This past weekend three DFW teenagers lost their lives to gun violence. In the two cases in Dallas, two teenagers were killed by AK-47s in Oak Cliff. Both were innocent bystanders.
On Friday afternoon, C'Andrea Donnelle was killed after a moron shot up a house with the aforementioned assualt rifle after an argument at a Highland Hills apartment complex. C'Andrea was 17 years old and a few weeks away from going to college. The shooting was a result of an ongoing argument between the murderer and C'Andrea's stepfather. Thankfully, the idiot was arrested.
On Saturday night, Juanita Payne was gunned down as she tried to get away from thugs that crashed a teen party in the 1100 Block of East Red Bird Lane. Juanita was 15-year old honor student at South Oak Cliff High School.
On Friday night, after watching some July 4th fireworks, on our way home my wife and I were in the middle of a running gun battle where two cars of people were chasing each other on a side street. Fortunately I was able to get the car into the driveway and we weren't hit.
I also saw a police report in which someone was injured by a falling bullet over the weekend.
DPD can't do it all while we sit in the house; we have to take action against these people that are destroying our community.
Where do we begin? Is it by dealing with the apartment owners that refuse to hire security so that ongoing problems, as was reported in C'Andrea's case, don't fester? Is it by trying to get rid of the gun shows that allow easy access for criminals to acquire assault rifles that only have one purpose?
It's clear that something must be done.
Monday, July 07, 2008
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6 comments:
Good grief, Michael! That's horrible. I'm glad you and your family made it out of that situation unscathed. It's horrible what happened to those kids.
My wife and I were traveling north on I-35 from Austin on the same night. In south Dallas, it did feel especially scary. She was driving about 80 in the left hand lane when two punks pulled into the left shoulder to go around us, laughing at us, acting like they were going to ram us. She hit the brakes.
This is certainly nothing compared to being in the middle of a gun battle. But I've never seen anything like that before either. Something bad is brewing in South Dallas. We need to find a way to stop it.
You know, I always had this idea for acoustically detecting and triangulating gunshots, and one Google search later:
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2004/11/65802
Clearly, any gun fired in the city limits means trouble. And I'll bet most of those that fire a gun in the city limits have done so before. Catch them the first time. Quote from the article:
["The number of gunshots has dropped significantly," he said. "I think it was really effective when we'd show up where there was gunfire and people would say, 'Whoa, how'd you guys know?']
How said these two young women had to die at such a young age. I would like to say how bad the apartments are on Bonnie View. The first young lady that died was killed at what is called the BROWNTOPS. Across, the street is another drug infested apt. called the PINKTOPS. The browntops have been closed and reopened at least three times that I know of. These apts. have been like this since the early 80's. These apts. are the first that caused people to start moving to Duncanville. Drive to the back of the apts., pass the creek, and you find a circle. Watch Out!!! Men and young boys will start walking up to your car. Drugs are everywhere. The enviroment caters to murders. The city should shut and tear these apts. down. There have been several section 8 and HUD apartments built in Oak Cliff. There is plenty of room to move the good people, like the women who got shot, into a safer, cleaner enviroment.
To Hamilton - Just for clarification . . . I-35 north does not go through South Dallas. It goes through Oak Cliff.
This is a nationwide issue that no one has the courage to address it. Cowardly racists frame the issue as something it's not and black folks are just ignoring it.
Half of murder victims in the U.S. are black and 90% of those are killed by another black person. 3 out of 4 of them are killed by guns. There has to be a holistic solution.
The story about the stray bullets shot straight up in the air and injuring someone as they fall back to the ground is my greatest fear. We have a family home in the Fair Park area that we visit on the weekends. By the Grace of God it remains unharmed while we stay in Plano. I deeply desire to live in the home in South Dallas for several reasons, however, I am a mother and can not subject my son to living in a place where we hear gun shots often. (Thankfully, I am blessed to have other options for my family). Bullets have to go somewhere, and I can not put my child in harm's way. You are so right Lindsay, as an adult, I need to take more responsibility for the children who are in this area and notify police everytime I hear these shots. You have opened my eyes...
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