Latest news with #neighborhoodsafety
CTV News
14-07-2025
- CTV News
Drug house in Mill Woods shut down after decade of disturbances
Alberta Sheriffs have closed down a house in Mill Woods after 10 years of complaints from neighbours about drug and criminal activity there. After 10 years of complaints from neighbours over drug and criminal activity, a house in Mill Woods has been closed by provincial sheriffs. The Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) unit of the Alberta Sheriffs received a court order to close the southeast Edmonton property at 6707 32 Ave. for 90 days. All people living in the home, including the property owner, were required to leave it under the order starting Thursday. The house has been boarded up and fenced off, and has had its locks changed. The moves to close down the house have neighbours feeling relieved and safer after enduring disturbances and property damage over the years. Pauline Wilson, who lives two doors down from the house, said people coming and going from the house would make a lot of noise, describing 'yelling and screaming over there.' She said once she and her neighbours petitioned the sheriffs and the City of Edmonton, officials moved quickly to shut it down in a month's time, Wilson said. Drug house Alberta Sheriffs have closed down a house in Mill Woods after 10 years of complaints from neighbours about drug and criminal activity there. (Miriam Valdes-Carletti/CTV News Edmonton) 'It's about time they started cracking down on these places,' she told CTV News Edmonton on Sunday. 'They're not good for a neighbourhood. They're not good for children. It makes the whole neighbourhood safer, and I'm really glad they're gone.' Pyol Awac, who lives across the street from the problem house for seven years, said he and his family dealt with damage to their vehicle by people associated with the house. They had to park their vehicle behind the house to avoid further damage, but now, his wife feels comfortable enough to park it in front of their house again. 'I'm safe now, better than before,' he told CTV News Edmonton. Since 2009, SCAN has investigated the property six times, twice resulting in orders temporarily closing the house and evicting people living there. Police had visited the property more than 250 times since the start of 2015. There were two fatal drug overdoses at the house in 2022. People who lodged complaints with police reported suspicious people, assaults, drug possession and drug trafficking at the property. SCAN told CTV News Edmonton the owner of the property now plans to sell it. Karen Teng, the city councillor who represents the area, said efforts by the neighbours to report the activity at the house was key in helping the city and police take action to deal with it. 'Based on what I'm hearing and what I'm understanding, it takes some time, neighbours reporting, all those things matter,' Teng told CTV News Edmonton last week. 'This is why we have dedicated policies, dedicated resources. This is why we're taking a multi-disciplinary approach to this ... some of these properties are fairly complex. You may not run into one issue – gang violence, for example – you may run into homelessness and housing issues or squatting, so it does take a concerted effort.' Since it began in 2008, the SCAN unit has investigated more than 10,000 properties and has issued more than 130 community safety orders. With files from CTV News Edmonton's Sean McClune
The Independent
17-06-2025
- The Independent
Couple says they are ‘traumatized' after being attacked by three small dogs in their yard
A Georgia couple says they are traumatized after their neighbor's three small dogs ran onto their property and attacked them – prompting the husband to now pack his pistol every time he steps outside his home. Surveillance footage captured the moment dogs belonging to Melody and Michael Barnhill's neighbor rushed across their front lawn and into their garage, where they attacked the couple on Memorial Day. Video shows two small dogs, later followed by a third, run up to woman and chased her into the garage as she shrieked in fear. It's unclear what breed the dog's were. 'I was just screaming at the top of my lungs,' Melody told WSB-TV. Her husband, Michael, came rushing to her side. Footage shows him swinging a plastic watering can at two of the dogs as he screamed, 'Get off her. Get off her. Get off her.' Despite his efforts, the dogs turned on him – with a third joining in on the attack. 'That's when that one really got into my leg. The second one came up,' he said. Michael suffered serious injuries to his leg and groin – and said his doctor told him he was lucky he didn't bleed out. At one point during the attack, Melody went to grab her gun, but was unable to hit any of the dogs, she told the news station. The Barnhills said the dogs' owner, a neighbor, watched the attack unfold but had 'no sense of urgency' in helping to stop it. Animal services removed the dogs but said they couldn't ensure they wouldn't return. The Barnhills were also upset that the owner was never cited for the incident. 'They should not be back. And the owners should be cited,' Melody said. The couple was also upset after learning from a county official that the dogs had bitten someone else in another neighborhood. Now, Michael says he packs his pistol whenever he leaves his home. 'When I open up this garage, I gotta have my gun on my hip at all times because you don't know what you're going to walk into,' he said. Officials are investigating the incident. The neighbor involved could not be reached by WSB-TV.
