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Crime. Boy, I don't know...

post #1 of 36
5/9/07 at 6:07pm
Thread Starter 
When did my neighborhood turn into Farmington?! I need the Strike Team to restore order...

So I get out of the shower yesterday around noon, and while shaving in front of my mirror, I see someone run by my window into my backyard. Not knowing who it is, I go to my kitchen, and see a couple of unmarked police cars out front and there's a cop that has someone pinned down in my front yard.

I go in the backyard, and there's a couple of bicycles (?) right in the corner. A couple of minutes later, there's two helicopters going over my house, so of course, I go inside to see if whatever is happening is on the news,* but no dice. Some sheriff's deputies showed up and looked around for awhile, but I don't know if they found anyone other than the guy they had tackled on my front lawn.

Then I get a phone call from a friend who works at a 911 call center for a different county, telling me there is a possible homicide (!) in my neighborhood. It hits the news a couple hours later that a woman has been killed in her home, which is about 50 yards or so from my own house.

I found out hours later (from one smokin' hot detective - blonde, blue eyes, maybe 120 pounds - she was going door to door to see if anyone heard/saw anything) that the two incidents were completely separate from each other, which just makes this all the more surprising for me. I've lived in Florida for a while now (over 10 years), and never really been around something like this. The worst thing I've dealt with or been around is a fair share of drunken fights in Gainesville & Tallahassee (college years), and I once saw a guy's head get pushed through an oven door (I wouldn't have thought it possible if I didn't see it).

Orlando's what I guess I would call a big city (it's probably the 4th largest in the state), but it's not exactly huge. I go downtown quite a bit, and there's quite a diverse group of people that you can meet down there, and I've never felt unsafe. But crime seems to have gotten out of control lately, and of course something like this happening this close to my home really gets my attention. Hell, it's already made me think about getting a gun (I've gone to shooting ranges a lot just for the hell of it, so I'm an decent shot), which I'm sure sounds a little ridiculous - but all I could think of was "if they came inside the house, what the hell would I do?"

How do you big city guys deal with this kind of stuff - does it just become one of those things that you just get used to and/or ignore?

*If I was on the live news feed, I probably would've run out of my house naked and started swimming in the pool. Would've been so cool to put on YouTube...
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post #2 of 36
5/9/07 at 6:58pm
as someone who's had the misfortune of being home during an attempted home invasion and was lucky enough to have just come back from the gun club and as a result have my pistol close at hand, I have to side with getting a gun. Not going to be very popular on these boards I suspect, but until you've been there and had that door get kicked in, and have had someone rush at you, I don't know how much someone else's opinion matters. Luckily, just pointing the pistol at him stopped in his tracks and he ran from the apartment. But a word of advice, if you are not prepared to use a gun in a life or death situation to protect yourself or others, please don't get one.
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post #3 of 36
5/9/07 at 7:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by canuck75
But a word of advice, if you are not prepared to use a gun in a life or death situation to protect yourself or others, please don't get one.
Yeah, good call, the last thing you want is your firearm taken away from you and used against you.

I live in Las Vegas but grew up in Los Angeles. I've been around crime all of my life, but I would not say that I am used to it. When I was single I wasn't scared, but now that I'm married, I am terrified of someone breaking in and hurting my wife. I have weapons hidden all over (all of them 'non-lethal' except for my dad's single barrel shotgun) so if I'm home at the time, God help that asshole.
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post #4 of 36
5/9/07 at 8:07pm
WayDen, for the future, in case you were wondering: This thread is when I decided to kick your ass.
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post #5 of 36
5/9/07 at 8:18pm
Rath taking two hours to respond to a West Wing reference, now there's the crime.

Orlando broke its record for number of murders last year, and ranked pretty highly in that Most Dangerous Cities list that came out last year too. Part of the problem is tourists with their brains on hold -- they don't think anything can happen to them (or they're from overseas and don't know the language well), and they get jacked all the time in some of the non-Disney tourist areas (particularly I-Drive).

