Carjacking, gunshots close Seaholm High School in Birmingham

**mark.vandorn** · November-12-13, 10:44 AM

http://www.freep.com/article/2013111...ots-birmingham

Wow.

Edit: My title was edited by the website owner. Apparently the facetious, yet entirely plausible "A Hundred Families In Birmingham Are Calling Real Estate Agents Today..." offended too many of you "tough" Detroiters.

Edit to your edit: Facetious nor not, thread titles must describe what the topic of discussion is about or they will be amended.

**bailey** · November-12-13, 10:46 AM

Clearly Birmingham is in a steep decline.

**Scottathew** · November-12-13, 10:53 AM

Imagine if a carjacking in Detroit always got the same kind of police response.

**artds** · November-12-13, 11:20 AM

Birmingham tries to do its best Detroit impression a few times each year.

**wazootyman** · November-12-13, 11:30 AM

Just stop.

Nonsense threads like this are making this forum practically unreadable anymore. With no offense to proprietor Lowell, the quality of the posted content on this board has really gone downhill.

**mark.vandorn** · November-12-13, 11:54 AM

Originally Posted by wazootyman

Just stop.

Nonsense threads like this are making this forum practically unreadable anymore. With no offense to proprietor Lowell, the quality of the posted content on this board has really gone downhill.

So you'd prefer a phony website full of sunshine and lollipops? Detroit is real. Detroit is authentic. Yet, when faced with the very real realities of the region, you'd like them suppressed?

Today a 1,000 families in one of the areas toniest enclaves have their kids home from school after two armed men robbed and fired their gun on the high school's campus today. One perp still on the loose. THAT IS INSANE. For you to want to silence or downplay this illustrates just how numb you are to the violent crime in the region.

**Detroitnerd** · November-12-13, 12:03 PM

Originally Posted by mark.vandorn

So you'd prefer a phony website full of sunshine and lollipops? Detroit is real. Detroit is authentic. Yet, when faced with the very real realities of the region, you'd like them suppressed?

Today a 1,000 families in one of the areas toniest enclaves have their kids home from school after two armed men robbed and fired their gun on the high school's campus today. One perp still on the loose. THAT IS INSANE. For you to want to silence or downplay this illustrates just how numb you are to the violent crime in the region.

And is the thread title cheeky? Yeah, sure. But isn't that how we traditionally deal with such problems as crime and blight? As metro Detroiters, we just move away. So it's cheeky but absolutely fair game to say.

**mark.vandorn** · November-12-13, 12:08 PM

Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

And is the thread title cheeky? Yeah, sure. But isn't that how we traditionally deal with such problems as crime and blight? As metro Detroiters, we just move away. So it's cheeky but absolutely fair game to say.

Cheeky title? Guilty. Humor can help cope with the constant frustration. With that said, would I be surprised if literally over a 100 B'ham families have a very real discussion about moving today? Not in the slightest.

**DetroitPlanner** · November-12-13, 12:26 PM

One of the biggest issues that many elite suburbs have is that Detroit has been 'picked over' and anyone with any money has either left or has gathered the wagons in very small areas. This now has made areas that were once untouchable by crime a target.

This could be a tipping point. Public safety and blight avoidance could be one of the areas where some sort of regional revenue sharing could help solve the issues of all concerned parties.

**nain rouge** · November-12-13, 12:33 PM

Should've built those office buildings in Fowlerville instead of on Old Woodward.

**rb336** · November-12-13, 12:52 PM

Eh. It's Seaholm. We always expected crap there

**Gistok** · November-12-13, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by mark.vandorn

So you'd prefer a phony website full of sunshine and lollipops? Detroit is real. Detroit is authentic. Yet, when faced with the very real realities of the region, you'd like them suppressed?

Today a 1,000 families in one of the areas toniest enclaves have their kids home from school after two armed men robbed and fired their gun on the high school's campus today. One perp still on the loose. THAT IS INSANE. For you to want to silence or downplay this illustrates just how numb you are to the violent crime in the region.

No, what is insane is that a newbie comes onto this forum with 5PM Newscast Sensationalistic Thread Titles and screams the sky is falling...

Your silly thread title might have read "1000 Metro Detroit Maintenance Workers Seek New State for School Maintenance Jobs"... or maybe "Metro Detroit Teachers seek Sunbelt for Safety!"

It was at 4:30AM in the night... and the perpetraters weren't even IN the school.

**A2Mike** · November-12-13, 01:19 PM

They go to Birmingham to steal cars and end up with a Mercury Marquis? What zhlubs!

**DetroitPlanner** · November-12-13, 01:20 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

It was at 4:30AM in the night... and the perpetraters weren't even IN the school.

Exactly. These perps look for opportunity. During the day hours there are always lots of young men around who are looking to beat someone's ass. That is how high school works. They would not try to pull this at this location when there are actual people around who will fight back. Petty crooks are lazy by nature.

What does surprise me about this incident is that these folks consider a maintenance man to be a target. He probably did not have much money on him, nor was he probably driving a nice car. I guess this shows to what levels criminals will go to in order to get something. I would not consider this to be worth the risk, but what do I know? I respect people [[for the most part).

This is the reason why they also target people who are old or alone. E-Z pickin's!

**DetroitPlanner** · November-12-13, 01:24 PM

Originally Posted by A2Mike

They go to Birmingham to steal cars and end up with a Mercury Marquis? What zhlubs!

