The Chastain and Battle Ridge subdivisions are beautiful, interconnected communities off Barwell and Rock Quarry Roads in Southeast Raleigh. Initially built slowly when owned by Colony Homes, property exchanged hands and the new owner became KB Homes.When I received a frightening phone call from the homeowner, I raced over.
The family had been watching television when the bullets rang out. Through the garage door, the family car and both the living room and dining room walls. They dropped to the floor and called the police.
Raleigh Police arrived and the City County Bureau of Investigation. Dusted for prints, took a report and left 3 hours later.
I contacted the owner's homeowners association management group, because I thought a meeting of homeowners was in order. My email, sent March 22, 2:35 pm stated this:
By now you should know of the two drive-by shootings in this neighborhood last week. One, on Thur, March 19, 10:30 pm, and the other on Fri March 20, approx 11:45 pm.
On behalf of (homeowner) xxxx Lxxxx Lane, (919-7xx-xxxx) I’m asking that you strongly consider assisting in an emergency meeting of homeowners. The quicker these problems can be identified and suspects apprehended, the better chance for homeowners to again feel safe and property values to remain stable.
Another client, who lives on Sxxxx (919-6xx-xxxx) was nearing her home at approx 11:45 pm on Fri and found the entrance blocked at Quitman. Another shooting incident. She was able to negotiate around the street with an officer’s permission around 1 am, because she needed to get home to bed because her primary job requires that she leave at 5:30 am.
She overheard another neighbor alluding to the shooting on Thurs night. We can only hope that they were referring to Lxxx and not more incidents. Because some residents work second shift jobs, there may be the need for two separate meetings. Venita Peyton, Broker
A response was not made until April 14 and is as follows:
Thank you for your email. We were made aware of the incident that was reported to have taken place in the Chastain community. Callers were advised to contact the police should any further incidents take place.We have not received any complaints regarding Battle Ridge and were told that the incident took place on Futura Lane, which is not considered to be Battle Ridge. Battle Ridge has a separate Board of Directors and community manager than Chastain.
When referring to your client you did not state a name or address for them, so I am unable to tell which community manager or board of directors would need to address this issue. Please provide the name or address of the property you are referring to and I will advise the manager and board of directors. xxxxx, Assistant
Since the above clearly written address wasn't understood, I immediately responded that day:
Omega:
Thanks for responding.
Dxxxxx, 6xxxx Lxxx Lane, plans to call you between 3 and 4 pm. her cell is 7xx-xxxx.
On 3/19/2008, 10:30 pm, xxx house/garage sustained 9 bullets. (On Raleigh crime website its shown as 6xxx Lzxxxx Lane, rather than Lxxx). It was raining heavily that night. City/county Bureau was there for approx. 3 hours.
(6 months earlier she reported her front door being kicked in (daylight) and 2 TVs being stolen. Her daughter came home from school to find the back glass doors open).
The next night (3/20), a client on Sxxxx (Chastain) says that upon her arrival home (near midnight from her second job), there was a police blockade near Quitman. (This is not indicated on the Raleigh Police crime website). It was nearly 1 am before she was able to persuade officers to allow her to drive upon the grass to go home because she needed to leave for work at 6 am the next morning (3/21).
Not long thereafter, I'm told of gunshots on Mackinac Island road.
You may want to talk with the Sheriff's gang prevention unit and/or Raleigh Police Substation 21 (Rock Quarry/Crosslink) for more details. The info that I have is secondhand.
Because these subdivisions and roads are interconnected, you may agree that it is wise to hold joint, rather than separate meetings. The goal is for all residents to live peacefully and not have their property values diminished because of unnecessary activities that may well have come from the outside. Venita Peyton, Broker
While most of the residents seem to be homeowners, there are now many owned by investors who are making a fortune off of renters.
To date, no meeting has been held with homeowners. These hardworking homeowners need the attention of the Raleigh City Council. Otherwise, more law enforcement resources will continue to be drained by a community that deserves to have their quality of life restored.
