62 yo man killed in Silver Spring garage

[Anonymous]

That is how officials are describing it, and one of the reasons why it is so upsetting. My question is - why would someone just shoot a random person in the stairwell of a parking garage? Maybe the victim happened upon the perpetrator doing something and confronted him, and it escalated?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That is how officials are describing it, and one of the reasons why it is so upsetting. My question is - why would someone just shoot a random person in the stairwell of a parking garage? Maybe the victim happened upon the perpetrator doing something and confronted him, and it escalated?

Or maybe the perpetrator is just a cold blooded criminal. The type who hangs out in stairwells where there are no cameras and carries a gun.

[Anonymous]

Probably a spy.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Someone posted on Nextdoor that a woman was knocked to the ground and had her purse stolen at 11 am at the giant on ew highway. Nice to see silver spring continuing its descent into third world country status.

DCUMers would say she should feel lucky they didn’t hurt her. It is the price to pay to live in a vibrant city. More police will only hurt the minorities.

“More police” won’t protect you. The guy who killed his pregnant girlfriend and the gas station check lived in a building where you can see the police station. That’s certainly “more police” than would be mustered to DTSS and yet it didn’t stop him from murdering his pregnant gf at home or the gas station clerk nearby. “More police” just makes (White) people feel safer when they are around Black and Brown people. No evidence that it keeps law-abiding people of color safer.

The connection between police presence, and more intensive policing, and lower crime is one of the most well established in criminology. There is no question that proactive policing can and does reduce crime. We trashed policing in 2020 and saw an immediate 30% spike in murders.

Policing does come with costs to the communities policed. Maybe those costs are in your view too great so the effect on crime is not worth it. But don’t say that policing can’t reduce crime because it can.

The ironic thing is that when the number of police gets reduced, communities of color are the ones that see crime increase most significantly, and so more and more black people die from violence by other black people (as shown on that “say every name” webpage where most of the deaths are not from law enforcement but instead from cold blooded criminals with guns). The black deaths that occur by black-on-black violence are way in excess of any deaths from improper police use of force. So while black people advocate for fewer police based on the erroneous notion that police are rampantly killing black people, more and more black people will die at the hands of other black people.

I remember during the height of the BLM protests during Covid, there was a mass shooting during an unannounced DC block party, with a few people getting killed, and on the news, the older DC residents asked, “why was there no police presence for this huge event?” Really? Just look at the protests against the police that were happening hours earlier.

Here's the thing. The majority of Black people want police in their neighborhoods. They want professional policing, of course. They want safe policing. But they know removing police is a recipe for disaster.

There is a very small, but extremely loud minority, comprised mostly of WHITE voices, who want to remove police in the name of equity. They are just very misguided. And at the end of the day, they aren't the ones who suffer when police are removed (or just leave).

I find interesting, however, that this seems to be the first non-Hispanic white murder victim in the county, and NOW politicians are listening. [/

They grandstand for every white murdered

Can you provide a link to a non white person who was shot to death in Montgomery county recently where the victim and murderer did not know each other?

Oh, so you are blaming the other homicide victims for their lifestyle choices? I mean, seriously. Most homicide victims are young Black men. Even if they were engaging in less-than-wise activities, most of them would have aged out of that type of behavior and gone on to be productive members of the community.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Obituary posted yesterday. So awful. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/charles-reynolds-obituary?id=38500739

RIP

Sad to lose a good human being from our midst in this way. My heart is breaking for this family.

I know the family and they are great people. It's truly a loss for our community.

Good human beings who are loved and respected by many are a product of a lifetime of their own good decisions and right living. To see such a life lost hurts all of us as a society. The loss to the family remains unimaginable and the trauma and grief will be with them for a long time. I hope that God gives this family the strength to bear this loss. I wish this family healing and the best in life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is how officials are describing it, and one of the reasons why it is so upsetting. My question is - why would someone just shoot a random person in the stairwell of a parking garage? Maybe the victim happened upon the perpetrator doing something and confronted him, and it escalated?

Or maybe the perpetrator is just a cold blooded criminal. The type who hangs out in stairwells where there are no cameras and carries a gun.

And just suddenly started doing this? Where are all of this cold-blooded killer’s other parking lot stair well shootings?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Someone posted on Nextdoor that a woman was knocked to the ground and had her purse stolen at 11 am at the giant on ew highway. Nice to see silver spring continuing its descent into third world country status.