It's also a rapidly growing area, with plenty of people coming down but not enough jobs to go around.

Of course, it doesn't help that our local sheriff is an overweight douche whose biggest claim to fame was letting himself get Tasered to demonstrate its effectiveness as a deterrent. It's gotten to the point where the owner of the area I live in (MetroWest, out near Universal), is spending $250,000 of his own money to hire off-duty police officers to patrol the area.

Now I know you're going to have crime wherever you go, and our crime rate here pales in comparison to the larger cities. And a lot of what is happening here seems to be idiot-based -- someone knocks on the door at 11pm and the victim just opens it and the perp barges in, or somebody tries to be the hero with a gun pointed at them. Not that they deserve to be victims, but a little common sense and precaution can sure tip the odds in your favor.

Hey WayDen, what part of Orlando are you in?
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post #6 of 36
5/9/07 at 8:22pm
The irony of this:

Quote:
I have to side with getting a gun.
posted by a person named Canuck75 might not go down so well with Michael Moore.
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post #7 of 36
5/9/07 at 8:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Dickson
Rath taking two hours to respond to a West Wing reference, now there's the crime.
I know, it's like the bat signal.
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post #8 of 36
5/9/07 at 8:59pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by RathBandu
WayDen, for the future, in case you were wondering: This thread is when I decided to kick your ass.
I was pretty sure someone here would get the reference, even if it was kind of obscure.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Dickson
Hey WayDen, what part of Orlando are you in?
I'm in Longwood, which I'm not even sure qualifies as Orlando (seeing as it's in another county). I'm in Seminole county, which has a much smaller crime rate that Orange county (Orlando). The thing that surprised me was the fact that this was happening in my neighborhood, which is generally a pretty nice area. Hell, even last year in Lake Mary - a really nice area, there was that guy last year who decapitated his wife and then cut off his son's hands in front of his neighbors. That was an isolated event, but it just seems like the nicer areas are really starting to get affected by a lot of the stuff that used to just be contained to the worse areas of the city.

For the record, Dickson, I agree with most of what you're saying. And yeah, things like this are going to happen no matter what (some people just snap), it just seems to happen with alarming regularity around here (Orlando as a whole).

Quote:
Originally Posted by canuck75
But a word of advice, if you are not prepared to use a gun in a life or death situation to protect yourself or others, please don't get one.
I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be afraid to use it (guess you really don't know until you're in that situation), considering I'd probably be in a situation where it's either me or them.
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post #9 of 36
5/9/07 at 9:30pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by WayDen
...from one smokin' hot detective - blonde, blue eyes, maybe 120 pounds - she was going door to door to see if anyone heard/saw anything...
Some more detectives just came to my door with a picture that looks like it was taken from a security camera of some guy. I had never seen him before, but they were asking all around the neighborhood to get a lead. Seems like they have a suspect, although it's supposedly just a "person of interest".

It was another woman - but not my hot little blonde detective. Sigh...
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post #10 of 36
5/9/07 at 10:23pm
This event occurred in my apartment a few weeks ago:

Me and my roommate are lounging around silently doing homework. All of a sudden a gunshot is fired outside.

Me: (Monotone) That was definitely a gunshot.
Roommate: (Also not looking up) Yeah it was.

We resume working.


We live right by a homeless shelter and there's more drug dealers and users in the area than you could shake a stick at. I've been approached by six or more drug dealers, one at a time, while walking no more than two blocks on several occasions, and seen a fight where a guy picked up a bicycle and threw it at another guy standing in the middle of the street. Needless to say that brings a lot of bad shit. Once last year a guy got stabbed right by our front door, there was blood all over the fucking place.

Basic rule of thumb is if you see anyone over the age of 25 who isn't Asian in our area after 9pm, they're there for illegal purposes.
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post #11 of 36
5/9/07 at 10:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by WayDen

I found out hours later (from one smokin' hot detective - blonde, blue eyes, maybe 120 pounds -
I can hardly believe they really exist outside of cop TV shows.
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post #12 of 36
5/9/07 at 10:42pm
Reading this thread makes me think maybe there's something to be said for living in the sticks. I grew up in a "town" where we had 1 non-domestic murder/attempted murder in 10 years. Sure, I never got to see any good movies, never had a meal at a decent restaurant, had to drive an hour to find any sort of entertainment, and knew everything about everyone in a 10 mile radius, but...