7 comments:
Hi and thank you so much for this post. I have lived on Mackinac for 2 years now. My husband and I love the community and our neighbors but in the last 6 months we have seen this community go downhill. I know for a fact that there are 2 group homes in the neighborhood and when I ask Omega about it they just say well we can't say what the homeowners do with the community.
After the young man was shot last month we begged them to hold an Emergency meeting and they never did. We are so frustrated. We don't want to sell our home but it looks like we may have no other choice. We have a 9 month old and it scares me to think of how bad it COULD get!
Uhmm, lots of this is new information for me and some I already knew. I'm a homeowner in Chastain and am working with my neighbors to improve communication and promote healthy community activities. Please visit http://raleighchastain.ning.com . Lets bring these stories to the attention of our neighbors and discuss possible solutions there. I will let my neighbors know about this blog. Thanks.
Wow I thought I left this foolishness in Pa. So now just let me say this I do not care who lives where It is Too Close To Me and My Family. The fact that this was written last year makes me more up set. so now once again instead of telling us where how about doing something about this, by having a meeting so that we can ome together and do things to stop this before we have another killing.
How is everyone feeling today after watching the teenager shot in the back in our very own backyards?
All these senseless shootings are very scary, sad, & so unnecessary!! What can we do as a community to make it a safer & better place to live in? I do not have children, so most of the times I am left out of the loop of what's going on in our community until I see the news or hear about it later on. I work @ the Wake County Sheriff's Office, but as wel all know the Raleigh Police Department patrols our neighborhood. I would like for parents to talk to their children about how to behave when they are outside playing (as far as respecting other people & their property, walking on the sidewalks, & coming in the house @ a decent hour.) It floors me when I see young teenagers out and about @ 12am! Where are the parents?! I would like these type subjects spoken upon @ our neighborhood meetings. I DO NOT want to see another person's child hurt or killed, this violence makes no sense!!!! Parents please talk to your children & make it your buisness to know what they are doing & what company they are keeping when out of your sight! I think the list of names for the community watch from the block party is a great way to get neighbors involved.
I can tell you, I live in Abbington Ridge just a stones throw away, we have had home break in's, with a butcher knife, a gun theft from our home (which police did NOTHING about) and countless other drug felonies, sex offenders and other unspeakable crimes, I tried to start a community watch but no one seems motivated to get involved. You won't even be able to sell your home, so you need to think of other options, SE Raleigh is making national news with its grim reputation, Google SE Raleigh and try to find one positive comment,. Trust me Im in the same boat: Get me outta here!!!!: but its not an option right now, If we dont ban together to do something, it will only get worse, and the police dont care all that much. They even told me so, I had a police officer twll me to my face he didnt "Get out to these parts much" when I asked why, he pointed around the neighborhood and said very clearly "Its not safe here" If you are all waiting for someone to rescue you, dont hold your breath
I am not sure how many of you are aware of this but did you know that when the city of raleigh received grant money to go in and tear down the Chavis Heights Housing Projects and replace them with half million dollar homes they actually relocated the residents to OUR communities. Go to the wake county tax site and check your neighborhood and see just how many of these houses are owned by the City of Raleigh. Chastain, Abbington, Griffis Glen!
Basically we paid $150K+ to move into the projects. When I found out about this I was furios - still am. What makes me even more angry is that KB actually received money from the city for letting the city place them here. It states in our bylaws that you have to live in your house for 18 months before it can be a rental if thats the case why can the city buy up houses and why can so many rental companies buy up houses!!
I feel like KB should have told us that was what our community was being used for!!!
The last shooting we had in Chastain was a kid who was living in Section 8 housing. The neighbors had complained to the landlord for months that the kid was a problem, a violent problem! NO ONE DID ANYTHING until the cops showed up to arrest him. Now there is a for rent sign but I honestly believe that is due to the family losing their section 8 funding and not the landlord!
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