CTV News
04-06-2025
- CTV News
‘I'm going to get blown away by someone for fun,' Police investigate spate of suspected pellet gun shootings
Patrick Bowman raises his hands to show how he tried to block his face from pellets being fired at him. (Bryan Bicknell/CTV News London) A quiet evening stroll through his neighbourhood in Westmount turned to terror in the blink of an eye for Londoner Patrick Bowman. 'I see a barrel, it doesn't look like a toy. You don't know if you're going to die at that moment. That's what I felt like. 'I'm going to get blown away by someone for fun,'' Bowman recounted. Last Tuesday, May 27, the London barber was walking at Viscount Street and Farnham Road when an SUV drove by, with whom he believes were three teenaged boys. He says one of them hoisted a weapon through the window and opened fire, hitting him three times. 'And it didn't hurt, it stung, 'one two three,' and I felt it and went backwards. I put my hand up because I thought he was going to raise the barrel up and fire at my face, and I didn't want to get one in the eye,' he explained. Bowman says he wasn't going to report it, until he saw a post on social media reporting a woman was also fired at with a pellet gun by young people in an SUV in the same neighbourhood. 060425 - Pellet gun A Facebook post with faces blurred. (Source: Anonymous poster) 'They got a picture of one of the kids' faces, and I said 'curly hair, skinny face.' That was him, in the passenger seat, up front. But when I got shot, he was in the back seat,' said Bowman. Another incident happened that same night, but this time in east London. Police say a Dodge Caravan was parked on Edmonton Street, and the occupants were seen firing a pellet gun at a residence. And a little later that evening, police say a fourth such incident took place involving a pedestrian shot by a pellet. A location was not reported in that incident. London Police Const. Matt Dawson says police are investigating all four suspected pellet gun shootings, and taking them seriously. 'If you're walking down the road, or you're operating a motor vehicle, and someone points what appears to be a firearm at you, regardless of whether it's a pellet gun or not, that's pretty serious, and people don't know the difference. Again, that causes great concern for us and for the community,' said Const. Dawson. 'There's the off-chance that it causes a collision when you're talking about someone shooting a projectile from one vehicle towards another,' Const. Dawson added. Western University sociology professor Kaitlynn Mendes says it's important to pay attention to whether drive-by pellet gun shootings becomes a social media trend, where teens post extreme activities on platforms like TikTok. 'You know young people often feel kind of pressure to jump in with these trends and we saw two years ago the 'devious licks' trend, where young people were going and vandalizing school bathrooms, recording it and putting it online. So, I do think that social media is encouraging a certain amount of mischief,' said Mendes. Anyone with information in relation on the suspected pellet gun shootings is asked to call the London Police Service at (519) 661-5670 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
CBS News
29-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Oakland removes DIY speed bumps residents put in to stop sideshows
Residents of Oakland's Highland Terrace neighborhood say their safety is at risk again after the city removed their makeshift speedbumps last week. People living near East 21st Street and 19th Avenue installed the speedbumps because they said they were fed-up with years of sideshows. Michael Andemeskel said neighbors filed reports, created petitions, and contacted city leaders, but nothing was done. "When the city fails to act, we act," said Andemeskel. Andemeskel says it impacted everyone, people feared for their safety and needed to stay inside, but even then, they couldn't escape the smoke and the noise. "It's a terrible experience and the next day you're just not the same," said Andemeskel. "Kids can't go to school, you can't do work." Andemeskel spearheaded the effort, gathering money from neighbors and as a group installing dozens of speedbumps at several intersections. Another neighbor, who did not want to disclose his name, says it worked. "It was sort of our neighborhood watch that everybody chipped in, and they implemented it," the man explained. "It was safe for awhile until just last week it was removed and then the same day they came at night." At the intersection of East 21st Street and 19th Avenue, you can still see where the speedbumps once were. Neighbors say if the city won't put them back, they're going to do it themselves and they're not worried about the repercussions. "No one's afraid of what the city