Witnesses to a deadly weekend shooting are clamming up about the crime, Lawrence Police said Monday, but the violence appears to have been imported from out-of-town.
"It is very frustrating to know we have perhaps as many as a dozen witnesses ... who are not talking to us," Lawrence Police Chief Ron Olin said during a news conference.
He said up to 200 leads in the case were taking investigators out of Lawrence - and out of state.
"Most of the leads," Olin said, "are not in the city of Lawrence."
The shooting happened just after 2 a.m. Sunday near the Granada, 1020 Mass., where a hip-hop show had just finished.
Bullets hit and killed a Topeka man, Robert Earl Williams, 46, who was across the street from the Granada. Another victim, a 22-year-old Kansas City, Kan., man, also was hit by bullets near the club. He was flown by helicopter to a Kansas City hospital, where he remained Monday.
Police backed away from Sunday's initial description of the shooter - a 6-foot black male wearing a puffy jacket seen in a tan 1990s General Motors vehicle - and said they had no specific suspect in the case. Olin said investigators do not have "a good handle" on the shooter's identity.
The alley behind the Granada and Eninsteins Bagles where one of the victims of the weekend shooting ran through until workers in the Granada let him in the back door.
Obituary information for Williams was unavailable Monday. A check of public records revealed he served prison time during the early 1980s for a Shawnee County conviction on an aggravated assault charge, and had been arrested several times since then.
The shooting came amid reports police had seized a half-dozen guns in downtown Lawrence since Jan. 1, when shots were reported in the 700 block of New Hampshire Street.
City officials said they weren't sure whether Sunday's killing was an isolated incident, or part of a growing problem with nightlife violence.
"I'm trying to find out if this is a single incident," Commissioner Mike Amyx said, "or if we're looking at something else."
New details
Investigators revealed new details about the shooting Monday.
- 6News video: Investigators piece together details of downtown shooting
- 1 killed, 1 injured in shooting outside downtown nightclub (02-06-06)
- 6News video: One man killed, another seriously wounded in downtown shootings
- On the street: Do you think the nightlife in Lawrence is getting more dangerous? (02-06-06)
Olin and Lawrence Police Capt. Dave Cobb said the incident began after the Upset Records show at the Granada, when two dozen people gathered on the street to wait for performers and the announcement of an after-hours party.
A half-dozen people soon started fighting.
"Several individuals were armed with guns," Olin said.
"Guns came out. Shots were fired. Everybody runs," Cobb said.
Williams was across the street when he was hit. The 22-year-old man escaped down the alley and into the back of the Granada before receiving aid.
Cobb said police had interviewed the 22-year-old about the shooting.
"I think from the preliminary interview, he doesn't know who (the shooter) was," Cobb said. "He was trying to get away."
There was no known connection between Williams and the 22-year-old, Olin said, and neither was believed to be armed. Police said they didn't know whether gang involvement played any role in the incident.
Investigators recovered two bullets at the scene.
"More may have been fired," Olin said.
Cobb said investigators would travel to Missouri and Colorado to contact participants in the Upset Records show.
"We need a little better information," he said.
Increasing crime?
Neither Mike Logan, who owns the Granada, nor Doug Compton, who owns the building, returned calls for comment Monday.
Olin said that police "have a history in the 1000 block of Massachusetts," and officials said the department had responded to 422 calls in that block during the past six months - most of them not related to violence.
Officials noted they had seized handguns during six different incidents downtown since the beginning of the year, but cautioned against suggestions that downtown is becoming more dangerous.
"I don't know if you could make any conclusions from that," Lawrence Police Sgt. Dan Ward said of the gun seizures.
But those numbers, along with Sunday's killing, have the attention of city commissioners.
Place
The Granada
1020 Mass., Lawrence
"I do believe that it is a wake-up call that we need to re-examine a variety of issues downtown," said City Commissioner David Schauner, adding that police staffing and the number of downtown clubs are chief among those issues. "I don't think we can just brush it off and say stuff happens."
