Two tourists from England shot to death by teen in the Newton area of Sarasota (Miami: apartment complex, violent crime)

[Bobs]

Originally Posted by SoFLGal

Nah, it's not that dire looking. Sure you have your older cracker style homes. There are also quite a few homes built in 2004 or newer.

There are some who don't take care of their properties but there are also quite a few residents of Newtown who have cute little picket fences, small little vegetable gardens and are really trying to keep their places up.

Yes, Carver Ct public housing looks pretty run down. I'm sure most "projects" look similar but to paint that whole area with a broad brush would be unfair.

If you look at Skylar's pics (Sarasota Herald) on my previous post you can see some actual pictures of the area. They show small little brown duplexes with nice to average cars sitting outside.

IMO, they are no way as bad as the pics the Daily Mail posted.

really what houses like this.



come one these houses are going for like 17,000 dollars.
And theres smaller than the one i just showed you. The place is a hole.

[borat4eva]

Originally Posted by mr&mrssunshine

according to latest stats the number of murders in the Uk in 2010 was 651 with knives/sharp objects being the main weapon. in the US it was 16000 with gun being the main 'choice'
the murder rate in the UK is 1.43 per 100000
in the US its 5.6k

sadly in the Uk babies are the most 'at risk ' group.

interestingly the UK has 84000 in jail out of a population of 61m
the US has 7.25 million out of 311 million


however I feel far safer in NY than London but as always its about keeping out of the bad places



finally sadly Big House is correct- bad news makes good headlines !!!

I have to agree, England is far from utopia. In fact I've been a victim of crime about 5 times since I moved here 10 years ago.


650 murders is a good rate for a country with such population. As for jails, I have to say that England has to be the most backward country in the civilized world. You could kill some one, rape some one, rob some one and maybe do all those things at once and escape jail. But if you don't pay council tax or beat up someone who tried to rob you, you will end up in jail or get a fine and police warning (that happened to me). Oh, and racial hatred (only works if you are white) is another good example of the way to end up in prison (my friend was supposed to get married in Vegas last month and got denied entry to US because he beat up a black guy who punched him in the face in a busy supermarket in broad day light for no reason).

I have to agree, NY, Sarasota and even Orlando looked safer than London and even Southampton where I currently live. The only place I found dangerous in US was Miami and it did look like third world country, something like slums of Rio. As for any ghetto in US, ok, they are probably much worse, than ones in UK (although you might be surprised, there are a lot of no-go areas for whites in England), but at least you could carry a gun in FL and shoot in self defence. I'd rather live in a city with a ghetto, such as Sarasota or Houston, than live in a relatively good neighbourhood in UK where I could get mugged or have a house burgled and police would arrest me if I beat up the robber.

[Rushmore]

Originally Posted by Chris82

Some of the people in this thread should be ashamed of themselves as some of the comments about the two murdered lads and their reasons for being in that part of town don't have a shred of evidence behind them.

The only facts we really have at this stage are that this is a double tragedy 1). because two young lads were murdered and 2). because it was a child who pulled the trigger.

All true, to some extent.

But if you lived here or knew the area at all, you would know why some of this is being said.

You simply DO NOT GO to Newtown for...anything legitimate.

You simply CANNOT get lost and end up there, ESPECIALLY WALKING.

Personally, I don't care if they were there to score drugs or whatever they were doing...they surely didn't deserve or invite murdering.

But unless they were kidnapped, it is HIGHLY unlikely they were there for any legitimate reason whatsoever. Sorry, but you would know that if you lived here or knew the area.

[Chris82]

Originally Posted by Rushmore

All true, to some extent.

But if you lived here or knew the area at all, you would know why some of this is being said.

You simply DO NOT GO to Newtown for...anything legitimate.

You simply CANNOT get lost and end up there, ESPECIALLY WALKING.

Personally, I don't care if they were there to score drugs or whatever they were doing...they surely didn't deserve or invite murdering.

But unless they were kidnapped, it is HIGHLY unlikely they were there for any legitimate reason whatsoever. Sorry, but you would know that if you lived here or knew the area.

Fair enough.

