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Man shot on 33rd Street
05/19/2016 7:15 PM by John M
At approximately 3:50 p.m., officers were called to the 700 block of N. 33rd Street for reports of a shooting. Once on scene, they found an adult male victim in the 3200 block of N. St. suffering from an apparent gunshot wound to the hip. He was transported to a local hospital with possible life-threatening injuries.
I was one of several people that heard this from a block away and, although it was difficult to estimate due to construction noise, I would guess that there were three or four bursts of about ten shots each. At the risk of sounding like a truly terrible person: My impression is that most of the shootings in this area are not random and the victims are often mixed up in crime or drug transactions themselves, whether it gets publicly acknowledged or not. I could be totally wrong saying that, and I don’t want anyone to get shot. But how long until it’s a truly random bystander or a child? This sh*t needs to stop *before* something really terrible happens, rather than *because* something really terrible happens.
@3 I agree.
The majority of shootings and other violent crimes that happen in Church Hill are drug related. We need to stop turning a blind eye away from drug dealing, or heck, as some of my neighbors do, wave and smile to the neighborhood drug dealer peddling heroin. Drug dealing and drug dealers should not be tolerated. They bring violence and death (e.g. murders, overdoses, etc.).
The police cannot be everywhere at once. This is especially the case now since RPD is operating below full numbers. If you see or suspect drug dealing, call 911 or the non-emergency line.
In the time I’ve been in the neighborhood, EVERY shooting has been either directly about the drugs, the drug money or about the drug dealers. And yeah. I’d rather sound like a terrible person – all day every day if that’s what it takes- than see anyone, especially someone who is trying to live a decent life or heaven forbid a kid catch a bullet because of this crap.
Matter of fact, this stuff always seems to happen when and where neighbors have been letting drug dealing and associated criminality happen. We all need to stop letting that stuff go, or just admit we are complicit in the violence that comes with it. If you don’t want to confront armed drug dealers yourself- and I certainly don’t blame you for that- call the police. Call your council members. Call Itip. Call the DEA. Call the pastors. Call the media if you like. Just don’t stop until you get results. Results are the part that matters, not the complaining part.
I know people who’ve had to hire a private detective to effect short term change and help protect folks long term in their neighborhood. Other people put up security cameras– walk through the nicer sections and A LOT of houses have them. If you are aware of a drug house, figure out who owns it and pressure them. Landlording from henrico county or wherever is fine, but collecting either regular rent or section8 from people in the drug trade while at a safe distance is some seriously moldy immorality. Some shameful sh*t. Make it known to those landlords that they have been noticed.
Acting right is for all people. If it’s your house -be it rental or home- make the drug dealing unwelcome in front, behind, above and below, or admit you are part of the problem. Simple as that. Fence your yard if you need to and haven’t yet. Be (gasp) unpleasant if pleasant truly doesn’t work.
I salute those who are actually caring enough to call BS on this crap. “I’m ok you’re ok” usually works better for people who are in fact ok, but different from each other. In this, we are talking about ‘not ok’, and about helping.
As context to my comment, which I am aware may sound harsh to some: I give to charity, I help feed those in need, I mentor, I tutor, I hire locally when I can, and I care. I struggle to pay my bills from time to time. I’m on hold with Councilwoman Newbille’s office right now asking if we might look to add a staffing agency and a methadone clinic into the 25th street corridor plans, because for what it’s worth, in my small life experience addiction and unemployment really suck, and treatment programs and entry level jobs help.
That’s all I’ve got. If you’ve got a better idea, I’ll listen.
The guy that was shot was my neighbor, who lives right across the street from me. I saw almost everything. To my understanding, he’s a really good guy with clean hands so I can’t imagine why this would happen. Not to mention, this neighborhood is typically really quiet so it came as a shock to me when it happened, especially in broad daylight. I can only hope that the violence stops here, but it’s hard to say at this point. Be safe, everyone.
@Theo – that’s why I tried to qualify what I said a little bit. I don’t claim to know the full story in this situation and don’t want to malign someone who may have, in fact, been an actual example of the sort of random, unassociated victim we’ve been hypothetically discussing.
3-4 bursts of ten shots each??? Are you sure that wasn’t jackhammer and construction noise? It takes a long time to shoot 30-40 rounds. And causes a lot of surrounding damage.