DCUMers would say she should feel lucky they didn’t hurt her. It is the price to pay to live in a vibrant city. More police will only hurt the minorities.

“More police” won’t protect you. The guy who killed his pregnant girlfriend and the gas station check lived in a building where you can see the police station. That’s certainly “more police” than would be mustered to DTSS and yet it didn’t stop him from murdering his pregnant gf at home or the gas station clerk nearby. “More police” just makes (White) people feel safer when they are around Black and Brown people. No evidence that it keeps law-abiding people of color safer.

So what is your solution for the rising crime rates in DTSS? If you believe police can’t help, what will?

I’m genuinely curious. The task force suggestion to reduce policing levels by 50% in the midst of rising crime seems very illogical to me. If you have a solution that doesn’t involve police, please share it.

Cameras? Community volunteers willing to walk the area? Volunteer escorts to/from garages? Reduced hours for the metro? How should the county respond when violent crimes continue in spite of these efforts?

Limiting Metro hours just makes it harder for service workers in DTSS. They can’t afford to live here and if the Metro started closing early, how could they afford to work here either? I’ve been an hourly wage worker dependent on Metrobus and Ride-On. It’s horrible. One bus doesn’t show or runs late and you miss your connector and end up 30-60 min late.

Do you think you live in SOHO or something?

I live in DTSS now, but I had the personal experience for years of not owning a car while working two hourly wage jobs in Rockville. It’s hard enough when busses run late or are cancelled. If the hours were curtailed, waitstaff and retail workers can’t afford to simply jump in an Uber.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is how officials are describing it, and one of the reasons why it is so upsetting. My question is - why would someone just shoot a random person in the stairwell of a parking garage? Maybe the victim happened upon the perpetrator doing something and confronted him, and it escalated?

Or maybe the perpetrator is just a cold blooded criminal. The type who hangs out in stairwells where there are no cameras and carries a gun.

And just suddenly started doing this? Where are all of this cold-blooded killer’s other parking lot stair well shootings?

If he is ever caught I am sure he’ll have a rap sheet a mile long.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The police have got to do a better job in DTSS. It seems to attract youth from neighboring areas and shootings have gotten out of control. Years ago, it wasn't like this. It's a shame and I feel sorry for the businesses that will suffer when people don't feel safe going there anymore.

There have only been a few people shot in DTSS in the last few years. Lots of other crimes, lots of gunshots at night with no one reported hit, but there isn’t an epidemic of people being shot.

And what do you mean about attracting youth from neighboring areas? Bringing in people who don’t live in 20910 is a goal of the area. 20910 residents can’t support businesses on our own. We want people to come from all over to shop, eat, and enjoy entertainment and recreation venues. Most youth are not committing any crimes. They are however, often working class and Black or Brown which triggers the gentrifiers. Not louder than WJ and Churchill kids at Montgomery Mall. Not ruder than kids at Whitman, Wootten,or MoCo’s private HSs.

WJ, Churchill, Wooten, Whitman, and private school kids are not shooting people in parking garage stairwells.

Neither are my sons and their friends who like to go to SS to movies and the like.

Are you afraid that they may be victims of violence going out in SS? Do you give them any advice to take precautions?

DP. My son, daughter, and their friends hang out in DTSS 2-3 times a week. I worry more that the boys (all AA and African honor students at Blair) will be harassed or physically harmed by the police than I worry they will be robbed, stabbed, or shot by criminals.

^^^ this is why people should probably just move if they dont agree with reduced policing. MoCo is absolutely enacting a plan to further reduce police contact with residents in the less wealthy areas. As you can see, this is a welcome measure by many residents. I sold my house and left. It will only get worse from here in terms of crime. But thats what democracy us about. The people have spoken.

They are making police contact equal to the all white areas.

What does that mean?

Do you know what pretext stops are?

FYI, I am very obviously white and when I was in my late 20s, I was pulled over three times in Moco in the span of three years for pretextual reasons: (1) light over license plate had gone out, (2) not coming to a complete stop before making a right turn on red (I actually did), and (3) one cop pulled me over, and then was quickly joined by two others who all surrounded me; but they never gave me any explanation and let me go after about 15 minutes. No tickets for any of this (well, I was issued a notice to get the license plate light fixed, and I had to have it signed by a police officer at a police station once I completed the repair). Each time, I fully complied with the officers and went on my way. Pretextual stops can happen to anyone. Just comply with the officer instructions if you have really done nothing wrong; it's not that hard.

