And the saga continues...
Jul. 25th, 2007 12:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smb814So, apparently the news I posted last time about our resident burglar getting shot in the head during a burglary attempt turned out to be an overzealous story. Not necessarily by our neighbor -- he wouldn't make that up -- but by whoever told him that story.
I've now heard four different versions of what happened two blocks away from our house a few weeks ago. One was the story I posted last time. Another is that a kid was shot in the butt walking down the street by someone he knew, but while he knew the person who shot him, he had no idea *why* that person shot him. A third story is that a kid was shot in the butt while trying to steal computer equipment. A fourth just said it was a "family dispute."
Cops aren't talking about what happened, so we have no idea what really happened. All we know is that there were four squad cars, a handful of detectives there, and some yellow tape marking off the area. Oh, and we know whatever really happened, it wasn't our burglar(s) who were shot.
We know that because they broke into our house. Again. Yesterday morning.
Around ten in the morning, the alarm system went off. ADT called my dad's cell phone; he immediately called my mom (who works five minutes away from our home); she grabbed two tough guys from where she worked; they went to the house. The kids were still inside the house when they got there. The three of them walked around the house, looking for the entry point, but they couldn't find it, although one of the men saw someone in a white shirt inside. While they were in the back yard, the kids made a break for it out the front yard -- it turns out they had kicked in the siding on the air conditioner again and put the board back up, so naturally, on a quick exam, no one noticed that there was anything wrong with it. They got back out again the way they got in -- the only other way out would have been to break a window, because our front door has a dead bolt on it.
Our next door neighbor saw the two kids running down the street and gave a description to the police. A man outside a few blocks away saw the same two kids walking down the street a little later (and he'd seen them go up the street before). He came and talked to the police and told them what direction the kids went. He also said it didn't look like they were carrying anything and their pockets appeared to be empty. As far as we can tell, they didn't get anything this time except ten seconds away from being caught because, duh, we don't keep any money anywhere anyone can easily access it anymore.
*buries head in hands*
It's two black kids, apparently between 12 and 15 years of age. Two bored little adrenaline-addicted, game-playing brats have been the ones repeatedly terrorizing our home. Why am I not surprised when kids are breaking into Target stores with sledgehammers and breaking open video game display cases so they can steal the games? When 11 year old kids are holding up a local George Webb restaurant? When kids are going to county fairs and scratching up hundreds of cars with keys? This is what the city of Milwaukee has been reduced to, because no one is allowed to punish these kids anymore, claiming it's all "child abuse."
Parents and schools aren't teaching their students responsibility. Parents and schools aren't teaching their children right from wrong. Parents are, instead, crying bloody murder anytime anyone tries to tell them that their child did anything wrong. And it's innocent, law-abiding, hardworking citizens who are paying the price for it.
This society is going down the tubes, and all we can do is watch. The historian in me predicts that the country will eventually cave in on itself, as Rome did, because these kids are our future. It's a future that terrifies me. This isn't a world I want to live in.
These kids probably thought we were bluffing with the ADT sign. That, or they figured Milwaukee's police would take a half hour to respond, and they'd be long out of there before that, because OF COURSE they knew where we kept all our money! *rolls eyes*
I'd like to say the nightmare is all over and they won't be back again now that they've had such a close call and didn't get anything, but the truth is, these arrogant little bastards (please excuse my language) are way too bold NOT to try it again. We've been leaving cars out in the driveway so it looks like someone's home; that didn't stop them this time. We've been leaving lights on and the air conditioning on inside the house; that didn't stop them, either. They didn't care that the alarms were all going off; they stayed in the house. They don't care if someone's home; they're just going to barge in and take what they want. And I'm afraid next time they're going to either retaliate by vandalizing or destroying our house or cars, bring guns with them, or come with a bigger group of kids who can beat the crap out of anyone who tries to stop them. I'd say I'm being paranoid, but it happened in another neighborhood not too far from ours just two nights ago.
At least the alarm system has already paid for itself -- I can't imagine what our house would have looked like this time if we hadn't stopped them from spending a half hour inside the house like it appears they did last time. We don't HAVE anything left in the house of value for them to steal (and I would've thought they'd have figured that out the last time when they scoured the place), so they would've had to tear apart EVERYTHING just to find something, and if they hadn't found something, they would've gotten frustrated and started demolishing things.
Oh, and the small window alarms we'd put all over the window with the air conditioning apparently at least pissed them off and frustrated them. My dad had glued them on (because these kids had turned them off the last time), and the only way they could get to shut them up was to flush them down the toilet. Granted, we had to get the plumber to come in this morning because the alarms got stuck in the toilet and were continuously chirping (yes, that's right, the alarms kept going even after being submerged in water), but I can't help smirking knowing it at least wasted some of their precious time inside the house.
I just worry, too, that even if these kids are finally scared off from our house for good, they'll just start it up with someone else's house. They've made too much money off of this string of robberies (and probably had too much fun) to give up this life of crime. At least now we have general descriptions of who we're looking for, and half the neighborhood is keeping their eyes open for them.
Moving is now definitely on the agenda for the next year or two. Even if these kids are caught and punished (i.e. not just given a slap on the wrist), we can't stay in a house where we've been violated this repeatedly. It doesn't feel like a safe haven anymore, and it never will again. We just don't know where we want to go or what kind of house to look for.
*sighs* This has, without a doubt, been the Year From Hell. Can it please, please, please be over now?
I've now heard four different versions of what happened two blocks away from our house a few weeks ago. One was the story I posted last time. Another is that a kid was shot in the butt walking down the street by someone he knew, but while he knew the person who shot him, he had no idea *why* that person shot him. A third story is that a kid was shot in the butt while trying to steal computer equipment. A fourth just said it was a "family dispute."
