A lottery winner killed the Detroit landlord from Australia...

[jackie5275]

I'm wondering if/when Mayor Bing will make an appearance and condemn this. I imagine right now the media in Australia is spreading this with the swiftness, so anyone even thinking of coming from Australia to the wild, wild Detroit frontier is thinking otherwise. As English said earlier, one bad press clipping will far, far outweigh a slew of good press. And Detroit isn't getting much good press right now, AT ALL. Bing should come out and say this type of senseless slaughter of neighborhood building is one of the core reasons for his Detroit Works initiative. Seriously, this type of rampant disrespect of human life needs to be evicted from Detroit, or else really the only majority left will be that disrespect, with people like those who haunt this forum will be the minority getting culled.

Bing's not going to say anything about this. I don't even think it's on his radar. He's too busy worrying about an EFM taking over.

[jbd441]

I have to firmly disagree that this man's murder is anywhere near the most compelling reason that people avoid Detroit. Immigrants get murdered quite frequently in NYC, LA, Miami, and other cities with large foreign born populations.

I don't want to come off as sounding callous because a man did lose his life, but it is what it is. Just last month two British tourists were murdered in Sarasota, Florida.

Don't think for one minute that City and County fathers in Sarasota tried very hard to hush this double murder up. And don't think this incident isn't going to have a negative effect on their tourist industry. Triple whammy for them as there are 3 things going against the city's/county's image. 1. The area is in the process of being revitialized. 2. The evil idiot who shot them was just released from shooting at occupied cars. 3. The incident made headline news all over the UK plus Europe and from reading Detroit Yes, the nation as well including Canada. The area had an estimated 47k visitors from the UK last year and that number will definitely be less in the coming years. Relatives of these two men also wrote letters that were published in the local newspaper.
The difference between these two murders is the perp in Detroit had no previous criminal background... the kid in Sarasota did [[17 years old). The Austrailian was a landlord trying to collect rent. The 2 British tourists were obviously buying drugs and/ or hookers and had no business in that section of town at that time of night.

[hamtown mike]

Hopefully the widow is able to follow through with her statement:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/au...516-1ep6q.html

Wow! Keep an eye out. I'd toss on the coveralls and work gloves to help out.

[Richard]

The 2 British tourists were obviously buying drugs and/ or hookers and had no business in that section of town at that time of night.

No, they received directions to go to the Ihop they turned right instead of left it took two blocks in the wrong direction for the end result,most of the tourist killings were because of ending up in the wrong area by mistake or back in the day rental cars had a specific license plate making them easy targets which has been corrected.

Tunisia,Cuba,Brazil among others are popular tourist designations for Europeans so they are no strangers to the dangers involved of overseas travel so the impact is minimal.

As others have posted the difference in this case is the circumstances surrounding but on the other hand anybody that buys and invests and lives in regen areas are well aware of the dangers involved no matter what city and state or country it is in, so while tragic and senseless it is par to the course.How it is handled is the outcome of scaring future investors off. Imho

[stasu1213]

You know, race may have been a factor. And if this is true, this so-and-so ought to be prosecuted for a hate crime/murder... the law should show no favoritism.

And I know that one aspect of why this sickens me is because Greg was a guest in our city. It's not rational because good people get mugged, hurt and killed in the city [[and the country) every year. But here is a guy from overseas who heard about the city of Detroit, saw opportunity, and seemed to genuinely care about his tenants. Even in spite of everything, he wanted to invest here, and not in the hip and trendy 'hoods, either. We need thousands of immigrants like this -- but thanks to this mf-er, who else will want to come? Who would ever take that chance? Not many from Australia, I'd be willing to bet.

If this was racially motivated, I hope the full arm of the law falls on him. I hope he reaps EVERYTHING he has sown. And I hope that the arc of the moral universe gives his daughter whiplash.

It would be best not to try to coin this a Hate Crime unless he had used a racial slur while shooting the landlord. Charge him with !st degree murder and his daughter with accesory to murder. Her cell phone should be apprehended to if it is not already. That will show it any calls were made to her father to come and kill the landlord. You could get her with conspiracy and accesory

[canuck]

The bolded is true. I really hope this changes, but incidents like this throw us right back into the same "Murder Capital" stereotypes.

