Home > Snellville.Talk > Archives > 2008 > May > 14 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USMum’s the word though killer goes free
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A friend dropped by the other day. We got to talking and, during our side-door chat, he wondered aloud what ever happened in the double shooting in south Gwinnett County.
It was a high profile crime. There was a party for two teen siblings in a subdivision off Mink Livsey Road Oct. 27. During the festivities, one 16-year-old was shot to death and another was seriously injured.
Original reports were that the shootings were done by uninvited guests who crashed the party. No one has been charged in the case.
My friend wondered how a crime committed in the midst of 150 party-goers would remain unsolved.
I remembered reading that Gwinnett Police were having trouble finding people who would talk about the shooting. Apparently that has not changed.
Cpl. Illana Spellman, spokesperson for Gwinnett Police, recently said the “case is suspended for now until additional leads come in. The neighborhood would not cooperate with Detective [Chris] Smith at the time. No one would provide any information. That is still the situation now.”
Spellman said she spoke with the detective personally at the time of the shooting and during the follow-up on the investigation.
“He expressed his frustration … about the neighbors and friends not being cooperative with interviews or with answering any questions about what happened or who may have seen the suspects,” Spellman said.
“The detective did not receive any return calls when he would attempt to make contact with individuals who may have had information,” Spellman said. “He would make continuous phone calls and visits and not get any responses. I remember putting out a couple of press releases about urging the public to come forward and cooperating with the investigation — to no avail.”
Why? Why would no one want to talk when a life has been lost? Why would none of those who were attending the party with the victims speak up? What about neighbors?
This week, I went down to Chafin Point Court where the shootings occurred. The street of two-story, mostly well-kept brick-and-rock-front homes, was quiet.
I knocked on 11 doors near the crime site. I talked to six people.
None would give their names. None claimed to know anything. Their answers were vague.
One said the neighborhood was “fine.” He said he had heard that the trouble was caused by people from DeKalb County, not local residents. He didn’t want to be identified, however: “I don’t want trouble. You never know.”
One said she was concerned that the killer had not been caught but that she knows nothing.
Another said the family that held the party has since moved. But that he knows nothing.
And on it went.
Why would people not talk? Some truthfully may know nothing. But others seemed more uncooperative than uninformed.
Were they afraid? Or just distrustful?
Spellman said such reticence, unfortunately, is common at times.
“Some people do not trust police based on their personal experiences or their perception of police,” she said. “Some do not want to become involved or be seen by their peers as a ‘snitch.’ Others may be afraid of retaliation if word got back that they were even speaking with an officer.”
So, one teen received spinal injuries. One teen is dead. Six months have passed. And all is quiet on Chafin Point Court.
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By Hellinahandbasket
May 14, 2008 7:54 PM | Link to this
Because no one cares anymore about their fellow man or woman. They only care when a situation affects them or their families. Our entire society has isolated itself from each other so we no longer have the compassion or care for one another as we did years ago. Its sad that a person is dead and one injured and no one cares but that is the reality.
By One Man's View
May 15, 2008 6:13 AM | Link to this
150 people at a birthday party, at a personal residence? Sounds out of control from the get go. It may not be all that surprising that mischief occurred in such a setting.
What is missing in this story is parental presence, characterization of attendees, time of day, general temper of the gathering, etc. It does seem odd that people would not be concerned with the killing of a “friend.” Isn’t that who goes to someone’s party?
By susan gast
May 15, 2008 10:18 AM | Link to this
Dear One Man’s View, A little more background I didn’t have room for in the original blog: In our earlier stories on the party, police said the grandmother was at home at the time (which was a Saturday night). She told the AJC that the police estimate of 150 was too high, that there were fewer than that, but didn’t estimate how many. She said invited guests were inside the house, but that other kids were outside, and that is where the shooting occurred. Police said there was still a crowd when they arrived but that none would give any information about who did the shooting and that the few accounts they received about how it occurred conflicted. One story was that people who were not invited came up and tried to start a fight, then started shooting.
By jm
May 15, 2008 12:46 PM | Link to this
I live in the neighborhood where the two boys lived who were shot. The boy that survived is walking but w/the use of assistance w/crutches I believe. And will for the rest of his life. The other died. They have lived in this neighborhood since they were little children. I believe that the people who know do not want to get involved b/c they do not want retaliation. They do not want to be known as a “snitch”. This is all due to drugs and gangs. This side of South Gwinnett has gone down for the past 5 years. It is sad that we had to lose one young man’s life and impaired another young man’s life over probably something stupid. Something territorial. If one person knows something about what happened, please, go and speak to Det. Smith about this.
By Sandy_G
May 15, 2008 4:45 PM | Link to this
Here’s a link to another type of T-shirt (how appropriate) that has sought to influence young people not to talk to the police and to “Stop Snitching”. Another way in which the “gangster rap” culture is seeking to influence young people to reject law, order, respect for themselves and each other in favor of living the “thug life”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Snitchin%27
It’s really sad that young people who witnessed a murder are (understandably) afraid to testify to what they saw because they have a real fear of themselves or their family being killed in retaliation. This type of organized culture of fear, death and criminal behavior has not been seen since the heyday of the Mafia in America. Gangs, drug dealers, criminals and the music industry that makes billions of dollars by glorifying these dregs of our society can definitely take at least part of the blame for this culture of fear. When the law-abiding people of our society are bullied into silence by the criminals, we’ve lost. What is the old saying? “Evil flourishes, when good men do nothing.”
