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- Professional dancer to flutter through Kansas milkweed to help save butterflies June 19, 2013
- Police investigate string of almost 20 auto burglaries in west Lawrence June 18, 2013
- Day 2: From the Emerald Triangle to the Sunflower State May 27, 2013
- Consultants raise concerns about proposed LMH wellness center at city's new recreation center June 19, 2013
- New farmers' market finding its footing June 16, 2013
- Students learn the ropes of summer research project June 6, 2013
- Bierocks: Old World culinary icons live on in Kansas January 18, 2010
- KU geographers win defense grant to study Central American communities June 19, 2013
- Construction can't stop St. John's Fiesta June 19, 2013
- Editor to receive 2014 William Allen White Foundation honor at KU June 18, 2013
Comments
budtugly 3 months, 1 week ago
Good job LPD.
ghusic1 3 months, 1 week ago
Great work on the speedy capture. We in that neighborhood really appreciate it.
consumer1 3 months, 1 week ago
We have some great police officers in this town. Way to go!!
TheSychophant 3 months, 1 week ago
Excellent police work. Congratulations to the men and women in blue for a job well done.
swampyankee 3 months, 1 week ago
What no plea bargain yet ?
ksjayhawk74 3 months, 1 week ago
This guy is 19 and has charges that go back to 2004?!?
So he was 10 or 11 when he was first charged!?!?
jhawkinsf 3 months, 1 week ago
A 19 year old and 3 juveniles rob one 15 year old. Sounds like they've graduated from bullying to full on violent felons. Time the criminal justice system responds in kind, by graduating the offenders to adult prison.
Deb Engstrom 3 months, 1 week ago
This is a perfect example of how we don't provide intensive services to troubled kids when they are young and we pay for it later in the prison system. Sad case.
bearded_gnome 3 months, 1 week ago
but seriously, good job LPD!
Anydaynow 3 months, 1 week ago
I go along with Deb Engstrom's prediction of how things are working.
tenstring 3 months, 1 week ago
Some would say that if the victim had had a gun, he could have "defended himself," in which case there would have been some dead kids. As it is, the perpetrators will go to jail, whether prison or reform school, where they will be "punished" and come out probably worse than they went in. Meanwhile, the real social work and education that needs to happen has been defunded and is not considered valid and so on it goes . . .
awdvkd 3 months, 1 week ago
Tenstring, hate to say but all those social programs you talk about have about a five percent success rate. Not to mention people always have the right to defend themselves when held at gun point. Using you thought process we could have had dead victims instead of dead kids, thats not good either. None of this is good!
Ronnie24 3 months, 1 week ago
Sounds kind of like gang activity to me. Proud of the quick job by the LPD!
weeslicket 3 months, 1 week ago
actually, the greatest respect should be given to the 15 year old who maintained his composure during the robbery, and was then able to give such an accurate description of the suspect that the police were able to catch him/them almost immediately.
FlintlockRifle 3 months, 1 week ago
Caleb, what do you think mom and dad think of you doing this for a living??????
Pywacket 3 months, 1 week ago
I will never figure out why the LJW doesn't provide more crime/incident coverage, in keeping with newspapers in similar-sized towns. We get random items like this one, and are left to wonder about everything else going on. As a "for instance," we were driving through the parking lot outside of Bed, Bath, & Beyond, Michaels, World Market, etc., last night at about 7:15 or so, and saw a large fire truck and an ambulance parked in the lot--my son spotted police tape (around an area of the lot, I think--he wasn't sure whether it encompassed a car or what)...
We aren't gawkers, so we continued on our way without circling around or otherwise trying to see anything more for ourselves. There were no flashing lights, and I'm not sure if there were any police cars--we got the impression that something had gone on earlier but that they were wrapping things up.
Naturally, seeing something like this arouses your curiosity, but (of course) there is nothing to be found in the paper today. Maybe it was a training exercise...? This is so typical of Lawrence, though. Very few accidents/crimes actually make it into the paper, and I believe this is something of interest to most readers. Most papers I'm familiar with have a more comprehensive daily crime log.
My home town (which is comparable to Lawrence in size and--to the best of my knowledge--amount of crime/accidents--does this very well, succinctly but with sufficient detail to give you a good idea of what is typically happening in what part of town. It also lets you know, for instance, that everyone was okay in a nasty-looking accident you saw the aftermath of, instead of making you wonder (as the LJW does) if you just imagined the whole thing.
Is it that hard to have a cub reporter compile a list from daily police/emergency reports? Obviously, you can't report every incident of "dog on the loose" or "resident failed to shovel his walk," but if several emergency vehicles are called to a scene and they wrap an area with police tape, it stands to reason that observers are going to be curious. Likewise, if traffic is slowed by police directing drivers around a pair of smashed-up vehicles, it's only reasonable to expect that those drivers will wonder if there were any injuries.