I'm only a few years older than the lads who were killed and when i was their age i spent 15 months travelling around the world. I ended up in some shockingly dangerous places at times (both in the US and other countries, mostly Latin America), often when incredibly drunk, during the small hours of the night. Yes, it was stupid of me to wander around smashed but it's far from uncommon and i met tons of other backpackers who had similar tales to tell.

I have no idea how these guys ended up in this area or what they were up to but it's not quite as uncommon as you make out to end up in some dodgy area well off the tourist trail. Drunk lads abroad often find themselves in hot water, it doesn't escape the fact that whatever their motives for being in that neighbourhood, they didn't deserve to be murdered.

[Bobs]

Originally Posted by Rushmore

All true, to some extent.

But if you lived here or knew the area at all, you would know why some of this is being said.

You simply DO NOT GO to Newtown for...anything legitimate.

You simply CANNOT get lost and end up there, ESPECIALLY WALKING.

Personally, I don't care if they were there to score drugs or whatever they were doing...they surely didn't deserve or invite murdering.

But unless they were kidnapped, it is HIGHLY unlikely they were there for any legitimate reason whatsoever. Sorry, but you would know that if you lived here or knew the area.

so you dont think its possible for one of the gang to pretend to be a mini cab and than drive the two into an ambush in the housing estate.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by Bobs

so you dont think its possible for one of the gang to pretend to be a mini cab and than drive the two into an ambush in the housing estate.

I'm thinking maybe they met some girls or a girl who set them up to be robbed. Gave them a lift there where the young perp and who knows who else happened to be there. Not that uncommon.

[SoFLGal]

OK, Bobs since we're posting pics I have a few of my own. All of these are within a few blocks of where the murder occurred-
MLK to Washington, 17th, to N Orange. Have you ever been to FL or the Newtown area in person? I have.

Look at the home you posted and you can see a little white picket fence like I described off to the left of the picture. I'm guessing this might be one of the many bank owned properties located in Newtown and all over FL for that matter. I don't know where the home is located since I couldn't find any listing close to the murder scene with that picture.

Now, that being said, this is an area of town as the police describe it as having "higher than normal violence/gang violence". The whole area is not completely run down or like a third world country, as some of the British papers describe it.

You will, however, see people hanging out on the streets and such if you drive down MLK.

Three of these homes are on Orange and two are on Dixie.

[Bobs]

Iam from London and this happens regularly to women who jump into fake mini cabs when they are drunk at pub closing time, they are than driven to a housing estate where they are gang rapped. There use to be adverts on the radio and television telling women not to get into dodgy cabs.
Infact a legal black taxi driver got sentenced to life in London last year for rapeing 85 women in his official black cab.
So this is a strong possibility with these two but without the rape it was a possible robbery. Its a 10 minute drive from smokin joe to carvell court.

[Bobs]

Originally Posted by SoFLGal

OK, Bobs since we're posting pics I have a few of my own. All of these are within a block of where the murder occurred-
MLK to Washington, 17th, to N Orange. Have you ever been to FL or the Newtown area in person? I have.

Look at the home you posted and you can see a little white picket fence like I described off to the left of the picture. I'm guessing this might be one of the many bank owned properties located in Newtown and all over FL for that matter. I don't know where the home is located since I couldn't find any listing close to the murder scene with that picture.

Now, that being said, this is an area of town as the police describe it as having "higher than normal violence/gang violence". The whole area is not completely run down or like a third world country, as some of the British papers describe it.

You will, however, see people hanging out on the streets and such if you drive down MLK.

Three of these homes are on Orange and two are on Dixie.

some of those houses are nice and well kept but they are not the housing estate. What about Martin Luther King way that road dont look to clever. I wouldnt fancy walking along there. If my car broke down on that road rather than get out i would probably just dial 911 and ask for the police.

[gettinoutofjersey]

the way i figure it they were either street stupid or looking for something illegal ie: drugs or tail. what it comes down to, stuff happens.

as for the people outside our country criticizing us, screw them. dont like it here, dont come here. i for one am tired of outsiders dumping on our great country. the usa has problems now but it is still the best place in the world to live. i saw the riots in greece and portugal as well as tha a holes in the uk when they wanted to raise the tuition for college. they have enough of a problem with the muslims that have immigrated there and need to clean up that mess before they can criticize us.

i think this thread is done. it has come down to a usa bashing thread.