As a white dude when I was in my 20s I was constantly getting pulled over by cops. I drove a crap car, but was a bit of a free spirit with a big shaggy beard and long hair and usually wearing a tie dye, so I guess somehow in their minds that profiled to someone who would likely have drugs or be up to some kind of trouble. Sure, I occasionally smoked a little weed socially, but I was a good kid, trying to bust my ass to pay my way through college and generally get myself situated a little better in life. I can't even count how many times I was stopped, presumably for "pretext" - many dozens. I even remember one time where I came across the bridge into a town where I knew the cops were jerks, I was already going 25, the speed limit was 25, I saw the cops sitting there waiting even before I got off the bridge, I slowed to 20, they still pulled me over and tried to claim I was "speeding" and wanted to search the car. I didn't have anything - hell I was broke and a bag of weed would have been a luxury. So yeah, some white people also get targeted for "pretext" all the time. But luckily I was able to fight and get out of most of the tickets I got. That's the part where POCs probably wouldn't have fared as well as I did. I also used to routinely have salespeople following me around asking "can I help you" but not in a good way, letting me know they were watching me, as if I was some kind of sketchy character. A lot of people are just shitty judgy a-holes, including cops.

The white dudes I know with long hair and tie dye, driving crap cars, pulled over on pretexts like "bloodshot eyes" or "looking tired", were/are worried about spending a night in jail, getting charged, etc. But not about getting killed. Seems like a meaningful difference.

Almost no one is injured by police officers. It's a very low incidence, high consequence event. Like plane crashes. You hear about them because they are horrible. Not because they are ubiquitous.

Police officers shot and killed 1,047 people in 2021 in the US, and for every one person they shoot and kill, they shoot and don't kill another five people.

There were 15 fatal plane crashes in the WORLD in 2021, accounting for 134 deaths.

Perhaps that would seem like a lot if there weren’t over 330,000,000 Americans living in this country. That’s .00000317272%.

That also doesn’t take into account that officers work in the most heavily armed country, with more guns than people.

It also doesn’t take into account how often those 1,047 people were armed and threatening/hurting others.

Planes don’t have bad intentions. Sometimes, people do.

Including police officers. Police shootings in the US actually are ubiquitous. The threat is always there, whether or not it's actually carried out. You shouldn't minimize it.

So you prefer I use hyperbole? No, they are NOT ubiquitous. Literally each of the data points on this thread points to the fact they are not a common occurrence.

It is quite possible to care about police injustice/brutality without fictionalizing it.

It quite rare for a cop to be shot or stabbed. Police being shot in moco is quite fantastical acting like it’s a threat is just fiction. I like to look at data.

You are correct. It is rare for a cop to be shot or stabbed. That’s why no poster on this entire thread has even brought that up as a data point. Were you trying to draw a comparison? To what?

And as the PP asked: what does this line of questioning have to do with the death in DTSS?

It’s rare. Rare things happen. Move on.

Pedestrian deaths are even rarer than homicides. Should we move on from those without action or should we be using all available tools to prevent them?

I have a proposal, as a person living on the Purple Line alignment and across Wayne Ave from elementary and middle schools. Take the two MoCo police who are currently performing crossing guard duty at our un-crosswalked/no-beg-light, no stop light location, twice a day EVERY DAY for school walkers. Put those two guys, who are lovely folks and clearly capable of much more specialized work, on patrol in the goddamned parking garage. Install a light, a speeding camera and a pedestrian button at our intersection. Problem(s) closer to being solved.

Also close clubs 3-6 am. It ain’t rocket science. (But note that most of these recent events haven’t been in those hours.)

I wouldn’t be surprised if those officers are officially off-duty and doing that as a second job.

The task force wants fewer police in Silver Spring, not more. It’s clearly stated in their proposal. They suggest a 50% reduction in staffing in Silver Spring to reduce police interactions with the public. I don’t think you’re getting your parking garage officers with the current county exec.

Do they drive MoCo police cars, wear uniforms and carry guns and badges while doing stuff like this off-duty?

Yes.

That’s kind of screwed up.

Why? It’s secondary employment, and subject to strict ethics standards. But it’s a way to augment police presence in the community.

Unless you mean it’s screwed up that people and companies with privilege can pay for better safety? That’s what will happen more and more as police numbers dwindle.

It’s screwed up if they are representing private interests while wearing uniforms and using equipment suggesting that they serve only public interests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is how officials are describing it, and one of the reasons why it is so upsetting. My question is - why would someone just shoot a random person in the stairwell of a parking garage? Maybe the victim happened upon the perpetrator doing something and confronted him, and it escalated?

Or maybe the perpetrator is just a cold blooded criminal. The type who hangs out in stairwells where there are no cameras and carries a gun.

And just suddenly started doing this? Where are all of this cold-blooded killer’s other parking lot stair well shootings?

If he is ever caught I am sure he’ll have a rap sheet a mile long.

You believe this person has in the past murdered or at least shot people while lurking in parking garage stairwells?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Was this a random crime?

Yes. Totally random.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Someone posted on Nextdoor that a woman was knocked to the ground and had her purse stolen at 11 am at the giant on ew highway. Nice to see silver spring continuing its descent into third world country status.

DCUMers would say she should feel lucky they didn’t hurt her. It is the price to pay to live in a vibrant city. More police will only hurt the minorities.

“More police” won’t protect you. The guy who killed his pregnant girlfriend and the gas station check lived in a building where you can see the police station. That’s certainly “more police” than would be mustered to DTSS and yet it didn’t stop him from murdering his pregnant gf at home or the gas station clerk nearby. “More police” just makes (White) people feel safer when they are around Black and Brown people. No evidence that it keeps law-abiding people of color safer.

So what is your solution for the rising crime rates in DTSS? If you believe police can’t help, what will?

I’m genuinely curious. The task force suggestion to reduce policing levels by 50% in the midst of rising crime seems very illogical to me. If you have a solution that doesn’t involve police, please share it.

Cameras? Community volunteers willing to walk the area? Volunteer escorts to/from garages? Reduced hours for the metro? How should the county respond when violent crimes continue in spite of these efforts?

Limiting Metro hours just makes it harder for service workers in DTSS. They can’t afford to live here and if the Metro started closing early, how could they afford to work here either? I’ve been an hourly wage worker dependent on Metrobus and Ride-On. It’s horrible. One bus doesn’t show or runs late and you miss your connector and end up 30-60 min late.

Do you think you live in SOHO or something?

I live in DTSS now, but I had the personal experience for years of not owning a car while working two hourly wage jobs in Rockville. It’s hard enough when busses run late or are cancelled. If the hours were curtailed, waitstaff and retail workers can’t afford to simply jump in an Uber.

You’re making a lot of assumptions about people that are offensive. There is not some unwashed masses of service workers in Silver Spring that your white saviorism is going to help. You also assume the people you think are indigent don’t have a car or a family member with a car and that they want to live in DTSS like you. It’s incredible. Your neighborhood is not posh and despite what you may think, it’s not a widely desirable place to live by the people who you believe to wash your dishes. Before making assumptions about people based on stereotypes, you should probably meet them and talk to them first. Particularly since these are the people who provide your services and you pretend to be concerned about their welfare.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Someone posted on Nextdoor that a woman was knocked to the ground and had her purse stolen at 11 am at the giant on ew highway. Nice to see silver spring continuing its descent into third world country status.

DCUMers would say she should feel lucky they didn’t hurt her. It is the price to pay to live in a vibrant city. More police will only hurt the minorities.

“More police” won’t protect you. The guy who killed his pregnant girlfriend and the gas station check lived in a building where you can see the police station. That’s certainly “more police” than would be mustered to DTSS and yet it didn’t stop him from murdering his pregnant gf at home or the gas station clerk nearby. “More police” just makes (White) people feel safer when they are around Black and Brown people. No evidence that it keeps law-abiding people of color safer.

The connection between police presence, and more intensive policing, and lower crime is one of the most well established in criminology. There is no question that proactive policing can and does reduce crime. We trashed policing in 2020 and saw an immediate 30% spike in murders.

Policing does come with costs to the communities policed. Maybe those costs are in your view too great so the effect on crime is not worth it. But don’t say that policing can’t reduce crime because it can.

It’s actually the opposite.

Watch “the 13th” or read about the disaster of “3 strikes you are out”. Heavy policing has destroyed communities.