Well, maybe the city's worth the hassle. I'll just stock up on ammo.
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post #13 of 36
5/9/07 at 10:52pm
I always associated the criminal aspect with glamour!
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post #14 of 36
5/9/07 at 11:01pm
stormin, what neighborhood do you live in?
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post #15 of 36
5/9/07 at 11:04pm
I'm opposed to having a gun. The thing about having a gun is you have to consider the possibilities of what could happen with it the whole time it's sitting around your house. What happens if someone breaks in when you're not there and finds the gun? And as was raised before, what if using the gun doesn't work out to your benefit? The way I see it, everyone is better off just trying to keep a cool head, be sensible, try not to be violent. You may think that's idealistic, wishful thinking, whatever, but I stand by it.

Also, I had a couple attempted break-ins, both while I was at home, and me just being there and yelling at the dudes scared them away, and I didn't have any incidents in either apartment afterwards.
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post #16 of 36
5/9/07 at 11:05pm
Chinatown. Most of it's cleaner now than it was two years ago thanks to the nerd-patrol neighborhood watch, but all they've done is push all the scumbags that used to be spread out over the whole neighborhood into the outskirts, where they're all compressed into a semicircle about two blocks thick.
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post #17 of 36
5/9/07 at 11:08pm
Yeah, see that's part of the problem. The issues around why violence, theft, etc., happens, it's never really looked into. Neither the govt nor most citizens ever try to find long-lasting solutions. It's just like, hire more police, everyone get guns, put the criminals in jail. They never figure things like improve schools and libraries, organize community groups, whatever, rantrantrant...
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post #18 of 36
5/10/07 at 1:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by WayDen
I'm in Longwood, which I'm not even sure qualifies as Orlando (seeing as it's in another county). I'm in Seminole county, which has a much smaller crime rate that Orange county (Orlando). The thing that surprised me was the fact that this was happening in my neighborhood, which is generally a pretty nice area. Hell, even last year in Lake Mary - a really nice area, there was that guy last year who decapitated his wife and then cut off his son's hands in front of his neighbors. That was an isolated event, but it just seems like the nicer areas are really starting to get affected by a lot of the stuff that used to just be contained to the worse areas of the city.
I'm in Winter Park and I remember that samurai sword murder last year. Weird shit. Didn't some woman choke her kid to death with a curling iron wire or something as well?

We also have Ninjas here in Central Florida: http://www.wftv.com/news/13282414/detail.html

May 8, 2007 BELLE ISLE, Fla. -- A bizarre crime in a Belle Isle neighborhood has left the victims frightened and confused. A man dressed up like a ninja broke into a Belleville Avenue home, smashed furniture, attacked two people and then took off without saying a word.

The victims didn't want to go on camera, but one of them told Eyewitness News it was one of the scariest and strangest things he's ever been through. He doesn't know what the man wanted, just that the attacker was very violent.

Neighbor Vivian Heath said it isn't something that normally happens in their quiet neighborhood.

"It's weird! No, it's not anything we expect around here," she said.

Heath's husband saw the ninja, dressed in all black, go into their neighbor's house Sunday afternoon. Three people were inside watching the movie "The Green Mile" on television, when the ninja burst in, punched one of the men in the mouth and kicked another man.

The costumed burglar slammed the DVD player and VCR into the dresser. Then he pulled out a knife and made threatening slashing and stabbing motions.

What makes the crime even more strange, the ninja didn't take anything from the house, but he did take a couple of pictures of the victims with his cell phone. Then, without saying a word or making any demands, he took off down the street.