If anyone knows what was going on in that parking lot off Iowa last night, please share.
punkrockmom 3 months, 1 week ago
Likewise, last week there was a shooting victim life flighted out of Lawrence. I never did see a story about that. Even if it was an accidental shooting, you'd think it would be mentioned. The other night, my husband came across a car pulled over with 4 police cars behind it on his way to work. Nothing. I agree there is very little coverage. I don't need, "There was a fender bender on 6th street." But stuff about bigger things would be nice.
063255 3 months, 1 week ago
Reading through all the comments, it is hard to know where to begin. One person thinks Caleb deserved the death penalty, in an earlier post I read this morning , by suggesting the victim would have done well to have been armed and shot him and the other kids. Deb Engstrom, Any daynow, and tenstring, all have made valid observations. Only those who know the facts of just how he/they arrived to this point can truly speak to the utter failure of the social services, etc. or the damage actually exacerbated by the "system". To thebcman, that "scum" you speak of is someone's child, nephew, grandson and this is a tragedy for everyone. His future as a convicted felon holds little promise and I don't even want to imagine what will happen to this kid in prison. I'm sure it won't heal him. Only Flintrockrifle even considered how his parents might feel. He could be anyones child. There are no guarantees that come with being a parent. And yes, he is 19. He is still a kid making very seriously dangerous and life altering choices that he may never recover from. I just thank God no one, neither he nor the victim were hurt.
jhawkinsf 3 months, 1 week ago
While it would be nice if society could fix all the problems of all of it's members, that's neither realistic nor is it their responsibility. The first responsibility to fix this individual lies within himself. Next it is the responsibility of his family, friends, mentors. As a last resort, society may intercede when others have failed, but the sad truth is that by the time society gets it's chance to help, it's often already too late. The die has been cast.
Whatever the fate of this young man, it is one of his own choosing. Perhaps it will be a short prison term followed by a productive life. Perhaps he will rob the wrong person the next time and be shot and killed. Either way, it will be of his choosing. Maybe the system did fail him. But that was only after he failed himself and after his family, friends, mentors failed him.
Deb Engstrom 3 months, 1 week ago
For this crime, he will most likely get sentenced to prison. There he will learn everything he needs to know to be a really good criminal when he gets out.
WaxAndWane 3 months, 1 week ago
So what's your solution for adults like him who commit armed robbery? A time-out?
Deb Engstrom 3 months, 1 week ago
First offense, young adult -- something different than the typical prison system.
WaxAndWane 3 months, 1 week ago
He has numerous prior offenses. The slap-on-the-wrist approach apparently hasn't been working. If an adult points a gun at somebody and threatens to shoot them unless they hand over their money, that person should go to prison. What's the "something different" approach that you had in mind for armed robbers?
UneasyRider 3 months, 1 week ago
Not first offense, maybe as adult. Fact is, he doesn't learn. Why do we need to pity him? Lock him up, waste of time trying to re-habilitate him.
teach2live 3 months, 1 week ago
I am afraid Deb Engstrom is right about this young man's likely outcome. jhawkinsf, you are not wrong to suggest he is responsible for the choice he made but unless you know his family and can personally attest to the fact they were negligent in whatever way you believe creates a child who has committed such a crime as this, I find your blaming his family presumptuous and unfounded. As I do know his family ,I must add ignorant and cruel. He is loved and has had all the support any family could provide. As for the services that are in place to help him and his family, that is truly disturbingly tragic
Deb Engstrom 3 months, 1 week ago
I agree. I also know his mom. He did receive some interventions as a juvenile, but then was just placed back into the community and the family was left to fend for themselves. Very similar to the adult mental health system.
jhawkinsf 3 months, 1 week ago
I didn't say the family was negligent. I said it was their responsibility. That they failed is not a condemnation. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, no matter how diligent we are, we still fail. That's life.
If you say you know the family, you know the friends, you know the mentors and you say they all tried their best, I will take you at your word. Still, they all failed. Given that, why condemn society? If failure is part of being human, if you are free to absolve the failures of the family, etc., why not absolve society as well?
The bottom line is this, some problems cannot be fixed. Maybe this is one of those problems. Why condemn society when this young man failed himself, the family failed, friends failed, mentors failed. Maybe this young man cannot be fixed and he is going to the appropriate place, not to fix him, but to protect us.
UneasyRider 3 months, 1 week ago
This guy failed himself. Lock him away so the rest of society doesn't suffer.
neworleans 3 months, 1 week ago
Pics of the subjects? Dont they post that?
neworleans 3 months, 1 week ago
Pics of the subjects? Dont they post that?
like_n_Lawrence 3 months, 1 week ago
The firefighters were at Jason's Deli having dinner. I saw them. They don't usually put that type of thing in the paper. Come on LJWorld! Slacking! :)
Pywacket 3 months ago
I call BS. Since when do they drive several emergency vehicles around town to get a bite to eat? And put crime-scene tape up in the lot where they park? Nice try at being a wit, though. ;-)
hitme 3 months, 1 week ago
We need DRONES.
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