Heavy policing reduces crime. “The 13th” and the “3 strikes” issue are about the impact of having too many black people in prison. I suppose there could be room for debate that people should not be put in prison for certain crimes. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have a strong police presence to catch people who commit the crimes, such as the murder that this thread is focused on. You’re conflating two separate issues: whether we should catch criminals (the answer is yes) and what we should do with them once caught (perhaps debatable for certain crimes, but in my opinion, not debatable for murder).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone posted on Nextdoor that a woman was knocked to the ground and had her purse stolen at 11 am at the giant on ew highway. Nice to see silver spring continuing its descent into third world country status.

DCUMers would say she should feel lucky they didn’t hurt her. It is the price to pay to live in a vibrant city. More police will only hurt the minorities.

“More police” won’t protect you. The guy who killed his pregnant girlfriend and the gas station check lived in a building where you can see the police station. That’s certainly “more police” than would be mustered to DTSS and yet it didn’t stop him from murdering his pregnant gf at home or the gas station clerk nearby. “More police” just makes (White) people feel safer when they are around Black and Brown people. No evidence that it keeps law-abiding people of color safer.

The connection between police presence, and more intensive policing, and lower crime is one of the most well established in criminology. There is no question that proactive policing can and does reduce crime. We trashed policing in 2020 and saw an immediate 30% spike in murders.

Policing does come with costs to the communities policed. Maybe those costs are in your view too great so the effect on crime is not worth it. But don’t say that policing can’t reduce crime because it can.

It’s actually the opposite.

Watch “the 13th” or read about the disaster of “3 strikes you are out”. Heavy policing has destroyed communities.

Heavy policing reduces crime. “The 13th” and the “3 strikes” issue are about the impact of having too many black people in prison. I suppose there could be room for debate that people should not be put in prison for certain crimes. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have a strong police presence to catch people who commit the crimes, such as the murder that this thread is focused on. You’re conflating two separate issues: whether we should catch criminals (the answer is yes) and what we should do with them once caught (perhaps debatable for certain crimes, but in my opinion, not debatable for murder).

If people commit violent crime or serious property crime the first priority is to get them off the streets to reduce harm to everyone else. Second priority is to try and rehabilitate them to try and get them safely back into communities.

And above all, there's a culture problem of violence and anti-social behavior that needs to be addressed. I grew up dirt poor too and admit I took some things out of desperation to feed myself but I didn't go around carjacking and committing armed robbery and violent crime. We need to stop making excuses for those crimes. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone posted on Nextdoor that a woman was knocked to the ground and had her purse stolen at 11 am at the giant on ew highway. Nice to see silver spring continuing its descent into third world country status.

DCUMers would say she should feel lucky they didn’t hurt her. It is the price to pay to live in a vibrant city. More police will only hurt the minorities.

“More police” won’t protect you. The guy who killed his pregnant girlfriend and the gas station check lived in a building where you can see the police station. That’s certainly “more police” than would be mustered to DTSS and yet it didn’t stop him from murdering his pregnant gf at home or the gas station clerk nearby. “More police” just makes (White) people feel safer when they are around Black and Brown people. No evidence that it keeps law-abiding people of color safer.

The connection between police presence, and more intensive policing, and lower crime is one of the most well established in criminology. There is no question that proactive policing can and does reduce crime. We trashed policing in 2020 and saw an immediate 30% spike in murders.

Policing does come with costs to the communities policed. Maybe those costs are in your view too great so the effect on crime is not worth it. But don’t say that policing can’t reduce crime because it can.

It’s actually the opposite.

Watch “the 13th” or read about the disaster of “3 strikes you are out”. Heavy policing has destroyed communities.

Heavy policing reduces crime. “The 13th” and the “3 strikes” issue are about the impact of having too many black people in prison. I suppose there could be room for debate that people should not be put in prison for certain crimes. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have a strong police presence to catch people who commit the crimes, such as the murder that this thread is focused on. You’re conflating two separate issues: whether we should catch criminals (the answer is yes) and what we should do with them once caught (perhaps debatable for certain crimes, but in my opinion, not debatable for murder).

Agreed. Everyone talks about one criminal justice system. It's actually many. And the biggest problem we have is extremely harsh sentencing. I have worked in prisons, and while I'm not an abolitionist, I do advocate for shorter sentences and much more investment in true habilitation (many inmates have not learned very basic social and life skills) and rehabilitation.

But police? You need people on the front line to respond to communities in crisis. Living in a violent neighborhood takes its toll. Neighborhoods do not experience safety evenly. And yet, MOST people in those neighborhoods are law abiding. They deserve to be safe from the very few knuckleheads causing the real problems.