April 07, 2009
Looking to “get some things out of the way before the night gets super busy,” Richmond police this morning taped off a single block in the city’s East End, the site of this evening’s double homicide at 26th and U streets.
“We’re big procrastinators, and generally when something like a murder happens, we make it to the crime scene too late and we gotta ‘play catchup,’ and put up all this yellow tape and keep the media at ba
y and stuff like that,” said Richmond Police spokesman Carla M. Schrieber. “This time, though, we’ve planned for it ahead of time, with the scene already cordoned off and at least seven units present when a young couple is gunned down at 11:32 p.m on their way out a nearby apartment complex amid a drug deal gone bad.”
“We should have made this foresight a best practice all along,” she added.
Already, reporters were lining up to get the first photos of the homicide, an event that will run “above the fold” on the front page of tomorrow’s newspaper, and consume the top story for the next three days on all major television news stations, Schrieber said. The suspect – who will use a blowback-operated Tec-9 semi-automatic 9x19mm Parabellum handgun – will later receive eight years in prison for what will be a downgraded sentence of involuntary manslaughter, she noted. The shooting will also immediately set off a media firestorm about how criminals come to possess such high-caliber firearms.
The preemptive crime-scene taping-off is just the latest upgrade to the police department’s time management skills. In December, the department instituted a campaign whereby those who are pulled over for possible DUI infractions are asked to ”be honest” when questioned by officers as to whether they have been drinking. So far, the program has been a rousing success, Schrieber said, with 100 percent of drunken drivers claiming to have “only had two” then continuing on their way.
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Guy Who Lives Above 3 Monkeys Tired Of Asking Everyone To Keep It Down
Nick Cavalieri, who has lived in the apartment directly above 3 Monkeys Bar and Grill since November, is getting "more than fed up" with having to continuously tell his neighbors to be quiet, the 30-year-old said today.
"Monday through Sunday, I hear those guys partying pretty much every night," Cavalieri said. The University ...
In reality, crime is down (again) in the East End & we are way down homicides and street robberies.
It sure has been a long time since a baby got hit
with a stray bullet. What’s this town coming to?
There’s a steep learning curve when getting minority report procedures off the ground.