Ward declined to discuss downtown police staffing in detail, though a departmental press release said that five officers quickly converged on the shooting scene.
"We do put what we believe is an adequate number" of officers downtown, he said. "We rethink our plans on a daily basis."
Amyx said City Hall might call a summit of bar owners and other downtown merchants as part of a broader effort to understand challenges police face downtown.
"No one," he said, "is taking this lightly."
Comments
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smitty (anonymous) says…
One of the hot topics in the surge of posts yesterday was the assumption there is a need to increase the numbers of police in the downtown area. To try and put that arguement to rest the interviews with the LPD answer to this preceived shortage.
From Sgt Dan Ward of the LPD: **"We do put what we believe is an adequate number" of officers downtown...**
Also note **Ward declined to discuss downtown police staffing in detail, though a departmental press release said that five officers quickly converged on the shooting scene.**
How does one see a copy of the press release?
smitty (anonymous) says…
To answer my own question I went to the city site and found press releases under the Lawrence Police Department.
http://www.lawrencepolice.org/index.p...
PDF files but are quick to access.
strateup (anonymous) says…
Lawrence banned smoking under the pretense that it was dangerous for the public. Since Lawwrence is so concerned about public safety shouldn't they ban hip-hop rap groups from preforming in town? I personally would have rather taken my chances being around smokers than being around gun toting hip hopsters.
rohdek (Kyle Rohde) says…
We need to just start blocking the turnpike exits after 7 PM on weekends. Anybody notice how almost every time serious violence happens, its people from Topeka or KCK involved? The worst violence that ever happens with Lawrence residents is a couple frat boys punching each other out.
yeah_right (anonymous) says…
Not true rohdek. The most recent murder before this was Jason Dillon, Lawrence resident, who killed a child. That is pretty serious to me. I don't think he was inspired by hip hop either.
dion5jones (anonymous) says…
The worst violence that ever happens with Lawrence residents is a couple frat boys punching each other out.
I guess the Husband that killed his wife was listening to Hip Hop before he killed her.
badger (anonymous) says…
I've been saying this for 15 years, and I'll keep on saying it:
It's not a blasted thing to do with the music. If you're broken enough that Judas Priest/Insane Clown Posse/hip hop and rap concerts will make you snap and kill yourself/beat up people in a gay bar and shoot a cop/shoot someone on the streets of Lawrence, you were broken long before you ever heard the first note.
There is and always has been music that called to the violent side of human nature. Beethoven, for example, wrote music that evokes a righteous fury when you really get into it.
There are violent people in the world. They will be drawn to music that speaks to the violent side of their nature, and they will be drawn to other people who have violent natures.
Trying to address the violence inherent in humanity by suppressing this or that musical form is like trying to end shark attacks by outlawing the sea.
spikey_mcmarbles (anonymous) says…
Having one cop two blocks away from downtown on a Saturday night doesn't sound like the proper police presence for a major entertainment district to me. Did the police not know there was a concert going on downtown on Saturday night? I don't care if it was a rap concert, a death metal concert, or a bible study, having a couple of police cars present when a couple of hundred people spill out on Mass street at 2AM on a weekend seems like that would be good police procedure.
rednekbuddha (Kelly Powell) says…
There were about ten differant music venues going on which one do they choose?
00jester (anonymous) says…
strateup:
BY makeing an assumption that hip hop/rap is the cause of this is not only unfounded, it's stereo typical...
In fact strateup, i think that you would be hard pressed to find that more "gansters" kill yearly then smokers.
Get off your high horse and look at the situation for what it is. Regardless of the venue, and act of violence occured downtown. Period. Can anyone tell me the last time someone got shot at a hip hop concert downtown?
I personally can't remember any and i know there have been many concerts.
Maybe we should outlaw religion since that pastor killed his wife?
Ember (anonymous) says…
Excellent, excellent post, Badger. I agree with you 150%.
Like Chris Rock said in Bigger and Blacker:
"Whatever happened to crazy?"
