATTEND. If we don't start showing up and complaining, we are never going to get any positive changes. Sitting at the computer and griping on this Forum doesn't solve anything. | ||
Django Member Username: Django Post Number: 2186 Registered: 10-2003 |
Ahhh, falling asleep to the sweet sound of gunfire. Maybe thats why I cant sleep down here in the South. | ||
Southwestmap Member Username: Southwestmap Post Number: 1138 Registered: 01-2005 |
I have been to those meetings and they are a huge waste of time. They start, on average, 30 minutes late. Then there's a long forum for every public servant, church, non-profit, etc. to grand-stand. Then the old ladies complain about stuff and their minor problems are addressed. Big issues, like horrible 911 response, are never addressed. It is all Public Relations spin for the Commanders to look good to their superiors. Sorry, but that's how I saw it after several meetings. Not worth my time. Yes, I know there are no "precincts" - they are districts now. | ||
Hutt Member Username: Hutt Post Number: 45 Registered: 10-2005 |
I'm with you, Southwestmap. I've been there, done that. The first time I went I thought it would actually be a worthwhile sounding board that would produce some positive results in my neighborhood. LOL to the MAX!!! What it was when I went was people standing up and ranting on everything from George Bush and Iraq to Homeland Security. Just a mishmash of nonsense. What I was EXPECTING was maybe some PO, Commanders, Captains or whoever going row by row and asking the people "Hey, Whats going on over on your block?" all the while taking notes. I know this is going to sound completely revolutionary, but here goes anyway. Perhaps those in charge could give out their DIRECT numbers of where to get in touch for some follow-up. In another moment of insanity I attended another meeting a few months later, thinking maybe the first meeting was just a fluke. Everyone has their off days, right? Well, it was just more of the same. Next time I feel like going to one of those I'll just schedule a double root canal instead. Probably be less painful. | ||
Oldestuff Member Username: Oldestuff Post Number: 99 Registered: 01-2007 |
I don't know who conducts your meetings, but we got the attention of the Community Representatives in our District and complained about those same issues and now the meetings run about an hour and the police representatives deal with general complaints and take specific ones to the back of the room on a one on one basis. Nothing gets done if it isn't addressed. | ||
Gravitymachine Member Username: Gravitymachine Post Number: 2426 Registered: 05-2005 |
i just heard 3 gunshots somewhere within earshot of the old train station just a bit ago. can't really do a whole hell of a lot when you don't know which direction it originated. crew, every time i read one of these threads, or hear the offending bursts of small arms fire, i think about moving to royal oak. detroit rises! (Message edited by gravitymachine on December 03, 2008) (Message edited by gravitymachine on December 03, 2008) |