Cops aren't talking about what happened, so we have no idea what really happened. All we know is that there were four squad cars, a handful of detectives there, and some yellow tape marking off the area. Oh, and we know whatever really happened, it wasn't our burglar(s) who were shot.
We know that because they broke into our house. Again. Yesterday morning.
Around ten in the morning, the alarm system went off. ADT called my dad's cell phone; he immediately called my mom (who works five minutes away from our home); she grabbed two tough guys from where she worked; they went to the house. The kids were still inside the house when they got there. The three of them walked around the house, looking for the entry point, but they couldn't find it, although one of the men saw someone in a white shirt inside. While they were in the back yard, the kids made a break for it out the front yard -- it turns out they had kicked in the siding on the air conditioner again and put the board back up, so naturally, on a quick exam, no one noticed that there was anything wrong with it. They got back out again the way they got in -- the only other way out would have been to break a window, because our front door has a dead bolt on it.
Our next door neighbor saw the two kids running down the street and gave a description to the police. A man outside a few blocks away saw the same two kids walking down the street a little later (and he'd seen them go up the street before). He came and talked to the police and told them what direction the kids went. He also said it didn't look like they were carrying anything and their pockets appeared to be empty. As far as we can tell, they didn't get anything this time except ten seconds away from being caught because, duh, we don't keep any money anywhere anyone can easily access it anymore.
*buries head in hands*
It's two black kids, apparently between 12 and 15 years of age. Two bored little adrenaline-addicted, game-playing brats have been the ones repeatedly terrorizing our home. Why am I not surprised when kids are breaking into Target stores with sledgehammers and breaking open video game display cases so they can steal the games? When 11 year old kids are holding up a local George Webb restaurant? When kids are going to county fairs and scratching up hundreds of cars with keys? This is what the city of Milwaukee has been reduced to, because no one is allowed to punish these kids anymore, claiming it's all "child abuse."
Parents and schools aren't teaching their students responsibility. Parents and schools aren't teaching their children right from wrong. Parents are, instead, crying bloody murder anytime anyone tries to tell them that their child did anything wrong. And it's innocent, law-abiding, hardworking citizens who are paying the price for it.
This society is going down the tubes, and all we can do is watch. The historian in me predicts that the country will eventually cave in on itself, as Rome did, because these kids are our future. It's a future that terrifies me. This isn't a world I want to live in.
These kids probably thought we were bluffing with the ADT sign. That, or they figured Milwaukee's police would take a half hour to respond, and they'd be long out of there before that, because OF COURSE they knew where we kept all our money! *rolls eyes*
I'd like to say the nightmare is all over and they won't be back again now that they've had such a close call and didn't get anything, but the truth is, these arrogant little bastards (please excuse my language) are way too bold NOT to try it again. We've been leaving cars out in the driveway so it looks like someone's home; that didn't stop them this time. We've been leaving lights on and the air conditioning on inside the house; that didn't stop them, either. They didn't care that the alarms were all going off; they stayed in the house. They don't care if someone's home; they're just going to barge in and take what they want. And I'm afraid next time they're going to either retaliate by vandalizing or destroying our house or cars, bring guns with them, or come with a bigger group of kids who can beat the crap out of anyone who tries to stop them. I'd say I'm being paranoid, but it happened in another neighborhood not too far from ours just two nights ago.
At least the alarm system has already paid for itself -- I can't imagine what our house would have looked like this time if we hadn't stopped them from spending a half hour inside the house like it appears they did last time. We don't HAVE anything left in the house of value for them to steal (and I would've thought they'd have figured that out the last time when they scoured the place), so they would've had to tear apart EVERYTHING just to find something, and if they hadn't found something, they would've gotten frustrated and started demolishing things.
Oh, and the small window alarms we'd put all over the window with the air conditioning apparently at least pissed them off and frustrated them. My dad had glued them on (because these kids had turned them off the last time), and the only way they could get to shut them up was to flush them down the toilet. Granted, we had to get the plumber to come in this morning because the alarms got stuck in the toilet and were continuously chirping (yes, that's right, the alarms kept going even after being submerged in water), but I can't help smirking knowing it at least wasted some of their precious time inside the house.
I just worry, too, that even if these kids are finally scared off from our house for good, they'll just start it up with someone else's house. They've made too much money off of this string of robberies (and probably had too much fun) to give up this life of crime. At least now we have general descriptions of who we're looking for, and half the neighborhood is keeping their eyes open for them.
Moving is now definitely on the agenda for the next year or two. Even if these kids are caught and punished (i.e. not just given a slap on the wrist), we can't stay in a house where we've been violated this repeatedly. It doesn't feel like a safe haven anymore, and it never will again. We just don't know where we want to go or what kind of house to look for.
*sighs* This has, without a doubt, been the Year From Hell. Can it please, please, please be over now?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-07-25 05:18 pm (UTC)Sometimes I don't know what the world is coming to, but my thoughts are with you! I hope it all calms down.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-25 10:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-25 05:29 pm (UTC)*hugs*
You can always come live with me. :D
~Misty
no subject
Date: 2007-07-25 07:06 pm (UTC)I'm all with you that we should just start a new year as of now. There's been enough troubles in 2007, I'm happy for it to be OVER and start fresh.
(((hugs)))
no subject
Date: 2007-07-25 10:01 pm (UTC)I know my frustration isn't anywhere near yours, but I'm ticked off that this keeps happening over and over and over and the cops haven't gotten them yet.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-25 10:44 pm (UTC)