MarkyDSaad (anonymous) says…
If we outlaw everything then we can rely on anarchy to clean out the bad parts of society
MarkyDSaad (anonymous) says…
whatever those bad parts actually tend to be...
the correlation is not music or religion it is responsibility and accountability.
dulcinea47 (anonymous) says…
Spikey, I'm with you... seems to me that simply not letting a crowd loiter in front of the Granada after the show gets out could have prevented this confrontation.
Confrontation (anonymous) says…
Marion-You have a very valid point. Plus, I just had my first laugh of the day :)
thomgreen (anonymous) says…
"Trying to address the violence inherent in humanity by suppressing this or that musical form is like trying to end shark attacks by outlawing the sea."
This has to be the greatest quote I've seen on here.
grace (anonymous) says…
I absolutely agree about police presence after the release of a big show, hip hop or not. Whenever a large crowd of people leaves a venue after consuming alcohol at early morning hours, there should be some sort of security presence. It just makes sense. I think the city should make a plan and follow it. I have personally been threatened and intimidated outside of the Granada in the middle of the night. It was not a hip hopper, but rather a group of burley, drunk midwestern white men. I've been to entertainment districts in several cities at night and you always see police officers patroling. I don't sense a police presence downtown at night. They should be walking the streets in larger numbers....period.
LaughingWater (anonymous) says…
If there had been a bluegrass concert at the Granada that night I seriously doubt there would have been a shooting. Certain types of music bring in certain types of crowds. Every individual is responsible for their own actions, but if a show at the Granada (or any other type of venue: last call) draws a crowd of gun-toting gang members, then there's a high probability that someone is going to get hurt. Those individuals wouldn't have been in Lawrence if it weren't for the show. It's the show that brought them into our city, not the University, not the art, not the shopping; it was the music.
I'm not saying that the specific lyrics they heard earlier in the evening led them to pull their guns out, but that type of show draws a certain type of crowd, and that type of crowd was in Lawrence for one reason; to see a rap show. Had Granada chosen to have any other type of show that night, I highly doubt these individuals would have been in Lawrence in the first place. Unless it would have been to go to Last Call, which is of course the leading reason why firearms are becoming an issue in downtown Lawrence.
Venues should always be selective when choosing who will play at their facility. If you know that a certain show will bring in a more dangerous crowd, get metal detectors and beef-up security (indoors and out). And if Last Call continues to cater to the low-life scum they've been catering to, then we will continue to see gun related violence in our city.
thomgreen (anonymous) says…
I thought I had seen published reports that there were only about 40 people at the show, and that the group that was hanging around was only about ten people. I might be wrong. But if that's true, then how do we define a "crowd" large enough to warrant extra police? I agree though, I think there needs to be better communication between the venues and the police department so that they know when a show is getting out, if it is a large crowd, and then they can at least plan for some sort of scenario for handling the situation. But working at a company that has to have different departments communicate daily, I see the difficulty in getting different entities to communicate. Then again, we're worried about money, not public safety.
jimincountry (anonymous) says…
Testifying against criminals is dangerous to your health. The insipid judiciary will let them go and then who pays.
yeah_right (anonymous) says…
There were way more than 40 people at the show:
"He said up to 200 leads in the case were taking investigators out of Lawrence - and out of state."
Just a little FYI
princess (anonymous) says…
Now, it has been a few years since I regularly went out in downtown Lawrence so please correct me if I am wrong. I can scarcely remember being out even one night without seeing a police presence. Usually in the form of a foot patrol of two officers and usually in the 1000 block of Mass. I just pretty much counted on them being on the corner when I walked from the Granada to the Replay.
Anyone here go out downtown regularly these days and might be able to give some insight?
Hehe...or are we all a bunch of old coots?
slugger (anonymous) says…
Everyone is saying we should have more security and there should be police officers there after the show. In the first article on this incident which came out in yesterday's paper, it clearly states that a police officer assisted Bowen in turning the victim over. There was a cop on the scene. My question is why wasn't the police officer running after the gunman? The police station is right behind the Granada. Why didn't he get backup right away? There is no reason the gunman should have gotten away. Why doesn't the cop that was there know what the gunman looks like? They want to accuse the public of not letting them know what happened but one of their own was there and he isn't talking either.