By BobG
May 15, 2008 4:48 PM | Link to this
I’ll get Joe Anderson on the case.
By rj
May 16, 2008 1:11 PM | Link to this
A snitch is a criminal that rats out another criminal. When a law abiding person provides info to law enforcement officers that is just being a responsible citizen.
By Cindy
May 16, 2008 2:24 PM | Link to this
Commenting is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. M-F
Now THAT’S the biggest bunch of crap I’ve seen in a long time. We should all refuse to comment if they’re going to govern us and prevent us from posting during non-work times. I don’t like this…I don’t like it one little bitty bit! Grrr!
By Cuyler Brooks
May 16, 2008 5:22 PM | Link to this
Not that surprising that people won’t talk to Gwinnett Co. police about a chaotic incident. The last direct contact I had with a Gwinnett cop was to report debris in the road that had nearly knocked me off the road. “Not my job” he said - I didn’t argue with him but slowly backed away. He was sitting with his gun in his hand looking suicidal.
By concern neighbor
May 16, 2008 8:50 PM | Link to this
I live in the neighborhood that the shooting occured. It is very tragic that the young man lost his life. The problem is that the parents are not asking the questions. If my child attended a party that there happened, I would ask her who, what, where, when people were there. Snitching is just an excuse. But I do feel that people believe that their will be retaliation. When I called the 911 on the day of the shooting I was put on hold. If they cant answer the phone what make you think that they can protect us? But the neighbors in this community are very concern and would like for the shooter or shooters to be brought to justice.
By Whatever it is worth
May 17, 2008 11:14 AM | Link to this
Everyone is to blame in this situation… the adults whose house entertained the party … the attendees of the party … the neighbors in the neighborhood … the lily-livered gang members who hide behind their guns (without them they are nothing); with them they are still nothing!! Police who have allowed their status within the community to be questionned … everyone is a participant in this sad, sad situation.
By Kruschev's Father
May 17, 2008 12:46 PM | Link to this
If Susan Gast was knocking on so many doors in that neighborhood she could have at least sold a couple copies of the Watchtower.
Just what was Susan Gast trying to accomplish? Doesn’t she know that there’s never an answer as to why? Why? nobody knows. nobody’s ever known, ever.
What answer did you want? What answer would justify a drive by shooting?
You may as well ask why Eve ate the apple.
Cuyler Brooks: that wasn’t his gun!
Cindy: You’re a bad man. You’re a VERY bad man.
By MTH
May 17, 2008 3:06 PM | Link to this
I live off Mink Livsey, too. A family, and I use that term loosely, on our street started having events for their crotch rocket buddies. All it took was a few calls to the cops and we found how to combat this. ie: you cannot park in front of a house “without permission”, visitors can on park on one side of the street. A few tickets later and the problem is mostly solved. Now we are working on getting it down to one family in the house.
By Kruschev's Father
May 17, 2008 4:28 PM | Link to this
Now hold on, MTH, just how loosely are you using the term, ‘crotch rocket buddies’?
By susan gast
May 19, 2008 9:46 AM | Link to this
Kruschev’s father, I really wasn’t seeking an answer about why the shooting occurred. I just wanted to see if the neighbors would talk about the crime, or perhaps explain why no one will talk about the crime. Next time, I’ll see if I can rummage up some brochures of some sort …
susan gast
By Kruschev's Father
May 19, 2008 6:45 PM | Link to this
Well, why wont anyone talk about the crime? Does anyone talk about any crime? Maybe you could do a whole book on crime as a topic of conversation. Hi, susan, what’s on, girlfriend? “Oh, shakin’ and bakin’, you know, living large and all”. I hear you, Tupac princess, but hey, what about crime? Do you want to talk about the time someone shot that dude over on 6th street? “no”. Okay, nevermind.
What?
Susan Gast, I think like our army in Iraq, you dont really know what your mission was. You took a tremendous risk to play the reporter who asks the homeowner how he feels while his house is burning down. How did you introduce yourself? Did you saw you were a reporter? Next time bring a phoney cameraman and maybe people will talk thinking they’ll get their 15 minutes. I got my 15 minutes last night while I was having sex. It only lasted 2 minutes, though. I hated last night, wow, the worst, you know?
But anyway, There’s nothing to say about crime. Nobody knows nuthin. Nobody saw nuthin. Nobody talks about nuthin. Crime usually occurs during booty calls anyway. How is anyone supposed to see anything. Dont we all keep our eyes closed during booty calls?
Remember that Mad TV bit about a witness to a crime being interviewed by police? All they could get out of her was, “He looka like a man”.
That’s crime talk. But anyway, so what.
By David Brown
May 20, 2008 9:10 AM | Link to this
To bring a level of maturity to the discussion, the correct spelling of Nikita’s last name was Khrushchev.
By Kruschev's Father
May 20, 2008 9:20 AM | Link to this
Sorry, I wrote that ID during a booty call. (eyes closed, you know)
By Corey
July 11, 2008 10:25 PM | Link to this
The boy that survived was just arrested 7/10/08 for armed robbery. That’s a shame!
By Corey
July 11, 2008 10:25 PM | Link to this
The boy that survived was just arrested 7/10/08 for armed robbery. That’s a shame!