is going to do and if they're going to rip them out, we'll put them in again," said Andemeskel. "We can do it all day." Director of Transportation Josh Rowan says about a month ago, he was riding a bus when he was jostled by the speed bumps, that's when he realized he needed to take a look at them. "After reviewing the operations with my engineering team, we decided it was too much risk to the public to leave them there," explained Rowan. "We were actually observing cars swerving out of the travel lane to avoid these bumps that had been installed." Rowan says they are working on a safety project that will bring more funding to that area of town, but it won't start until 2027. In the meantime, they're working on a short-term solution of paint and posts to help. OakDOT has seen this solution have some success at the intersection of Redwood Road and Skyline Boulevard. "We want to work with them," said Rowan. "We want to get solutions that are solving these problems but they keep getting out in front of us, and that's not helping us or them." Andemeskel argues it's just a matter of time until someone gets hurt or killed and the city needs to act quickly. "We demand that they come up with a plan to deal with the sideshow issue by June 6th and they implement whatever the solution in a reasonable timeframe, four weeks or six weeks," detailed Andemeskel. "If not we'll just put them back."
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Yahoo
Neighbors outraged as L.A. ‘Hell house' attracts constant stream of squatters, intruders
Residents in a Westwood neighborhood said a home on the street that attracts a constant stream of intruders and squatters has made living on the street unbearable and dangerous. Neighbors in the upscale neighborhood, located just off Santa Monica Boulevard near the Westfield Century City mall, said there are constant visitors to a specific home that is owned by a pair of older siblings — a brother and a sister. The visitors reportedly bring trouble with them and residents have seen public urination, drug activity, intruders climbing over fences and breaking into the home, squatters, possible prostitution and massive piles of garbage outside the property. Some of the visitors, who seem to arrive at all times of the day, have even harassed residents. 'They've been a menace to the neighborhood for the whole time that we've lived here,' neighbor Amy Gordon told KTLA's Chris Wolfe. 'But in the past 10-12 months, they are hoarders and they've hoarded themselves out of the home and they have been living in their cars.' Neighbors, who described the property as a 'Hell house,' said they fear for their safety. 'It has completely blown up and disrupted everything,' Gordon said. 'There's drug paraphernalia all over the neighborhood. It's across the street from a school, a family dental building.' 'I called adult protective services to try to get them to help [the siblings],' said neighbor Carrie Livingston. 'Sometimes in the winter months, their car is running through the night to provide them with heat.' Neighbors said they've contacted local law enforcement and city leaders for help, but claimed they were told nothing could be done about it. Some residents believe the home poses a health and fire hazard. Restraining orders have been filed against the siblings and more than 150 signatures were gathered for a petition that was sent to their L.A. city council representative, Katy Yaroslavsky. Carrie Livingston, who lives next door to the home, said she was forced to spend thousands of dollars to replace a fence on her property that intruders broke while climbing over it. She said she often finds all kinds of alcohol bottles littered on her property as the intruders tend to stash random items in her bushes. 'We always knew them as the creepy neighbors when we were kids,' said neighbor Graham Livingston. 'But it was only in the past few years when things started getting really serious.' The siblings, however, spoke with KTLA's Chris Wolfe and said the neighbors who have accused them of being negligent are lying. They claim that whenever they leave to run house errands, that's when the intruders would break into their home. They said they've reported the criminal activities to police, but have not received help. They do sometimes sleep in their cars, but claimed that was only done to keep a better eye on possible trespassers. They believe the targeted effort to condemn the house is an infringement on their rights. Residents, in the meantime, are asking for help from city officials who they believe have the power to condemn the property and take action to clear it. KTLA has reached out to Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky's office for comment and is awaiting a response. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