Jamesaust (anonymous) says…
Hmmm...seems to me that if a problem is associated with one or a distinct few establishments then that is a regulatory problem for the City. There is not a 'general' problem at 2 am on Sunday mornings - there are 'specific' problems that can be tied to distinct sources. The taxpayer doesn't need to take on an additional liability.
The City needn't establish whether there is an issue with a police presence, or the type/quality of the events (although I note in passing: 200 years of the Mostly Mozart Festival and not one shooting), the City need only set a nuisance standard for the establishments and let those businesses address the issue in whatever manner necessary to achieve that standard, or else be closed down. Its "the cost of doing business."
thomgreen (anonymous) says…
Not really trying to debate here, just said that I had heard there were only about 40 people at the show either through the television news, or one of the newspaper articles. I had read that there were over 200 leads, but that doesn't necessarily equate into people.
No biggy either way.
concerned_citizen (anonymous) says…
jimincountry - yeah, it seems pretty hard to commit a crime in Lawrence you will actually suffer consequences for in Douglas County, when rape = probation 'cause you were drunk when you did it or your case manager let you off your leash.
The "don't talk to police" trend is what is currently hindering the police in murder investigations in KC. I really hope that is not something that spreads.
Forget borderline unconstitutional gun seizures in the Borders parking lot (panty waist Liberals need not fear this 'cause they don't own guns) and just put a dozen or more cops in Darth Vader riot gear outside the doors of every potentially dangerous concert show and practice effective crowd control. Use Sherriff's Deputies like they do at the fairgrounds to wrangle those shifty-eyed 4Hers. This doesn't seem to be a problem to do during basketball and football games. Why should a hip-hop show be any different? I mean, gosh, what if one of the precious white college kids gets killed? Will Urban Outfitters go out of bidness if kids get scared to come downtown?
Of course having the occsional shooting does give being from Larryville a little more street cred.
Big Pimpin' on Mass...rollin' with the Oread Crew beeeeyotch!
badger (anonymous) says…
If someone shoots me, and a cop has the option of giving my happy a@@ CPR or chasing the guy that shot me, I'd like him to take the 'CPR' option for $600, Alex.
It takes about 4 seconds to send out a 'shots fired' call, which I imagine he did while heading for Williams to give aid. In fact, if (as one story I read said) 5 officers converged on the scene as quickly as they did, it's likely the officer on scene had called for backup when it looked like tempers might be flaring, before shots were even fired.
The Granada. Last Call. The Bottleneck. The Replay. The Sandbar. Louise's. Johnny's. I could go on, but we all know it's a long list. There are a lot of venues for drinking and gettin' your rowdy on in Lawrence. How many cops stationed outside each bar is 'enough' to keep this from happening? Two? Five? Two outside the Replay and five outside the Granada or Last Call? Then you get bar owners complaining the cops are targeting their customers - which they are. Then, when two guys outside the Gaslight throw down (They've been doing some DJ shows, too...), everyone complains because there were five cops standing in front of Last Call 'maintaining a presence' and none in front of Johnny's to get to the scene in time.
During the summer, I'm used to seeing about two cops a block, on foot and talking to people. During winter, because fewer people are wandering, I see that less. Given the warmer winter weather you all have been having, perhaps it's worth it to reinstate the summer foot patrols, but stationing cops at bars specifically seems like an inefficient use of resources.
slugger (anonymous) says…
badger--the cop didn't perform the CPR, a very heroic man named Stephen Bowen did
the officer helped turn the victim over so that Bowen could give the CPR
slugger (anonymous) says…
badger--i agree that there aren't enough cops to have them stationed at each bar and there is no sure fire way to keep crime from happening
my point is there is no reason why this cold blooded killer should be roaming free on the streets to kill another innocent human being when an officer was there and the police station is right behind the crime scene
another unsolved mystery is going down in history
badger (anonymous) says…
According to yesterday's article, they were both giving CPR. My understanding was that the officer helped turn the victim over, and then Bowen and the officer administered 2-man CPR, with Bowen doing the chest compressions and the officer giving the rescue breaths. Perhaps my reading of yesterday's article was wrong.