What hurts is that if this idiot hadn't killed this guy, in a couple of years, this WOULD have been a story that could have helped to change the perceptions of Detroit. What Greg was doing was bridging cultural, racial, national, and perhaps even socioeconomic differences. It's clear that his tenants and neighbors liked him and believed he was the real deal. Interracial cooperation and amity is super fragile in this region; I guess I'm so angry because people like this on both sides destroy everything that others work so hard to build.

This event certainly struck me the same way the little girl who was shot by the police in a 48hrs stakeout last year. The same sort of insanity where the father had been an accomplice to a gratuitous homicide the previous weekend. The same ghetto mouse wheel, the same sad self-destructive impulse. That is the not the only thing that sets apart Detroit from other places that have a hardcore crime problem, but added to the rest of the mix, it sure makes it unwelcoming to outsiders. That story would make someone like Greg think twice about do-gooding in the D, and the chance he might end up on a stainless steel table, for nothing...

[JTistle1]

I think i need to get better at projecting the sarcasm

We need a sarcasm font!

[Jimaz]

We need a sarcasm font!

In "Go Advanced" mode you get smiley faces, one of which is labeled "Roll Eyes [[Sarcastic)."

That's not really adequate IMHO because there are many other reasons to roll your eyes besides sarcasm but there you have it.

The forum software available these days has become soooooo expressive!

[bartock]

It would be best not to try to coin this a Hate Crime unless he had used a racial slur while shooting the landlord. Charge him with !st degree murder and his daughter with accesory to murder. Her cell phone should be apprehended to if it is not already. That will show it any calls were made to her father to come and kill the landlord. You could get her with conspiracy and accesory

Racial slur would not qualify as a hate crime in this situation, so that is irrelevant. According to current interpretation of Michigan law, it doesn't matter if you a younger, blue-eyed, blond haired male apartment owner, or a dark haired, man-ish, middle-aged woman; if you are white, you are not the victim of a hate crime.

I do think being Australian would allow for prosecution under the hate crime law. And I don't believe calling him names are a pre-requisite for prosecution.

[jbd441]

No, they received directions to go to the Ihop they turned right instead of left it took two blocks in the wrong direction for the end result,most of the tourist killings were because of ending up in the wrong area by mistake or back in the day rental cars had a specific license plate making them easy targets which has been corrected.

Tunisia,Cuba,Brazil among others are popular tourist designations for Europeans so they are no strangers to the dangers involved of overseas travel so the impact is minimal.

As others have posted the difference in this case is the circumstances surrounding but on the other hand anybody that buys and invests and lives in regen areas are well aware of the dangers involved no matter what city and state or country it is in, so while tragic and senseless it is par to the course.How it is handled is the outcome of scaring future investors off. Imho

No, yours is one theory, the one I posted is another. Fla rental cars have never had specific license tags. The decal expiration month is still June however the county designation has been removed and replaced by "Sunshine State".

No doubt the landlord killing in Detroit will have some negative impact on the city's image, you'd better believe the tourists murdered in Sarasota will have a huge impact on the city/county's image also.

[Richard]

Fla rental cars have never had specific license tags. The decal expiration month is still June however the county designation has been removed and replaced by "Sunshine State".

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., April 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Alamo Rent A Car announced today that it has received authorization from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles that will enable Florida's car rental firms to proceed immediately today with a full- scale changeover from "Y" to "Z" lease-designated license plates to so- called generic plate that do not specifically identify these cars as rental cars.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/ALAMO+......-a013136315

Back then you knew two things when you saw a car with a Z or Y in the first of the letters on the plate 1 it was a rental car and 2 there would be lots of cash involved as many were buying electronics to bring back overseas and would be carrying 25k to 30k at a time. easy targets.

But its neither here nor there I guess.

I believe what has a huge impact is a headline that reads 150 murders go unresolved per year verses tourist killed and killer caught three days later. What kills tourism is a perception of lawlessness.
NYC does not seem to be lacking in tourism and it does not have a stellar crime free past ,just like Miami etc.etc. but yes it is just my humble opinion and being around them for 30 some odd years.

Not to get away from the OP's original subject : )

[stasu1213]

Racial slur would not qualify as a hate crime in this situation, so that is irrelevant. According to current interpretation of Michigan law, it doesn't matter if you a younger, blue-eyed, blond haired male apartment owner, or a dark haired, man-ish, middle-aged woman; if you are white, you are not the victim of a hate crime.

I do think being Australian would allow for prosecution under the hate crime law. And I don't believe calling him names are a pre-requisite for prosecution.

