Latest news with #eviction
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Landlord shot and killed while trying to evict tenant, police say
A landlord has been shot and killed while trying to evict a tenant from his Las Vegas home, according to police. Christopher Rainy, 36, was arrested on Thursday after police responded to a report of a man who'd been shot inside a home in the northwest valley. When cops arrived, they found a man with multiple gunshot wounds, Fox5 Vegas reported, citing police. The man was found dead on the kitchen floor. Before the landlord was shot, he had served Rainey with an eviction notice, according to police. 'This upset Rainey, and after a brief verbal exchange, he shot the victim several times,' the police press release read. Police say Rainey, who was armed with a gun, later exited the home, and was taken into custody. Investigators say the man who was shot and killed was Rainey's landlord. Fox5 Vegas reports four people lived in the home, including the landlord. Local resident, Keith Kramer, said he was shocked by the shooting. 'I walk my dog every night. I don't have any problems at all. I was surprised to see the lights myself,' he told KLAS, referring to the police cars. The local outlet also spoke with a roommate who was not inside the home during the shooting, who said he didn't know what to make of the incident. Rainey is being held in a local jail.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Landlord Was Allegedly Shot and Killed by His Tenant After Trying to Evict Him: 'He Didn't Deserve to Die Like This'
A Las Vegas man has been arrested and charged after he allegedly shot and killed his landlord, who was also reportedly his roommate Christopher Rainey, 36, allegedly shot the victim in their shared home on Thursday, May 29, after being served an eviction notice, according to police A third roommate in the household described Rainey as a "creepy, sneaky, son of a b----"A Las Vegas man has been charged after he allegedly shot and killed his landlord. Officers responded to reports of a shooting in the 3600 block of North Campbell Road on the afternoon of Thursday, May 29, per a press release issued by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD). Police said they entered the residence and discovered a man 'suffering from apparent gunshot wounds' on the floor. Medics were called, and the man was pronounced dead at the scene, per the release. Police said that one of the members of the household, who was later identified as Christopher Rainey, 36, was armed and taken into custody. They added that, per their investigation, the victim was Rainey's landlord and roommate, and he had served Rainey an eviction notice shortly before the fatal shooting occurred. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. "This upset Rainey, and after a brief verbal exchange, he shot the victim several times," the police said in their release. PEOPLE reached out to the LVMPD for comment on Saturday, May 31, but did not receive an immediate response. Rainey was arrested and booked into the Clark County Detention Center on charges of assault and murder with a deadly weapon, per Clark County public records. Fox affiliate KLAS reported that a total of four people were living in the residence, and one other person was home at the time of the incident. While the name of the victim has not yet been released, one of the other persons who lives in the home told the outlet that they had been friends with the victim for 15 years. 'He was my friend, and he didn't deserve to die like this,' the roommate said. 'He kept to himself,' the roommate continued, adding of the suspect, 'He was a creepy, sneaky, son of a b---- up there in his room.' Rainey's next scheduled court date is June 3, per Clark County public records. Read the original article on People
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Bitter dispute between Las Vegas landlord and tenant takes a dramatic turn
A Las Vegas man is now in custody after police say he shot his landlord dead in a fit of rage. Christopher Rainey, 36, allegedly fired multiple shots at his landlord on Thursday after he served Rainey with an eviction notice, said Lt. Robert Price of the Las Vegas Metro Police. has learned that the landlord's name was Steven Lucchesi. Lucchesi, 39, owned the house where the shooting took place, and he lived at the home with four other roommates, including Rainey. Lucchesi was found at around 5pm with multiple gunshots wounds on the kitchen floor of his home, which is located on the 3600 block of North Campbell Road, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported. Shortly after medical personnel arrived, Lucchesi was pronounced dead at the scene. One of the roommates at the home spoke off-camera with KSNV-TV, telling the outlet that Lucchesi put a paper eviction notice on Rainey's bedroom door. The roommate, who added that Rainey was at least two months behind on rent, said he saw the eviction notice crumpled up in the foyer. Suspecting there was an argument brewing, he decided to step outside. Thirty seconds later, he said he heard shouting and then three shots. A roommate also spoke with KLAS-TV, although its not clear if its the same roommate who talked to the other local outlet. That roommate said he was longtime friend of Lucchesi's and used lived with him in New York. 'He was my friend, and he didn't deserve to die like this,' he said. The roommate said Rainey was 'quiet' and 'kept to himself.' 'He was a creepy, sneaky son of b***h stockpiling bullets up in his room,' he said. 'He just lost his job and he didn't tell anybody about this s**t. He didn't tell anybody about it. He was behind on the rent, and [Lucchesi] just asked what was going on and he snapped.' Lucchesi, who was originally from Staten Island, moved to Las Vegas at some point and started a vitamin and supplement store called Discount Nutrition Shop. After the shooting, Rainey was arrested at the home without incident and remains in custody at the Clark County Detention Center. Rainey refused to show up for his scheduled court appearance on Friday. His next court date is on Tuesday.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Michael moved to a Uniting Church farmhouse in Brisbane to escape homelessness. Now his landlord is evicting him to build more houses