I'm not taking anything away from Bowen at all; if you'll read my very first post regarding this shooting, on Sunday, you'll find I'm one of very few people on this board who's given him any commendation for what he did.
However, my point stands. The officer made a split-second choice: "Do I run alone after a known armed assailant without waiting for my backup, or do I head for the downed man and try to give aid?"
I think that, under the circumstances, he made the right choice.
smitty (anonymous) says…
Read this link on the last two press releases from the LPD. It clarifies some of the LPD's pov on the officers down town at the time of the incident.
http://www.lawrencepolice.org/index.php?...
yeah_right (anonymous) says…
The officer performed CPR with Bowen. Bowen worked on his chest and the cop breathed for him until the ambulance came. He worked very hard in trying to save the man's life. He did just what he was supposed to do.
princess (anonymous) says…
concerned_citizen said:
"...just put a dozen or more cops in Darth Vader riot gear outside the doors of every potentially dangerous concert show and practice effective crowd control."
Uhm, why should the tax payers do this for these venue owners? The venue should be required to have more security that is paid out of their own budget. (usually this ends up being off duty cops.) Let's not forget that these venues make money off of these shows and that is why they keep booking them regardless of the consequences to the people of Lawrence. I say tighten the screws on them and if they can't get things under control at their establishments, shut 'em down. I am not gonna cry all night if Doug Compton doesn't get to collect rent on the Granada for a couple of months.
yeahboss (anonymous) says…
The club could have had 100 security people (more than one for every person at the show) and not one of them would be able or expected to prevent a shooting across the street from the club after close... most shows are over between 12 and 1 am and the shooting was after 2? Are the clubs security supposed to follow everyone after they leave to make sure they make it home safely?
yeahboss (anonymous) says…
oh yeah, and take a quick look at the granada's calendar - there is a grand total of one hip hop show in the next 3 months and about half a dozen "christian" shows... that place must be horrible! I don't even want to imagine the kinds of sin and violence that go on there all so these horrible people can make money hand over fist at the expense of our community! wait - yeah - nevermind.
blessed3x (anonymous) says…
So if we put armed law enforcement officers outside all the hiphop events, how long before the city is sued for racial profiling?
topcityscatteam (anonymous) says…
"Upset Records 1-70 Tour"
Boy, they weren't kidding when they named their tour...
smitty (anonymous) says…
princess, the granada is 90% owned by Compton and Larry Brown. Why so hard on Compton and not Brown?
I can link you to the JW article if you want. But if you do a search on Mike Elwell the story will come up in the search.
grace (anonymous) says…
The idea isn't to follow people home. The idea is to have a noticeable presence that discourages the gathering of large crowds and disturbances associated with those crowds.
slugger (anonymous) says…
I stand corrected. I didn't read up on the facts and didn't know that they did two man CPR. I don't have a lot of faith in the LPD and it's hard for me to swallow that the gunman was not caught and they have absolutely no solid information on the killer.
yeahboss (anonymous) says…
Large crowds? We sure wouldn't want those hanging around and supporting all of the locally owned business downtown unless you mean large crowds of black people.
grace (anonymous) says…
yeah boss - don't be ridiculous and don't infer anything from my comment that was not specifically stated. If you are naive enough to believe that a large crowd of people (regardless of race) lingering around after a concert at 2 or 3 a.m. is beneficial to local businesses, then I don't know what to tell you.
yeahboss (anonymous) says…
Don't tell me, tell the pita pit and pyramid pizza and jimmy johns and qdoba and pepperjax and any other business within a block of all of these bars that are open specificly for the after bar business. also i don't disagree that there should be a greater police presence in downtown in general, i'm just tired of hearing all the ragging on the granada and it's employees (or lack thereof) because they're not some kind of horrible maginet or source of the gang violence that exists. I've traveled all over the world and Lawrence is one of the safest towns I've ever been in - people should be taking pride in the fact that there is such little violent crime here, not trying to think up crack headed schemes to prevent all unpleasantness from ever happening here because that kind of thinking is not only unreasonable but it's borderline insane.
