Intowners claim crime has become more brazen
January 7, 2009 at 10:51 am by Thomas Wheatley in News
RATTLED: Little Five Points resident Kyle Keyser says his Dec. 17 mugging reflects how brazen Atlanta crime has become.
On Dec. 17, local video producer and blogger Kyle Keyser stopped at the Pizza Hut on North Avenue to pick up a late dinner for his roommate’s boss. Five men stood outside the pizza joint. One asked Keyser if he’d buy him some food. Keyser, sympathetic to the man’s hunger, said sure.
But the restaurant was closed, and as Keyser returned to his car, the five men surrounded him and pushed him against a nearby vehicle. One shoved a gun to his neck. They demanded money. Keyser said he didn’t have any but handed over his ATM card.
The men took Keyser’s cell phone and wallet and ordered him to lie on the ground. One suspect, pistol in hand, took aim.
“I’m gonna shoot him,” Keyser recalls the suspect saying. “I’m gonna shoot this motherfucker.”
“Don’t shoot him,” pleaded the guy who Keyser had offered to buy food.
“Naw,” the gunman said, “I’m gonna shoot him in the leg.”
Keyser, face down on the pavement, braced himself for a bullet. Instead, he saw five pairs of sneakers walk off. He sensed he had an exit, jumped in his car, and sped toward Midtown to call the police. He says bank receipts show the suspects purchased food with his card at a gas station a block away.
“OK, people get mugged and asked for money,” says Keyser, whose house has been broken into twice. “There’s a certain amount of crime that you associate with living in the city. It’s not forgivable, but it’s understood. You know it’s going to happen. What concerns me now is the spike in violent crime.”
Read the rest of this story.
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
January 7th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
And on the day this story is published a bartender on Memorial is shot to death…
January 7th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Here’s the link to the story referenced above. So sad, and so horrible.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2009/01/07/standard_bar_shooting.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab
January 7th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
“Crime has been dramatically reduced and there are more officers on our streets than ever before,” Pennington wrote. “Since 1990 the number of violent crimes in Atlanta has decreased from 75,793 in that one year to 43,828 currently.”
How stupid does Pennington think we are?
His boast consists of picking an arbitrary year (1990) when crime was extraordinarily high and comparing it to today.
The fact is, after historic declines, crime in Atlanta has risen sharply in recent years.
In 2007, crime declined nationally, but jumped double digits in Atlanta.
http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/freshloaf/2008/06/19/crime-down-nationwide-rising-in-atlanta/
There were 89 murders in Atlanta in 2005, but 129 murders in 2007.
As of Oct 2008, overall crime in Atlanta was up 6% from the previous year.
Atlanta had fewer murder in ‘08 than ‘07, but it’s still up from ‘05.
And property crime in Atlanta continues to soar.
Burglary and larceny, the crimes that most often effect regular people, were both up more than 10% from the previous year as of Oct 2008.
http://atlantapd.org/ucr/2008/Oct2008.pdf (see page 23)
Fighting crime involves a lot more than policing, but when the Mayor and Police Chief refuse to acknowledge reality, they’re essentially telling city residents that they don’t care.
January 7th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
This is what’s so scary about these stories…everyone in this city now feels like we could be a victim of something this tragic, while the police aren’t even acknowledging the spike in violent crime let alone doing anything to deal with it.
January 7th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Crime is up in most major cities. The economy has a lot to do with it. So does policing, but you can’t ignore the nap Bush just took for 8 years.
January 7th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
There is no way crime is down. I have lived in an in-town neighborhood for over 8 years and only in the last 3 months have things gotten worse.
My house was broken into and then 2 more attempts to break in again within 30 days of the 1st incident.
I am truly concerned if the police don’t get this under control then things could begin to escalate (due to fear/anger/defense and more people could get hurt.
January 7th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
>>Crime is up in most major cities.
The last FBI report on crime shows a decline in crime nationwide.
http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/freshloaf/2008/06/19/crime-down-nationwide-rising-in-atlanta/
During the same period, crime was up significantly in Atlanta.
January 7th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
I didn’t realize you were the expert in the area. Obviously, you are :-)
My real point was that a lot of factors contribute to the crime rate, not just the mayor and police chief.
January 7th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
I’m not an expert. I just happen to know that your statement was about crime being up was contradicted by available statistics.
>>”My real point was that a lot of factors contribute to the crime rate, not just the mayor and police chief.”
Don’t worry. Your “Shirley is not responsible for anything that’s wrong ever ever” point came through loud and clear.
It is, after all, the main point of pretty much every comment you post on this blog.
January 7th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
And your posts about her being responsible for everything wrong about Atlanta comes through loud and clear as well.
The truth is probably somewhere in between my views and yours, which I understand, but you don’t seem to get.
When are you going to get a new gig anyway? I want to continue to read your stuff. I’m starting to like your a*%hole, sarcastic writing style.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
kids, kids- take off your gloves and say what u really mean.
but i believe the point stands: crime in the city is getting more serious and the city of atlanta seems incapable of addressing it.
January 12th, 2009 at 8:57 am
No, no, no…Do NOT go to that Pizza Hut!
I thought everybody knew not to go there! Well, for those who are new to Atlanta, or are too young to remember:
The reason that it looks the way it does today (newish, a bit inviting) is because of a horrible shooting that happened right inside its doors — around 2000-2002ish? I’m pretty sure it was an actual murder — I can’t remember if the guy actually died. I just remember the bloody mess.
So it was closed down a while, and opened with its new “inviting appearance.”
Do not be fooled by the appearance!
Also, a girl was carjacked at gunpoint at the Ponce McD over Christmas, just trying to get herself some breakfast. Yes, right at the height of McD rush hour.
January 12th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
S Dekalb – I know it isn’t Shirleys fault becasue you already told me that Bush did it by destroying the economy
Has anything bad happened during his term which was not his fault?
January 12th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Thank you, Andisheh…the post was good enough to be an article in and of itself, not that one would see those facts in the AJC. It’s actually what our neighborhood group was looking for. Thank you.