When Michael Guettler moved to Hungerford Farm, in Brisbane's north-west in 2022, he thought he was finally safe from homelessness. The home, at the centre of a 28-hectare former chicken run, is just an uninsulated 'four-bedroom shack', he says. At $280 a week it was all he and his partner could afford; they were without other options, so they were happy to stay. But on Monday, the Queensland civil and administrative tribunal signed off on an eviction notice for their landlord, the Uniting Church of Australia. Guettler believes they will be forced back into his car by the church's decision. He says despite the church billing itself as 'a strong advocate for social and affordable housing and ending homelessness', the decision was 'unchristian'. 'Where does Jesus fit into all of this?' he says. Guettler and his partner have been caught up in a fight over the historic lot at 76 Kooya Road, Mitchelton. The church plans to remove the house to make way for a 92-dwelling estate. Many locals oppose the scheme. If approved, it would mean the subdivision of the last of what were once many farms in Mitchelton. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Guettler claims he and his partner have been offered no alternative housing to the Mitchelton estate and cannot find anywhere on the private market they can afford on the disability support pension. This is a claim the Uniting church denies. 'The property managers operating on behalf of the Uniting Church have offered ongoing assistance with suitable alternative properties, rental applications and references, and the church has been offering ongoing social support,' a spokesperson for the church says. Brisbane's rental vacancy rates are near record lows at just 1%. The couple, meanwhile, have been on the social housing waiting list for about six years along with 47,818 other Queenslanders. 'We've got an application approved with the Department of Housing – which is as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike,' Guettler says. Development was the last thing on the mind of Greg Hungerford, the former owner of Hungerford Farm. His family had called 76 Kooya Road home since the 1920s as the suburb rapidly grew around them. Once just a scattered handful of semi-rural homes at Brisbane's north-west edge, the 1950s arrival of the car turned Mitchelton into one of Brisbane's fastest-growing suburbs. Unlike other landholders, the Hungerfords resisted selling, continuing to run their free-range poultry farm into the 70s, selling eggs to their increasingly numerous neighbours. Surrounded by suburbia on three sides and the Enoggera army barracks on the fourth, it remains untouched by development today. Curlews, bandicoots and even kangaroos continue to visit regularly. Greg Hungerford, who inherited the property, described it as 'like paradise in the city'. He died in 2015. In his will he directed his lawyers to sell the land to the Brisbane city council, that it 'be protected from commercial development, that its environmental and natural values be protected' and that it be converted into parkland 'for the benefit of the public in general'. The trustees were released from any obligation to obtain a fair market rate for the land; one of its few conditions of sale was that the park be named for his mother, Pearl. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion A spokesperson for Brisbane city council says it attempted to buy the site but 'sadly the executors of the will did not agree'. Instead, in 2020, it was sold to the Uniting Church of Australia property trust. The church reportedly considered converting the huge field into something like an aged care home but decided against doing so. In 2022, it submitted plans for a housing subdivision to Brisbane city council. Calling themselves 'Friends of Hungerford Farm', scores of neighbours wrote to the council to oppose the church development application. Many homes in the area display corflutes calling for a 'better deal for development at 76 Kooya Road' organised by the federal MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown. The Greens MP says the site lacks public and active transport access but is 'ideal for mixed-use development, maximising the benefit to the community'. A spokesperson from the Uniting Church in Australia's Queensland synod says 'the development application is now in its final stages'. 'The current situation highlights the overwhelming need for more affordable housing to be brought online as quickly as possible in Queensland.' As a tenant, rather than an owner, Guettler believes he has virtually no rights in the face of development. Brisbane's median rents for a house have increased from $461 to $752 since the beginning of the pandemic. The city passed Melbourne to become Australia's third-most expensive city and then Canberra to be second-most, both in 2024. Prices continue to increase, due to record-low development approvals. Guettler's tenancy will be terminated on 30 June, with a warrant of possession issued for 1 July. Guettler says he feels overwhelmed, anxious and stressed about returning to potentially being homeless. 'We're a first world developed country, it's really becoming so shameful,' he says.
