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Can I move now please??

FuzzFuzz Registered User regular
edited September 2009 in Help / Advice Forum
So I just got woke up by a cop who told me that while I was pleasantly playing MGS 4 in my living room before going to sleep a girl was violently attacked, with *possibly* a gun, in the hallway right outside my apartment. Literally ten feet behind me. By a complete stranger.

This guy just walked up and nearly killed this girl.

I live in an apartment complex building right next to the road. My bedroom window faces the street. I never considered it before, but now I feel so absolutely vulnerable. Should I be scared? Do random killing crimes happen more often to people who live near apartment entrances??

I can't sleep :(

Fuzz on

Posts

  • EskimoDaveEskimoDave Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Some guy my age was randomly (apparently) stabbed to death next to the entrance to the parking lot of an apartment building I lived in. He lived in the condos next to my building. He ran in to the lobby and the guy proceeded to finish what he started. When I went out the next, without knowing this happened, the police had already cleared off and people were cleaning up the blood. There was quite a lot of it. The worst of it was the droplet trail from the original stab to the lobby entrance. The building didn't clean them off until two weeks after the incident, and the guy who did it used a pressure washer and didn't clean off the whole sidewalk slab, but just where the drops were. The blood would have eventually washed away, but for the little round spots of concrete to turn back from bright grey to the normal dark grey of a sidewalk. You could still see the spots quite easily a year after.

    The only part that bothered me was that I made a midnight run to the Mac's an hour or so before this all happened.

    Stuff like this happens. It's just part of life.

    EskimoDave on
    The best, and worst, blog about beer in BC.
  • Sir CarcassSir Carcass I have been shown the end of my world Round Rock, TXRegistered User regular
    edited September 2009
    The vast majority of murders are far from random. It can happen, but it's not common enough that you should worry about it. Obviously if you live in a bad part of town you might want to think about moving, but even good neighborhoods have bad stuff happen sometimes.

    Sir Carcass on
  • streeverstreever Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Totally random crimes happen just as often in suburbs--
    don't move!

    Look up crime statistics--it might make you feel better.

    streever on
  • VisionOfClarityVisionOfClarity Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    You can use sites like this http://www.crimereports.com/ but overuse could make you totally paranoid.

    VisionOfClarity on
  • admanbadmanb unionize your workplace Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    edited September 2009
    VisionOfClarity wrote: »
    You can use sites like this http://www.crimereports.com/ but overuse could make you totally paranoid.

    Or make you realize that odds are you'll die in just over two car crashes before you get murdered outside your apartment.

    The idea of being murdered or dying in a plane crash is scarier than the death rates of car accidents because driving a car gives you the illusion of control.

    admanb on
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  • TL DRTL DR Not at all confident in his reflexive opinions of thingsRegistered User regular
    edited September 2009
    streever wrote: »
    Totally random crimes happen just as often in suburbs--
    don't move!

    Look up crime statistics--it might make you feel better.

    Srsly. If you're not associating with criminal elements, you've already reduced your chances of being a victim by a significant degree. Still worried? Keep a baseball bat in the apartment, and some mace on your person.

    TL DR on
  • EncEnc A Fool with Compassion Pronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Timothy Leary Come Check Out This Theory wrote: »
    Keep a baseball bat in the apartment, and some mace on your person.

    Or tape the two together for the ultimate weapon.

    I call mine Mace^2

    Enc on
  • NotYouNotYou Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I used to live in a slum. On the first story. With big windows opening up into an alley. The alley had a gate, that was broken. People could do whatever they wanted in that alley and no one would even notice since it's so shielded from the street. I lived alone. Lots of crime all around. Scary people.

    I was fine :)

    Keep your blinds closed and windows locked. That's about all you need to do. Stressing about possible terrible things that might happen to you is a waste of energy.

    NotYou on
  • Inquisitor77Inquisitor77 2 x Penny Arcade Fight Club Champion A fixed point in space and timeRegistered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Recommended Reading

    Inquisitor77 on
  • GPIA7RGPIA7R Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Enc wrote: »
    Timothy Leary Come Check Out This Theory wrote: »
    Keep a baseball bat in the apartment, and some mace on your person.

    Or tape the two together for the ultimate weapon.

    I call mine Mace^2

    Or a gun? A bat won't do shit if someone is ready to kill you in your own apartment with a gun.

    Either way, just because it happened close to you, doesn't make that specific area a "target" of sorts. Don't read too far into it, it's likely to worry you much more than it needs to. Practice typical safety measures: locks, alarms (if allowed by apartment), and methods of self defense. Hell, get a big dog. If that doesn't scare someone, it'll damn sure wake you up if something's going down.

    GPIA7R on
  • TL DRTL DR Not at all confident in his reflexive opinions of thingsRegistered User regular
    edited September 2009
    GPIA7R wrote: »
    Enc wrote: »
    Timothy Leary Come Check Out This Theory wrote: »
    Keep a baseball bat in the apartment, and some mace on your person.

    Or tape the two together for the ultimate weapon.

    I call mine Mace^2

    Or a gun? A bat won't do shit if someone is ready to kill you in your own apartment with a gun.

    Either way, just because it happened close to you, doesn't make that specific area a "target" of sorts. Don't read too far into it, it's likely to worry you much more than it needs to. Practice typical safety measures: locks, alarms (if allowed by apartment), and methods of self defense. Hell, get a big dog. If that doesn't scare someone, it'll damn sure wake you up if something's going down.

    If you're in the kind of business where armed assassins are going to come a-knockin', then you likely aren't the guy posting "man this crime huh I should leave" on Penny Arcade forums.

    TL DR on
  • ImprovoloneImprovolone Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Read more about this case. Odds are they knew each other.

    Improvolone on
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  • ThanatosThanatos Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I live in a pretty good neighborhood--like, hella low violent crime rate--and I still got jumped by a guy with a tire iron coming home one night. Nothing is going to guarantee your safety; there are steps you can take to help, but really, unless your neighborhood is unusually bad, odds are moving isn't worth it.

    Thanatos on
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