One victim told Eyewitness News the suspect's mask kept falling down, so they could tell he was a black man with a mustache. The man drove off in a black BMW.
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post #19 of 36
5/10/07 at 1:48am
I hate to say Stump, but it is kind of wishful thinking. And when that door comes flying open is your first thought really going to be "gee, they should have built more libraries"?. Don't get me wrong, I agree with the heart of what you're saying regarding equal opportunities, socio-economics and things in that vein, but none of that matters when someone with bad intent comes to you.
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post #20 of 36
5/10/07 at 1:53am
Sounds like Black Ninja. Did he give them a nerve pinch that didn't kill them but paralyzed them and they lost all muscle control so they would endlessly shit themselves with no cure available?
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post #21 of 36
5/10/07 at 2:08am
Orlando, huh? I would have thought the worst you guys got was people chucking money out of skyscrapers and burning vehicles in retarded patterns.
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post #22 of 36
5/10/07 at 2:12am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by WayDen
...from one smokin' hot detective - blonde, blue eyes, maybe 120 pounds - she was going door to door to see if anyone heard/saw anything...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stormin
I can hardly believe they really exist outside of cop TV shows.
That was literally my second thought. First one was, "This chick's hot!" Then I saw her badge attached to one of those necklace things that cops on The Shield wear and thought she should be on TV. I almost said it out loud, but my sense of not wanting to sound like an idiot chimed in and I just let her talk.

I'm never really shy around good looking women, but I was thrown by the fact that she was a detective and asking me questions. I wish I could've come up with something quick & charming like Matt Damon in The Departed (when he's in the elevator with the shrink), but I failed miserably...
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post #23 of 36
5/10/07 at 2:31am
What guarantees do you have with a gun? Nothing good can happen from something of which its sole purpose is to destroy. By flashing your gun, or actually shooting someone, you may have warded something off, but they will come back. If you abide, and deal with things in a proper way, the problem will be dealt with. Be a real man, and face the issue, don't try to wave it away with threats.

Also, do you want to live your life knowing you single handedly ended someone elses?
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post #24 of 36
5/10/07 at 2:56am
The crime rate here seems to have gone up a lot in the last ten years. Used to be there'd be a murder in the whole country maybe once a month or so, now it's about 2 a week. I guess comparitvly that's still pretty low, but still I miss the good ol' days.
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post #25 of 36
5/10/07 at 3:14am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by stump
Also, do you want to live your life knowing you single handedly ended someone elses?
Not to be snarky at all, but I bet some people would rather live with that than be killed by someone who broke into their home.

Carrying around a piece everywhere you go is a little psycho (at least to me), but I really don't see a problem with one in your own home. If someone broke into my house and threatened me, my family, or my friends, I would want a way to stop them.
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post #26 of 36
5/10/07 at 9:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by travishall456
Reading this thread makes me think maybe there's something to be said for living in the sticks. I grew up in a "town" where we had 1 non-domestic murder/attempted murder in 10 years. Sure, I never got to see any good movies, never had a meal at a decent restaurant, had to drive an hour to find any sort of entertainment, and knew everything about everyone in a 10 mile radius, but...

Well, maybe the city's worth the hassle. I'll just stock up on ammo.

You think one murder in 10 years is good, the town I live in has not had a murder since sometime in the 1950's and we have about 2 break ins annually. On top of that I only have to drive 35 minutes to get the Columbus, the nearest big city.
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post #27 of 36
5/10/07 at 9:31am
My subdivision (which is fairly quiet) is still in Durham, NC so crime is still expected.

About 2 - 3 years ago, I came home for lunch to find out a guy shot his best friend in the hand while waiting on doing a drive by.

So let me clarify. Right behind my house, a guy and his friend were waiting in their car to shoot someone who lived behind me.

The driver held the loaded gun in the car waiting on his suspect to come out of the house, but unexpectedly shot his friend (in the passenger seat) in the hand. Someone called the police and both guys were arrested.