If the other choice was walking back to the East Side, an old man car looks pretty good.

If what they wanted it for was to haul away from a bigger heist, I would want something with a big V-8 too. Not all Mustangs or Camaros have this much horsepower, might have to steal 4-5 of them before you get one with a big V-8!

**stinkytofu** · November-12-13, 01:30 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

If the other choice was walking back to the East Side, an old man car looks pretty good.

If what they wanted it for was to haul away from a bigger heist, I would want something with a big V-8 too. Not all Mustangs or Camaros have this much horsepower, might have to steal 4-5 of them before you get one with a big V-8!

This sounds random, but any possibility they were intentionally targeting the employee? Seaholm isn't next to downtown Birmingham or anything...it's in the middle of a residential area. Just a weird spot for this to occur or for the suspects to be hanging out.

**noise** · November-12-13, 01:30 PM

Originally Posted by mark.vandorn

So you'd prefer a phony website full of sunshine and lollipops? Detroit is real. Detroit is authentic. Yet, when faced with the very real realities of the region, you'd like them suppressed?

Today a 1,000 families in one of the areas toniest enclaves have their kids home from school after two armed men robbed and fired their gun on the high school's campus today. One perp still on the loose. THAT IS INSANE. For you to want to silence or downplay this illustrates just how numb you are to the violent crime in the region.

You missed the point. He was referring to the quality of your post.

**stinkytofu** · November-12-13, 01:31 PM

By the way...I went to Seaholm and this will rightfully rattle nerves in the community. The bank about a mile away [[Maple/Chesterfield) had an armed robbery this summer as well and crime been slowly creeping up. My folks live within half a mile of the school...it'll be interesting to hear what they say the buzz in the community is.

**royce** · November-12-13, 02:17 PM

I hate sensational thread titles because they are misleading. Stating the facts of the story and putting them in the title would be more truthful. At any rate, this event is disturbing on many levels. First, where were these guys hiding out before they approached the maintenance man? Had they cased the school before and new his routine? Were they dropped off by a third accomplice? Did they previously attend the school and knew when the maintenance man would show up? Were they just driving by and saw the maintenance man pull up in a totally empty lot and made this a crime of opportunity? Finally, did the perps see the car and determine it would be a good getaway car for a more lucrative heist? Many questions and a reason to be concerned if I was a Birmingham resident. As someone mentioned earlier, Detroit has been "picked clean." Birmingham and all other suburbs are going to have to beef up security. Crime is no longer contained to Detroit.

**jt1** · November-12-13, 02:41 PM

Originally Posted by royce

Detroit has been "picked clean." Birmingham and all other suburbs are going to have to beef up security. Crime is no longer contained to Detroit.

Crime was never contained just to Detroit no matter how much people want to convince themselves of it. But that statement just summed up the ridiculous mentality of the region.

**DetroitPlanner** · November-12-13, 02:58 PM

Originally Posted by jt1

Crime was never contained just to Detroit no matter how much people want to convince themselves of it. But that statement just summed up the ridiculous mentality of the region.

There is truth here in what Royce has said about Detroit being 'picked clean'. Anyone who has any money has been pushed out by crime or has circled the wagons in Fantasy Islands such as Downtown, Palmer Woods, or are in gated communities. No sense robbing someone who is broke, you won't get much. Your assumption is that criminals are really stupid. Most are not stupid, just very lazy. I unfortunately have lived with this element my entire life.

**bailey** · November-12-13, 03:08 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

No sense robbing someone who is broke, you won't get much.

True... but why the hell do you rob the janitor of his pocket change and a late model Mercury Marquis? I mean if you're going to go to the trouble of committing a felony in a suburb that will dedicate serious resources to find you.... shouldn't you at least aim a little higher?

I wonder if this was some sort of gang initiation/hazing?

**DetroitPlanner** · November-12-13, 03:28 PM

Originally Posted by bailey

True... but why the hell do you rob the janitor of his pocket change and a late model Mercury Marquis? I mean if you're going to go to the trouble of committing a felony in a suburb that will dedicate serious resources to find you.... shouldn't you at least aim a little higher?

I wonder if this was some sort of gang initiation/hazing?

As I stated earlier, if you don't have a car then it is better than walking. OR if you need a big powerful V-8 for another heist then steal a car that you know has a V-8, not all Mustangs or Camaros have these. Next to a poor man without a job, even a janitor looks rich, particular one you can prey on when they are alone.

**stinkytofu** · November-12-13, 03:41 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

As I stated earlier, if you don't have a car then it is better than walking.

Understand this point, but - as I stated earlier - this is such an odd place to just wind up at five in the morning without a car. I really want to hear the motive for this.

**bailey** · November-12-13, 03:42 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

As I stated earlier, if you don't have a car then it is better than walking. OR if you need a big powerful V-8 for another heist then steal a car that you know has a V-8, not all Mustangs or Camaros have these. Next to a poor man without a job, even a janitor looks rich, particular one you can prey on when they are alone.

If you don't have a car and need to rob somone of it...do you go to a suburban highschool to rob one from a janitor? I mean were they casing Seaholm High School for a few days to monitor which employees arrived early in the morning and drove late model, Detroit V-8s?

Doesnt this whole situation seem like there must be something more to this story? just look at the location of the school. doesn't it strike anyone as odd that it would be targeted at all? I'm surprised they made it to I75.