Thursday, June 11, 2009

Another One Bites The Dust!

CMPD reported the year's 22nd homicide last night. Could Charlotte's reduced crime rate be a thing of the past or are the numbers just numbers and nothing has really changed?

The Charlotte Observer reports the following:

By Cleve R. Wootson Jr.
cwootson@charlotteobserver.com

A 43-year-old man was shot to death in a northern Charlotte apartment complex Wednesday night, police said. Now, police are trying to find the suspect, and asking the public for tips.

Witnesses told police they heard several gunshots before seeing a man leaving the scene in a silver four-door compact vehicle. He had not been apprehended late Wednesday night.

Police identified the victim as Douglas Bernard Black.

Officers haven't said what they believe led up to the shooting. A police helicopter called out to assist in the search had to turn back because of rain.

Black was sitting in the driver's seat of a car in the parking lot of Tanglewood Apartments, a group of two-story walk-ups near where Interstate 85 meets North Graham Street. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

Officers roped off part of the street with police tape as neighbors came out, before being chased away by the rain.

Police described the apartment complex as sedate.

"(We get) occasional calls for service out here, but it's not a hotbed of activity,” said Capt. Gregg Collins, who oversees the department's North Division.

The shooting was the 22nd killing Charlotte-Mecklenburg police have investigated this year. At this time last year, officers had investigated 35 homicides.

It came less than a week after officers investigated five homicides in six days.

If you listen to Charlotte's career officers, murders happen they come in waves and for the most part no amount of police on the streets will change this sad fact.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cedar,
Absolutely correct about homicides coming in waves, and there really is very little you can do about it.

Putting more Officers on the streets is not going to stop homicides.

It is what it is.

We'll see what the crime stats are for next year, should be very interesting indeed.

Anonymous said...

That's one stat you can't manipulate or "reclassify".LOL

Anonymous said...

Anon 6:54
Don't be so sure about that.

Anonymous said...

Your right!! Maybe they are all suicides!! LOL

Anonymous said...

Sometimes you just can't stop stupid people from doing stupid things. Some people are content to living like animals and they are doing to die like animals by enforcing their own law of the jungle. Sure, sometimes innocent people die in robberies or break-ins gone bad, for the most part, homicides are planned...that's why 'premeditation' is one of the elements of 1st and 2nd degree murder. No amount of extra patrols or overtime, or Focus Action Groups (oh sorry, I meant FMTs), is going to stop a murder. If someone is intent on killing another, they're going to do it. Somehow, some way.

Anonymous said...

Every time the city sees a spike in violence, why does RoMo feel like the appropriate course of action is to halt all transfers? Does he really think that we'll try harder to stop violent crime when we're ticked off that he's once again slowing every one of our careers down to a screeching halt?