Resident10 (anonymous) says…
How about Bridget O'Brien, publicist for the Colorado-based label "Upset Records"? Their logo is a scowling, African American, in (I assume) prison orange, brandishing a baseball bat. She must not have seen this logo as she cannot understand why hip-hop is seen as a catalyst for violence. Maybe the logo should have been a butterfly. Too bad it is print. We cannot tell if she said that with a straight face.
doc1 (anonymous) says…
I know we have a competent well educated Police Department. All my faith is with their ability. There has never been an unsloved homicide here. I'm sure they are well into getting this guy caught. Everyone is posting that there should have been police officers out there, my questions is how. When the are so short handed that they have to go from call to call and deal with everything from a barking dog to numerous fights in progress. There need to be more Officers period.
Angel_A (anonymous) says…
this was an isolated incident, not a weekly occurrence. the granada does bring in extra security if the shows call for it, and everyone-male and female-are patted down aggressively. these same artists have played at the granada before with no problems whatsoever. and a week ago a sold out tech n9ne show was at the granada with no problems. unfortunately you can only do so much in the way of security at a club. when people leave the premises, and the doors are locked then there is not much else that the workers can do. you have to remember that these people were not loitering right in front of the venue. this just happened to be a time when something bad happened, that really no one could have prevented. the police do patrol all around downtown at night, but after the bars let out there are a lot of fights to break up and drunk people to watch. this was a tragic incident, not a continuous problem, let's not keep blaming people.
princess (anonymous) says…
Smitty: Don't care who all owns the Granada. Only knew about Compton from the article and wasn't picking on him specifically. I revise my statement to be more general then:
I am not gonna cry all night if the owner(s) don't get to collect rent on the Granada for a couple of months.
MarkyDSaad (anonymous) says…
do you think if all the people who have posted on this topic where in a crowd downtown to discuss this we would need a police presence to insure that some of us were not shot during this discussion??? I love this stuff
wonderhorse (anonymous) says…
yeahboss--"Don't tell me, tell the pita pit and pyramid pizza and jimmy johns and qdoba and pepperjax and any other business within a block of all of these bars that are open specificly for the after bar business." If they were in these places, they wouldn't be a crowd on the streets.
Angel--"... let's not keep blaming people." But that's the whole point, it is people (well, at least a person) who is guilty, not the business or the music.
spacystaci8 (anonymous) says…
We need more police patrolling these areas. I think we need to shut down the streets to vehicle traffic during party hours and have heavy patrolling. Sort of like New Orleans and Westport. It will be hard to stop all the crime but it would diminish if there was more presence.
Also I wonder whats up with the witnesses being silent. My guess is retaliation is in the works. Seems like rappers like to shoot each other back and forth, its an endless cycle. Why can't these punks fight fist to fist like the good old days? ANyone can shoot a gun, that is sooooo not impressive.
thomgreen (anonymous) says…
It's funny that we've come to the conclusion that it was a rapper that did this. With no solid leads and no exact proof of anything, it could have been just about anyone.
spacystaci8 (anonymous) says…
could've been anyone, but not likely. Considering what kind of show was going on.
Sigmund (anonymous) says…
Im as sure Gang Banging Hip Hop shows are just a peaceable as the Jazz and Blue Grass shows, as I am that Islam is as tolerant and peaceable as Christianity.
yeah_right (anonymous) says…
I think that witnesses are not talking because they don't want to end up dead.
What would make you think a rapper did this. It was probably someone who attended the rap show but saying that it is a rapper is one of the more stereotypical comments I have read.
