attacks in winchester (Richmond, Harrisonburg, Shenandoah: fingerprints, violent crime, to buy) - Virginia (VA) - Page 2 - City-Data Forum

Rhett_Butler · 12-11-2007, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poohki

Maybe, just maybe they sound familiar because they are both true.......there are gangs in the area, and they do have an initiation process.

In both instances they were able to identify these as gang related. In neither instance was the "gang member" caught. In both instances it is PURE speculation what was going to occur. In both instances the intended victim was saved by such wonderful luck..... In mine a store clerk just happened to be looking out as the gang-banger got in the back of her unlocked car with the known, gang-ritual intent of killing her and in yours a lucky throw of a gym bag thwarts an attack by SEVERAL gang-bangers who wanted to push the victim into HER car to (I guess) drive her off somewhere and rape her, but when the plan went awry got into THEIR car and sped off.... Huh???

Do you see why I'm taking these with a grain of salt???

Yeah, we all need to be aware that gangs are in the area and again, thank you for the information... Just saying the stories themselves are popping up everywhere but on the larger local news sources and seem a bit hokey upon close scrutiny.....

Lookitup · 12-11-2007, 06:11 PM

Winchester Police Department : Newsroom : Recent Press Releases

Look at the "Walmart Strong Arm Robbery" story.

Jim

Rhett_Butler · 12-11-2007, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lookitup

Winchester Police Department : Newsroom : Recent Press Releases

Look at the "Walmart Strong Arm Robbery" story.

Jim

Let's compare that to the OP's posted story....

Slight discrepancy between "Tried to drag her into her car (with the intent of raping her for a gang ritual)" and "Two males approached in a threatening manner, DID NOT brandish any kind of weapon and one snatches her purse and they hop in a car and drive off"

Not belittling the incident, just cautioning against getting in a frenzy over these gang stories (though I realize the gangs are there)..

billybobwv · 12-11-2007, 11:29 PM

From the Wednesday 12/12 edition of the Winchester Star about this "attack" and those emails...

http://www.winchesterstar.com/article_details.php?ArticleID=3218 (broken link)

Mylove30 · 12-12-2007, 04:45 AM

I didn't go through and read everyones blog, but I would just like to say that I do believe this letter about the gang initiation in Winchester at the Wal-Mart is true. I read some where in here where people believe it is a hoax because there was another e-mail going around talking about the same thing over by Dinosaur Land. I am here to let you know that I have a friend who works at the gas station at Dinosaur Land and they had been working the day of the supposed gang initiation took place there. I was told about this the day it had happened. There is no doubt in mind that what has been going on at the Wal-Mart is true. I can't say for sure that it is, but on the other just be safe.

Rhett_Butler · 12-12-2007, 06:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mylove30

I didn't go through and read everyones blog, but I would just like to say that I do believe this letter about the gang initiation in Winchester at the Wal-Mart is true. I read some where in here where people believe it is a hoax because there was another e-mail going around talking about the same thing over by Dinosaur Land. I am here to let you know that I have a friend who works at the gas station at Dinosaur Land and they had been working the day of the supposed gang initiation took place there. I was told about this the day it had happened. There is no doubt in mind that what has been going on at the Wal-Mart is true. I can't say for sure that it is, but on the other just be safe.

Read the article above you if you need reason to doubt. Anyway, I agree with the taking extra caution to be safe attitude. There's no harm in that, but I'm taking issue with the alarmism.

billybobwv · 12-12-2007, 09:00 AM

Ok..The Winchester Star said an attack against a woman did happen at Wal-Mart on 12/4 and the suspects are in jail. Now for this being gang related, if this was the case..why did both the Winchester Chief of Police David White and Winchester City Manager Craig Smith say otherwise? Telling one thing when its really something else to make the people in Winchester and Frederick County "feel better"? If they did that they would be putting their jobs in serious jeopardy.

My wife's co-worker at Rubbermaid got one of those emails about the Wal-Mart attack . She was concerned enough that she called up both WUSQ Q102 and WINC radio to see what they know about it only to be told by both radio stations that the emails were false. Q102 even suggested that chances are the emails could have been sent from outside the area. Surprised that someone, anyone hasn't forward these emails to the police or even the local media. Then again, I take that back, I assume that was done but I am surprised neither the Police or the media haven't had those emails traced even if it came from say Yahoo or Hotmail. They can do that. And they have done it before.

vacharlotte · 12-13-2007, 04:45 AM

The work I do often puts me in contact with gang prevention activities, local law enforcement, and the court system. I live and work in the Winchester area. There are 13 identified gangs in the Winchester City area including MS-13 and there is an area task force assigned to deal with the growing problem. MS-13 is known to be extremely violent and to conduct initiation activities that have been described in the local accounts. The truth is that community agencies have a vested interest in keeping gang activity reports on low profile as it is bad for business so to speak. This is not just our community but nationwide. You will often see crimes in the news involving young people where they report that the motive is unknown. But the crime style described is very much a "gang" style crime. The recent killing of a football star suggests gang style home invasion. A recent story appearing in Fox news concerning a 60 year old woman who was attacked by two boys in her home while two girls stood outside as lookout sounds like gang style initiation. Niether of these stories was listed by any official news reporting agency as gang related. However to the trained eye and to those who watch these activities it sends off alarm bells. What is the motive of local law enforcement and media in keeping things under their hats? Many times it is to keep local panic and vigilantism to a minimum. In addition, public knowledge may actually hamper investigation.
Are these reports true? I don't know. However, I had a discussion with an individual today from the local law enforcement/juvenile justice end of things. They warned me to be aware of my surroundings due to increased gang activity particularly the gang MS-13. Using caution and being aware of surroundings will not hurt any of us.

at3 · 12-13-2007, 05:21 AM

All,

Please note that the orginal report is SPAM. The sheriff dept in Winchester has the true story, it is not gang related and it is not hispanic. It was actually 3 white males.

at3 · 12-13-2007, 05:27 AM

And BTW, your prejudice makes all of you extremely gulliable. Give me a break, anyone with half of a brain could have realized the orginal story was rigged and a farse. yeah, a woman throws a person at a group of men, saying here take it leave me alone, you guys look scarry, that runs off screaming ahhh!!!. I don't mean to belittle the story, because it did really happen. However, thanks to everyone being misled, no one picked up on who actually did the blasted crime. Way to go spammers, you score is 100 everyone withuot a brain is 0.