I disagree. If a group of men jump on one black man without calling him a name that is assault and battery. If the same group of men say "I hate you n@@er and all n@@er then a hate crime as well as assualt and battery had been committed. I was just saying that a person would have to have all of the ts crossed and i's dotted before saying that it was a hate crime. It was a senseless crime done by a man who doesn't uses his brains often

[stasu1213]

Detroit has sunken to the same level of a third world lawless country with all of it's senseless crimes and hardly no police protection

[Zacha341]

I wonder how the defense of his actions will be handled by a lawyer.... Insanity plea?

I disagree. If a group of men jump on one black man without calling him a name that is assault and battery. If the same group of men say "I hate you n@@er and all n@@er then a hate crime as well as assualt and battery had been committed. I was just saying that a person would have to have all of the ts crossed and i's dotted before saying that it was a hate crime. It was a senseless crime done by a man who doesn't uses his brains often

[Dent]

This could only be a race crime if the landlord shot the black man, never the other way around. Black people are not capable of racism.

[English]

This could only be a race crime if the landlord shot the black man, never the other way around. Black people are not capable of racism.

I do believe that there have been black people who have killed white people just because they were white. Whether that's called racism, prejudice, or hate, it's just a matter of semantics.

One thing that we can agree on is that human beings are capable of hatred and great evil. This Young guy is amoral and evil.

[maxx]

A lottery winner? THen he can pay for his own incarceration.

[JohnnyFreddy]

You're absolutely right. The victim would have to have been black and the shooter white to make it racist.

...I don't know if this incident was racist, although I've lived in Detroit long enough
to believe it probably was [[be honest), but, I've been in landlord/tenant situations
quite a few times in the past [[and recently) and I can tell you, when anger flares,
and words start flying, people on both sides of the equation usually start in with
the racial slurs, and stereotyping. Unfortunate, but true.
I think in the heat of the moment, we ALL choose to find something/anything we
can use against the other party, to hurt them...to shove it up their ass [[you know?)
The fact that the current laws in this town make it so damned hard/expensive/time consuming to evict 'dead beat' tenants, is exasperating....and makes this story
THAT MUCH MORE TRAGIC. It sounds like this guy had a good thing going,
and some people get jealous when confronted with successful entities.
I hope this woman truly/fully realizes what lives she and her father have destroyed
with their pettiness and stupidity. Surely he must face the cold, hard hand of justice on this one, and pay for his selfish deed.
But let's also learn a lesson, all of us. Words are a very powerful tool, and should be treated as such. What we say can affect people in very strong ways.
Perhaps someday, we will choose to rationalize our thoughts/words/actions
to the degree of the dispute, and not raise the bar quite so high as to not be able
to......react...so irrationally. One can only hope.
Yes, sue for killer' winnings. Kick daughter out...period.

[canuck]

Just thought about this one... I hope this guy didnt think he could buy himself out of a murder accusation just because he had the dough to get out of it. Just a thought.

[firstandten]

Just thought about this one... I hope this guy didnt think he could buy himself out of a murder accusation just because he had the dough to get out of it. Just a thought.

Naw, too high profile, if it was a run of the mill murder, maybe

[SWMAP]

The most curious thing happened today as to this murder. yesterday evening, the Detroit news had an article online by reporter Doug Guthrie that described proceedings in court yesterday when Young was remanded to trial. Guthrie had lots of quotes [[admittedly infamatory) from witnesses called to testify. For example, a witness testified that a grandaughter of Young's said directly that Freddie Young was bringing his gun, because "We're sick of you White people."

This and most of the earlier reporting has disappeared from the article currently posted and in the print edition. Only a few paragraphs remain.

[Zacha341]

Ok... That is curious. The disappearance of the item from the print issue that is.... I've seen things vanish from news web sites on many occasions.

...a witness testified that a grandaughter of Young's said directly that Freddie Young was bringing his gun, because "We're sick of you White people."

This and most of the earlier reporting has disappeared from the article currently posted and in the print edition. Only a few paragraphs remain.

[coracle]

[QUOTE=SWMAP;247803]....a witness testified that a grandaughter of Young's said directly that Freddie Young was bringing his gun, because "We're sick of you White people."
I wonder if

[canuck]

I wonder what "I wonder if" means.

[fryar]

I wonder if coracle is illustrating a very important point about the censorship of controversial statements over at the news, a "my silence speaks volumes" sort of thing.