Agreed on the fact that fighting with guns in unimpressive. Especially since it sounds like at least one of the victims was not the target anyway.
yeah_right (anonymous) says…
Hip hop show are not meant to be as laid back as Jazz and Blue Grass shows.
pity2bu (anonymous) says…
slugger, slugger, slugger
when the police department gets ready to hire,
maybe you could hire on and be one helluva a wyatt earp in the lawrence downtown area.
just think you could strap on the heat and ride your horsey-head broomstick on the mean streets of mass and wrangle up some of these gun-toting shoot'em-up hip-hopsters.
man, i can see it now in the headlines, wyatt "slugger" earp's broomstick horse run over by a tricked-out '63 chevy impala with spinners occupied by several gangsta hip-hoppers. "slugger" earp was no-where to be found when the lead began to fly.
who cares what the lpd officers did and /or the so-called hero. bottom line is two people got shot, senseless........ if you think your qualified to be a kansas ranger then hire on, join the ranks of the current rangers who are trying to make a difference in our streets. that's a job that i couldn't ever do, but you my ranger friend, could make the ultimate difference.
maybe we'll see "slugger" earp being sworn in in the near future.
just remember when you have one riot (mele' or shooting) all you need is one kansas ranger-"capt. slugger." let's ride rangers!!!!!!!!!
rousseau108 (anonymous) says…
Slugger, I like how you keep mentioning that the police station is right behind the Granada and the officer should have called for backup, presumably from there. Exactly how many officers do you think are just sitting at the station at 2am on a weekend when bars all across town let out and fights happen and drunks are driving around? Probably somewhere between zero and zero.
And just try getting through a large crowd of frightened people who are running every which way and pushing each other to escape the gunshots so that you can reach the gunman, wherever he may be. Not very easy. It's not like there was a cop staring right at the shooter when it happened. The cops can't be everywhere at once. There're always a ton of cops downtown at bar closing on the weekends, but unless you're standing right behind the shooter when it happens, there's a very good chance the shooter will get away in the confusion and crowd panic.
coach (anonymous) says…
When the music lyrics go to the beat of picking up white girs and slapping your b***h, or shooting down another playa then rap does feed into the culture. Your not cool unless your a rapper with a skinny white chick to slapp around, or a gun to rap about or how big the wheels of your car are. I've watched MTV for years it seems ever song has to rap about how big the the wheels are on their car. Is there nothing else to rap about???
smitty (anonymous) says…
Just to correct the encompassing statement of complete compentency by our local law enforcement.
Doc1 said **I know we have a competent well educated Police Department...There has never been an unsolved homicide here.**
Circa 1989-90 there was a hit and run that killed a man named Harry Oliver which was never solved. The JW only gave it a couple of paragraphs coverage. The man was walking back to the pow wow at Haskell when hit and killed in the 1100 or 1200 block of Mass. unsolved to date.
Did anyone see ch 13 tonight? There was a male limo driver interviewed that witnessed the incident. FRom what he said there was a loud and long argument that took place before the shooting.
jimincountry (anonymous) says…
b
adopted (anonymous) says…
Some of you people just love to hate, don't you? Even if it was a perfect catch the criminal job done by our local brave officers, you would still find something to gripe about... that is soooo sad you are that miserable! Why don't we try to support our police dept., times are getting rougher and they will go on getting rougher! It takes a special breed to go out and protect a bunch of ingrates! Sorry LPD for all the negativity.... not everyone is like that, I for one am very proud of you guys and gals! And pray for you everyday! Keep on keepin' on LPD !!! :) May God Bless You and Keep You!!!!!
coach (anonymous) says…
Jannie were there? Because there wasn't even a cop on that block when it happened. The 1st cop ran from a block away when he heard the shots. Get a life other than posting false information.
rousseau108 (anonymous) says…
Coach is right, the first officer to call it in was on the next street over working an injury accident. See the pd's media release, which mentions this and also mentions that 5 officers converged on the scene immediately. Even more amazingly, there were only 15 officers on duty that night, for the whole city. It's not the pd's fault they're understaffed, especially on weekends, blame the city commission and management and citizens for not providing adequate resources to put more officers on patrol during these busy times. they can't put every officer on duty downtown, the rest of the city has to be covered too and they're doing what they can with that they have resourcewise, which ain't much.