Not only is crime bad in Durham, its often stupid.
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post #28 of 36
5/10/07 at 9:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by stump
What guarantees do you have with a gun? Nothing good can happen from something of which its sole purpose is to destroy. By flashing your gun, or actually shooting someone, you may have warded something off, but they will come back. If you abide, and deal with things in a proper way, the problem will be dealt with. Be a real man, and face the issue, don't try to wave it away with threats.

Also, do you want to live your life knowing you single handedly ended someone elses?
There's also the possibility that you producing a gun could escalate the situation. The guy busting into your house for a quick snatch and grab may suddenly decide he's got to take you out to get away.
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post #29 of 36
5/10/07 at 10:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Russ Fischer
The irony of this posted by a person named Canuck75 might not go down so well with Michael Moore.
Particularly when handling laws shouldn't allow a person to just draw their handgun. As far as I know it should be unloaded, kept separate from ammunition, and be transported in a locked box or bag.
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post #30 of 36
5/10/07 at 1:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ali Mohamed
Orlando, huh? I would have thought the worst you guys got was people chucking money out of skyscrapers and burning vehicles in retarded patterns.
That's Tampa. All our fire hydrants are real here.
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post #31 of 36
5/10/07 at 4:25pm
Thread Starter 
Florida cops are the best! Check out this story Diva posted: http://chud.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100893
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post #32 of 36
5/10/07 at 4:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by horrid
The crime rate here seems to have gone up a lot in the last ten years. Used to be there'd be a murder in the whole country maybe once a month or so, now it's about 2 a week. I guess comparitvly that's still pretty low, but still I miss the good ol' days.
Only 2 murders a week? In the whole fucking country?! Dude, you're living in some sort of paradise!
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post #33 of 36
5/10/07 at 5:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stump
Also, do you want to live your life knowing you single handedly ended someone elses?
If that person/s intends to harm/kill me or any of my loved ones, I think I'd be able to cope with any emotional baggage that might set in with their passing.

I'm not a "gun guy" by any stretch of the imagination, and I abhor violence, but I'm definitely reaching for my .45 to fix a potentially life threatening situation before taking my would be assailant by the hand and leading us into a heart felt rendition of Kum Bai Ya.
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post #34 of 36
5/10/07 at 5:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by WayDen
Florida cops are the best! Check out this story Diva posted: http://chud.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100893
Wow ninjas AND armless car chases??? My opinion of Florida (my current home) residents just went from suck to sucktacular!
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post #35 of 36
5/10/07 at 9:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quarant
Only 2 murders a week? In the whole fucking country?! Dude, you're living in some sort of paradise!
Don't forget he lives in New Zealand. When you take into account there is only like 100 people there losing 2% of your population a week is pretty rough.
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post #36 of 36
5/12/07 at 3:55pm
Thread Starter 
Now they know the guy's name who is a "person of interest" in the woman's death. He got away from the cops when they tried to question him, and he ditched his car in front of my neighborhood...

Quote:
Seminole County sheriff's investigators identified a suspect Friday in the death of Madeline Leinen, whose body was discovered Tuesday in her home near Longwood.

The suspect, David Byron Russ, 45, was identified by Longwood police officers after they recognized him from a photograph sheriff's investigators obtained from an Apopka-area credit union's teller machine.

Russ is thought to be the man a Longwood officer tried to question less than two days before Leinen's body was discovered. He was spotted about 10:30 p.m. Sunday parked in an industrial park on Bennett Drive. When the officer tried to get him to roll down his window, he backed the vehicle toward a parked police car, then fled, Longwood police reports show. He was able to elude police and abandoned the vehicle at the entrance to Leinen's Meadows West neighborhood.

After seeing the ATM photo, the Longwood officer became convinced it was the same man as the driver who fled from them. Information collected from the abandoned vehicle led them to Russ.

Several people who know Russ also came forward to identify him as the man in the ATM photo, according to sheriff's investigators.

A Seminole County judge issued an arrest warrant Friday for Russ for fleeing from Longwood police, but no warrant has been issued for him relating to Leinen's slaying.

Investigators are searching for the victim's 2003 burgundy Toyota Camry with the tag I17 UGL.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...lines-seminole
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