Does anyone know about a "police shootout" that happened near Forest and Huron last night?
I woke up this morning, and WXYZ [Channel 7] briefly mentioned it, and that it was drug-related.
However, I haven't seen anything else at all about it anywhere...
Oh yuk! That is too close to campus.
Apparently this was on Arcade Street - that connects between Huron and Adams.
Steve Pierce has something on his blog about it - but still, not much is known.
Unfortunately this kind of thing happens a little too frequently around here for a town of this size-- Of course, most of the gun violence is centered about my own end of town (south side) and seeing as I'm not involved in any "midnight" style enterprises, I've little to fear really-- Yet there's always the chance of that stray bullet, or being in the 'wrong place,' sort of thing...
Some of my neighbors, many who've lived on this side of town, and know everyone (literally!), both the upstanding and the shady-types, that dwell around here, have conveyed some legitimate fears that with the way things are going in the city, doesn't bode well for the crime rate around here, or our safety, overall.
Sorry to labor on, but the fear isn't centered about the recent spate of break-ins in and around town, perpetrated mostly by our more chronically drug addicted residents, who are of course being 'caught and released' due to overcrowding of the jail. Although this sort of crime can escalate to something worse, and of course, is a headache in and of itself, what really concerns my neighbors is that some of the worst thugs-- "the scariest and meanest" (A neighbor's words) criminals of Ypsi's crack war days of the late 80's-early 90's are finishing their sentences or have been gaining parole recently, and rumor has them falling back into, or reconnecting to their former "poor life choices", as it were-- I hope I'm wrong, I hope this is nothing more than backyard gossip, but like I said, many of my neighbors are life long residents of Ypsi's south side, and seeing their truly heart-felt concern, perhaps should put me (and you) a little more on guard of yourself and your surroundings....
Apparently, it was an undercover drug bust that went bad.
"One man was shot to death by undercover police officers and another was injured Tuesday night when a drug buy went bad outside an Ypsilanti party store, authorities said.
Michigan State Police released few details this morning, but Lt. Garth Burnside, commander of the Livingston and Washtenaw Narcotics Enforcement Team (LAWNET), said the incident occurred in the parking lot of the Keg Party Store, 534 N. Huron St., at Forest Avenue, around 9:20 p.m."
I agree. Crime is getting worse.
I've lived downtown since the year 2000 - and we saw it go from "sketchy" to "much better" to now where I tell my wife that I don't want her walking outside after dark.
If things don't get better, I fear that people are going to stop wanting to live here, be it either new residents/home buyers - or ones that have been here already for years.
In the almost 7 months that i've lived where i'm at now I've been broken into once, had to ask homeless men to leave and refrain from sleeping under my window several times now and keep hookers away from turning tricks a mere 40 feet from my door. Things do seem to be getting worse and I'm really disappointed that my living here has turned out this way.
What part of town do you live in?
Maybe my search to get closer to the EMU campus should stop if it's getting this bad.
@ Melissa - I live a couple of houses behind the library, off of Michigan Ave on S. Adams.
Ah. I will probably never live south of Michigan ave again. I was robbed 4 years ago and I really haven't gotten over it.
Ouch! Sorry to hear about your frightening run-in with some of Ypsi's less savory types, Melissa, understandable why such an experience still bothers you to this day-- But if I may, please allow me as someone who lives south of Mich Ave. (about 5 blocks south!), a chance to defend my "hood", or life south of the Ave., at least.
I've been living in Ypsi since 1987-- Renting several spots near campus at first, now owning a home on the south-side since '94-- Where did I have the most problems crime-wise? Near campus-- By far. During that earlier time, my place was robbed twice, as well as a window smashed out on my truck (they could have opened the damned door, as it wasn't locked!), frankly these are the typical minor sort of crime living in an urban/student environment-- It sucks, to be sure to deal with inconveniences like that, however it seems just to be part of life in an urban or student area. Unfortunately. Look at the AA News "police beat" section, for example-- You'll UofM students dealing with the same crap. Again, unfortunately. Also, like mwyte72, above for whatever reason, when I dwelled in mid-town, I also had the "homeless" getting in my basement-- Something about city-centers or nearby half-way houses, I don't know...
Whoa! I've just realized, Melissa, that one could construe that I'm taking your more personal and frightening experience, and weakly comparing it to my own less serious (and far less scary) run-ins with crime-- It's not my intention to "down-play" your own encounter with the criminal element-- Far from it. Just glad you're OK, and I can accept your viewpoint towards life "below" the Avenue-- Especially in light of your own experience.
Thanks for your imput Rob. It was a really shitty experience having your house turned upside down. Then a week later someone punched in the window of my car. Maybe someday I'll move south of the great michigan ave, but not with this housing search. We are trying to focus on the depot town area.
Living near the water tower, we've had a few thefts from porch & car, and frankly, a couple gay bashing type incidents (name calling, car vandalism, etc). A few of my neighbors have had burglaries. But I work on Church Street in Ann Arbor and -WOW- the crime around here is hair-raising. Not only are all kinds of invasions & robberies & burglaries routine, but also rape, frequent drunken violence, homeless people camping out on the interior stairwells of our building (or freezing to death), two recent suicides from the top of our parking structure, etc. I would detest living in a student area.
As it doesn't sound like other downtown residents are letting the matter drop, I figured that it was worth updating this story.
As was posted in the Ann Arbor News, Lee Tooson and other protesters recently staged an event in front of the police station, and interestingly, Chief Matt Harshberger has publicly stated that he will resist future involvement with LAWNET unless they make improvements to their local operations, specifically in regards to notifying the jurisdiction where a planned bust will take place.
If you google the various players in this story, you'll see that it's already gotten a good deal of coverage by local blogs, debating all the various elements, but the one thing that bothered me the most- the fact that the Ypsi P.D. wasn't directly informed in advance of an event that led to a shooting in one of our neighborhoods- seems to have also concerned Chief Harshberger, and I think he deserves credit for responding to the widespread questioning of these practices.
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