Whats with all the shootings in Knoxville? (Chattanooga, Bristol: neighborhood, elementary school)

[hiknapster]

This is the second homicide of the week. The first victim was a young woman that was killed by her roommate's boyfriend. But the most recent victim was elderly and it looks like it was forced entry. Ridiculous.

Police ID second Knoxville homicide victim of the week : Local News : Knoxville News Sentinel

[myndsplyntur]

Wow. Yeah... it has been an abnormally active year so far for homicides and such.

[sebtec]

How is Vonore? I'll be retiring in this town.

[gemkeeper]

We have been following the Knox news for a few years and this does seem to be one of the most violent past six months that I can recall.

I wonder if it is the drug problem that is infiltrating most US cities or if the economy in general is causing some of this aggression. People become easily desparate and frustrated and either kill to gain something or as an emotional reaction to something.

Whatever the cause, it is not improving anywhere that I can see. Many quiet crime-free areas are being victimized by young thugs who need a new area for their "business" to bloom uninterrupted.

In some cases it is the well-meaning court system that relocates these drug dealers to pristine areas hoping that the "boys" will learn a new way of life. I watched this happen in N. PA when Philadelphia decided that their first offenders would benefit from public service in a little bucolic town (my childhood town) in the mts. of N. PA, which has now become a mecca for drugs and crime.

[hiknapster]

I've never heard of a program like that. I don't doubt you, though.

Unfortunately, besides my regular beat, I was always the court reporter up in Mass. I hated that job, but I was saddled with it, whether it was the weekly or daily that I worked at, for ten years.

That sort of program may have stopped many years ago, I guess.

I suspect it is drugs, which I am convinced that, besides the middle and lower classes being left behind by big business, is a huge scourge on this country. I don't know about the poor economy. I've found that it doesn't make much of a difference. Drug addicts are addicts for other reasons, but a poor economy doesn't help.

This elderly woman lived very close to a friend. These sort of customers are such a joy, and I am heartsick about this, as I am sure everyone else, too.

Yes, it seems in the past year crime has gone way up. I remembering moving here, going on three years, and there wasn't much to report.

I think you are right, gem. I doubt that this is a Knoxville phenomenon. I suspect this is all over.

Who the heck busts into an old woman's home and kills her? I'm sure she would have given them whatever they wanted.

[gemkeeper]

You're right, Hik. It is pathetic to think of someone looking for $20 or $30 bucks killing an elderly lady for. Chances are she wouldn't be able to even identify the guy in the first place. Crazy world.

Did you think I was talking about MA? This program the city of Philly had with MYTOWN was in PA. It was a trial program about 10 - 12 years ago that just showed the city dudes where they could go and not have the big city cops hassling them. Now, folks in that beautiful country area are battling gang crime that they never had before and certainly aren't equipped to handle.

[hiknapster]

Oh, no, no, no. I was just rambling. I guess I should have said that I was a court reporter from 1986 to 1996 in Massachusetts and had never heard of that, nor in Florida.

I realized you were writing about Pennsylvania.

I am sure that there is no program like that here.

Besides, they wouldn't be sending them to Knoxville, which is a city. It was a quiet city, up until recently.

There was an elderly man beaten and I think killed in Morristown, or something like that, too, recently.

What the heck is wrong people?

Oh, and that sounds like a stupid program.

[creeksitter]

I have heard from a (dis)reputable source that C&C had been buying drugs from these thugs. In other words, not as random as it seems.

[hiknapster]

What's C&C?

[Beretta]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

What's C&C?

Channon and Christian, the two young people murdered (I may have spelled their names wrong, my apologies). I'm guessing that this is what C & C stands for (I heard the same rumor).

I honestly believe that a bunch of crime we are seeing is drug related. Absolutely not excusing it, just my observation.