Admit it, Northern VA has been spoiled by a lack of crime (Arlington: 2014, violent crime)

[Deluusions]

There was just a shooting about an hour ago near woodbridge high school

[ChristineVA]

Sounds like a "youth" issue, rather than something random. Yikes.

16-year-old killed in Prince William County - WTOP.com

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by Deluusions

There was just a shooting about an hour ago near woodbridge high school

Which ironically in Lake Ridge which many advise to be a safer area. It is but this just goes to show that crime can and does happen where you least expect it.

[justtitans]

Yes that happened right around the corner from me. Very sad. People are already starting to overreact though. These places is not immune to violence no place is, but things like this happens, people just become hysterical. I wish things like this didn't happen, but they do. But people need to stop acting like this happens every week.

[smisk]

NOVA is definitely a lot nicer than many other areas. I lived in Newport News fora few years and have been to DC and Richmond a lot. There's nowhere in NOVA that compare to some of the bad parts of those cities.

[Oldhag1]

Yep, live in a place with real crime and you'd understand how silly it is to call Woodbridge Hoodridge. The worst spots in Prince William County have crime no more serious than the "good places" in most areas of similar size. Prince William County has had less murders per year than the county of slightly less than 100,000 total population we moved from. Notice I said less murders, as in the physical number of people murdered.

I wouldn't say the people of NoVA are spoiled by the lack of crime, they are just far more fortunate than they realize.

[The Dissenter]

Just for some more perspective.

2013 Arlington County, VA (pop 225k) zero homicides.
2013 Hampton, VA (pop 137k) 20 homicides.
2013 Newport News, VA (pop 183k) 15 homicides.

[Forehead]

Originally Posted by smisk

NOVA is definitely a lot nicer than many other areas. I lived in Newport News fora few years and have been to DC and Richmond a lot. There's nowhere in NOVA that compare to some of the bad parts of those cities.

That may be, but when a shooting occurs at a school you like 1/4 of a mile away from, and then the shooter turns out to live across a major street from where I live, it's a bit disconcerting.

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by Forehead

That may be, but when a shooting occurs at a school you like 1/4 of a mile away from, and then the shooter turns out to live across a major street from where I live, it's a bit disconcerting.

I agree with that. The shooter was definitely a little too close for comfort, but the reaction that people have had to this incident has been ridiculous. People are overreacting so much. There are crazy people everywhere. PWC is not immune to it. You can't take one bad apple and say that a whole area is going crazy. There are certainly things that go on that should concern anyone living in the area, but people saying how this is Hoodbridge or this place is turning into another PG or DC, is just complete nonsense! I just want to have some real perspective on this. Crime will happen. We can't escape it no matter where we go, but we need to realize that. If this became a frequent occurrence, of a daily, weekly or even a monthly thing, then I would be more concerned.

[gomason]

I would be a lot more worried if it was random and not a drug-related. People getting shot at their front door by a crazy guy in Alexandria is a lot more worrying to me.