CBC
4 days ago
- Health
- CBC
My family lived in a hotel for a year. I wish people understood homelessness isn't a choice
This First Person column is the experience of Terri Singer, who lives in Halifax. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ. There was a time not so very long ago when we were just your average Canadian family. A mom, a dad, three children. We rented a four-bedroom house in the cozy little town of Truro, N.S. We lived in that home for over four years and had a wonderful community of family and friends living nearby. I worked as a sales and events co-ordinator at a hotel. It was a job I loved and I looked forward to seeing my clients and colleagues every day. My husband had been a cook, but was let go from his job and was seeking mental health support with endless waitlists. We had been trying to save for a down payment on a home, but that became impossible on my single income. When we received our eviction notice in August 2023, my blood ran cold. I couldn't breathe. Our landlord had sold the property and the new owner intended to live in the space. As a result, in two short months, our home would no longer be ours. Two months is not nearly long enough to find a home during a housing crisis. Rental prices for listings often exceeded my income by at least $300 each month and many landlords were hesitant to rent to us, given that we had children and pets. Eviction day felt like a cruel joke Eventually, our time ran out. Our eviction day felt like a cruel joke. As we packed up our home, the cold finality washed over us as we remembered the years of memories we were leaving behind: our children's first words, first days of school, excited Christmas mornings and Easter egg hunts and so much more, never to be enjoyed in this space again. The laughter and joy that once filled each room were now replaced with the uncertainty of the future looming over us like a shadow. None of us could believe we were now homeless. We moved into a hotel that October. Imagine a family of five living out of one bedroom with two queen-sized beds, a 55-inch smart TV, a microwave, a mini fridge and a coffeemaker. We kept telling our children we would find something "soon," but each day it felt more and more like a lie. Two weeks after we became homeless, my five-year-old son broke down crying. "I just want a real home again," he told me with tears flooding his face. It broke my heart. We were doing absolutely everything in our power to give him and his siblings just that — a basic human right — and it felt impossible to do. Our grocery bill nearly tripled instantly. Without a kitchen, we couldn't make food easily and had to buy more expensive ready-made meals. There comes a point when even the most basic of meals, like salad or ramen noodles, lose their appeal. After four months of living in a hotel room, we made the difficult decision to relocate to Halifax, where we hoped we would find more resources, and moved in temporarily with extended family who offered to help. I had to make the heartbreaking decision to leave the job and colleagues I loved because I could not commute from Halifax to Truro. Living with family wasn't a long-term solution, and we often felt we were in the way of another's family space. So my husband and I frantically continued searching for a home. Twenty unanswered emails quickly become 200. There were so few rentals available and prices were far above what they had been before the pandemic. We called shelters daily until finally, we were provided a hotel room through a contract held by a shelter diversion program — truly a saving grace. We had a single room again, and some semblance of privacy, if not dignity and respect. A hotel room is not a home Even though we were grateful for the stability, a hotel room is not a home. It felt like a gilded prison of sorts, where we could see others come and go, knowing they had a home to return to. Eventually, the stress took a severe toll on my mental health, leading to a breakdown that required me to go on disability. The loss of our home, then my job and the compounded stress of our situation became too much to bear. There were many nights we would soothe the tears of our children, who felt shame and embarrassment about our situation, and we felt helpless to protect them from the stigma and judgment we all faced, simply from being homeless through no fault of our own. Facing homelessness also meant confronting societal stigma. We felt judged and looked down upon as if our homelessness was a result of personal failure rather than a systemic issue. Luckily for us, there was hope. After nearly a year in the hotel, we were offered the opportunity to move into supportive housing in January 2025. We have a four-bedroom apartment, allowing each of my three children privacy and stability, without feeling boxed in. They have space to roam, to play, to be kids. When we moved in, I let go of a breath I didn't know I was holding. The difference in my children since we moved in has been night and day. They have begun to thrive with the freedom, free from the shame and embarrassment of true homelessness. They no longer have to hide that they live in a hotel and all the questions that come with having a hotel for a home address. They have a place that feels like home. Reflecting on our journey, I've come to realize the importance of empathy and understanding. Housing is a human right, yet many are still without it. Homelessness is not a choice. You could do everything right and still have the rug pulled out from under you. While I still see and feel the effects of the trauma we all faced, I know that each day we will regain some of the hope we had lost. We are lucky; we never had to sleep outside and brave the sub-zero temperatures of a Canadian winter. We have the space to breathe again. WATCH | When landlords have a 'no kids' policy: Parents have little recourse if landlords won't rent to them 1 year ago Duration 2:02 In Halifax's tight housing market some landlords have implemented 'no kids' policies, leaving parents struggling to find a place to live and no recourse to get the rule overturned.
