Good Samaritan Killed in Apparent Drive-By Shooting in Detroit

[Zacha341]

I wonder if the 'no snitchin' policy will be enforced here...?

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news...it-20111013-ms

[kraig]

It depends on what your definition of snitching is. The story didn't say if he knew the person that asked for the ride. If he did know the person, hopefully, the brother may have enough information to help the police find that person and try to sort things out.

If he didn't know this person, then it was just plain foolish to give a stranger a ride.

[animatedmartian]

Maybe one of his past addictions came back to haunt him. They don't say anything worse than painkillers, but the details of his death make it look like it was planned. Then again, it could have just been a bad hunch and was a random act of violence. Hard to say without an in-depth look into the guy's life.

[SWMAP]

So really odd that the shooter shot in to the wrong side of the vehicle? How else the driver shot several times and the [[targeted?) passenger only grazed?

Also resembles the scenario in the YouTube videos posted here last week about the Macomb County kid who gave a ride to the lower east side to another kid and was killed in a gang initiation.

[DetroitPole]

Okay...I typically count myself out of the blame-the-victim and All-cities-have-crime camp, but doesn't this raise a few eyebrows? Addiction, hanging out in the 'hood, giving seemingly random people rides...it's not like this guy was on his way to church or the Y.

[Zacha341]

No, I meant in relation to who knows the shooter, or who MAY have observed the shooting!

It depends on what your definition of snitching is. The story didn't say if he knew the person that asked for the ride. If he did know the person, hopefully, the brother may have enough information to help the police find that person and try to sort things out.

If he didn't know this person, then it was just plain foolish to give a stranger a ride.

[Danny]

A drive by shooting in the ghetto! That guy must have knew the prep from his drug years.

[j to the jeremy]

if he was black, and had a drug record, would Fox 2 EVER call him a good samaritan? [[especially if he was a young musician)

[Johnnny5]

Another day, another murder. Not unexpectedly lots of people here insinuating that the victim is somehow responsible instead of the POS that pulled the trigger. Pathetic....

[Detroit Stylin]

if he was black, and had a drug record, would Fox 2 EVER call him a good samaritan? [[especially if he was a young musician)

Why no.....they would not have....

[Zacha341]

Hmmmn, I think the story would have run similarly, but more readily forgotten - just another bad day in de' hood. Sadly.

Why no.....they would not have....

[kraig]

No, I meant in relation to who knows the shooter, or who MAY have observed the shooting!

There's a difference between being a "snitch" and being a "witness". If you're pretty much a law abiding citizen and you just happen to see a crime taking place, you're a witness. But if you're pretty much a law breaking citizen that will tell law enforcement anything they need you to tell them, regardless of whether it's true or not, in order to gain leniency for crimes that you have committed yourself, you're a snitch.

So it may not only depend on if someone saw the shooting, it may depend on what reason would bring that person forward.

[Zacha341]

I hear you, perhaps we are saying the same thing... and I understand the common use of the word 'snitch', however I am using as it is expressed [[and what it is means in that context) in the 'streets' ala 'no snitichin'. What a specific witness does or DOES not do doesn't necessarily have to do with the broader, understood code of silence -- the kind that we see again and again -- that's the 'no snitchin' I am stating.

The kind of silence where witnesse[[s) may even know the party involved and say and do nothing. 'No snitchin'! That is part of the reason for so much crime and criminal spin-offs. Now let some reward come forth and some times the code of 'no snitchin' is set aside for fiscal motivation.

And to give those who keep quiet their due of understanding, indeed some may fear for their lives should they come forth. That speaks to how violence has impacted people at a very personal level. Perhaps people have too many skeletons that even leniency for their own stuff is not a motivator to speak up. So let the games of crime continue I suppose.....

There's a difference between being a "snitch" and being a "witness". If you're pretty much a law abiding citizen and you just happen to see a crime taking place, you're a witness. But if you're pretty much a law breaking citizen that will tell law enforcement anything they need you to tell them, regardless of whether it's true or not, in order to gain leniency for crimes that you have committed yourself, you're a snitch.

So it may not only depend on if someone saw the shooting, it may depend on what reason would bring that person forward.

[hamtown mike]

I'm not sure who's familiar with that stretch of Holbrook, but it gets pretty rough. There is a very sketchy ass apartment building less than a block away from Brush and Holbrook as well as some pretty large squatter pads. This is a very very transient area for those choosing to remain under the radar. A friend lives near by and his home has been broken into on a number of occasions.

[Neilr]

I'm not sure who's familiar with that stretch of Holbrook, but it gets pretty rough. There is a very sketchy ass apartment building less than a block away from Brush and Holbrook as well as some pretty large squatter pads. This is a very very transient area for those choosing to remain under the radar. A friend lives near by and his home has been broken into on a number of occasions.

Yes, Holbrook Street [[and the surrounding area) has certainly slipped since the 1950s when the Pelham family lived here:

and the construction of this house was written up and pictured in one of the national architecture journals: