Gun Weilding Neighbors Emboldened By Make My Day Laws Where will this craziness end? Here we have a 61 year old man and his 57 year old wife (bakery owners) changing the locks on their property, when two gun toting miscreants trespass on their property and threaten to shoot them: The Newton County Sheriff’s Office is investigating why a couple was confronted at gunpoint by neighbors and then arrested and forced to spend the night in jail when they tried to move into the home they had just purchased, Channel 2 Action News reported. The Kalonji family had just closed on a foreclosed home and were told by their real estate agent they should go over to the house and change the locks. But when Jean Kalonji and his wife, Angelica, started working at the home, an armed man and another person who appeared to be the man’s son allegedly confronted them. “He say to put the hands up and get out from the house, otherwise he would shoot us,” the husband told Channel 2. The neighbors didn’t believe the couple when they told them they had bought the home and called the Newton County Sheriff’s Office. The Kalonjis didn’t have the closing papers with them, so deputies arrested them, charged them with loitering and prowling and took them to jail. Yvette Harris, the couple’s real estate agent, said they never should have been arrested. “They rightfully own this house,” Harris said. Kalonji, who grew up in the Congo, said the experience brought back painful memories. “There, they put me down with the gun to my head, and come here, the same,” he said. Mark Mitchell, spokesman for the Newton Sheriff’s Office, said authorities are “looking into it, exactly what occurred, why it occurred.” A person at the neighbors’ house said no one wanted
The beginning of what, exactly? Also, when you make a post and include the contents of an online article, you can press that button labeled "link" above the text entry field and actually provide a link to the article.
People protecting their neighborhoods!!! Excellent keeping squatters out of the area, good thing that they started doing that in your neighborhood Satch!!!!
Is this the beginning? Nope, there have been bad guy since the start of time. Thankfully the good guys can protect themselves now.
I don't know Satch. Thanks to the irresponsible race-mongering by you and your ilk, are stories like this just the beginning too?
Stupid people amaze me. All the wannabe cops out there are scarier than the criminals. A joker who thinks they are in the right is very dangerous
I agree, Satchel. The 15-18year old male that held my co-worker's father at gunpoint, execution-style, on his own property, before dark, while unloading his groceries this past Sunday had some kind of nerve to just waltz up and trespass on his property, and start threatening to kill him unless he handed over the keys to his 5-series. That poor thug was just minding his own business, and the homeowner up and completely kept to himself, right up to the point where the robbery was committed. It's a shame that crime has become so rampant in some communities that residents feel that the only way to keep from feeling completely helpless is to take the law into their own hands. Those postulating that this Keystone-cop mentality is the norm are wrong, though. Ever-rising UCR stats show otherwise.
Those bloodthirsty hillbillies could have killed somebody. Thank God that bakery owner didn't talk back.
Neighbors arming themselves to patrol the neighborhood is really scary business. What if the bakery owner and his wife had been armed and shot first. Would we all be delighted that a well-meaning but misguided neighbor bled to death in their front yard? There's time to take law into your own hands and a time to call the police. Certainly this was a time when calling the police would have been a helluva lot smarter. The sad thing in all this is when Neighborhood Watch, a really terrific concept, get's it publicity from rouge actors packing weapons and acting as neighborhood vigilante. All the Neighborhood Watch groups I've ever known don't want folks arming themselves. The advise is to avoid confrontations with suspects. Their training calls on them to observe, report and stay out of a confrontation.
I would suggest this, if you are going into a neighborhood where you are not known, walk lightly, don't be suspicious and introduce yourselves to the people walking by and looking at you. In our neighborhood, there is a house that was repo'ed a couple years ago, a crew came in with an appliances sticker on the truck and stole all the appliances out of the house. Stove, Refrigerator, Freezer, AC Unit, HVAC, Water Heater, microwave, ceiling fans, garage door opener and almost all the fixtures that were in the house. Be very careful in my neighborhood is all I have to say......
Perhaps you can explain how one goes about not being suspicious?Your thoughts could serve as a primer for the NYCPD.
Major -- You live in a community where there is so little crime that the cops go around closing garage doors for people who accidentially leave them open. If you're willing to take a gun and confront suspicious characters in the street when you could have a cop there in the space of 3-4 minutes you need psychiatric help for unresolved anger issues. If you are uneasy, meet the cops who patrol your neighborhood and put their cell phone on speeddial. It's just crazy to put your own life in danger, not to mention some smart-*** who may be walkiing through your neighborhood and be unwilling to humble themselves for a civilian who acts like he owns the neighborhood.
