New Haven Independent

Posted by: Bill | February 11, 2009 2:53 PM

The perpetrator may someday be hailed as a hero by the city and this newspaper.

Posted by: norton street | February 11, 2009 3:57 PM

i sorry for this woman's lose and hope her other son pulls out of it and makes a full recovery.

maybe if the gigantic lot next to her house wasnt an enormous parking lot, and it had so mixed use 2-3 story residences/small businesses, their would have been more people up and about, and the mugger would have been less inclined to commit a crime. its my guess that because it was a relatively deserted stretch of road (2 occupied houses on the entire block) the mugger didnt think there would be witnesses or anyone to stop him, which there werent. all it would have taken to stop this was a person up at 1am watching tv to look out their window and shout at the mugger "im callin the cops", it probably wouldnt have elevated to a shooting, but since theres an enormous parking lot there...well i think my points been made.

again my thoughts go to this woman and her son.

Posted by: JN | February 11, 2009 7:09 PM

What about bystander apathy? when neighbors don't call, when everyone just assumes someone else is taking care of it? It is a well-documented phenomenon. I agree density helps, but unless neighbors are willing to look out for each other, it means nothing.

Posted by: anon | February 11, 2009 8:51 PM

Norton, you're absolutely right. The disinvestment in our cities is a direct result of government policies -- such as the proposed "stimulus package": spending hundreds of billions on new highways and subsidies for exurban home building companies, and nothing for historic preservation, education or urban revitalization. Such policies create the conditions that allow crimes like these to happen.

It should be a priority of the state to reverse them.

Posted by: winfield | February 11, 2009 9:20 PM

Norton St, as a neighbor of the victims, I thank you for your concern for them. However, I don't understand your point about the parking lot. This was not a street mugging, it happened inside the house. The only way to prevent it would have been if the perpetrator had not gotten into the house. The parking lot is used by the people who work at Science Park, and before that by the Winchester workers since the factory was built in 1916. This has been historically an industrial area, and over the next few years will add residences as the factory is refurbished. However, the jobs in Science Park as well as the planned housing will require parking now and in the future.

I would like to express my horror at the cruel comments here and on other sites which imply that New Haven "deserves" a tragedy like this.

Posted by: norton street | February 11, 2009 11:35 PM

winfield, i may have been mistaken, but i am pretty sure i read in an early report that the incident happened in a parking area on the side of her house (her personal over-sized driveway, not the new parking for science park). But i think my point is still relevant, and it was that if we had residences instead of massive asphault lots, crime would decrease because they would be more people (witnesses) around to prevent crime, but since parking replaces actual things crime runs rampant.

youre the devloper of the science park area, correct? i was wondering why the old brick structure was torn down, was it too expensive/not practical to rehab? becuz i really loved that building and thought it had great potential.

also dont you see something wrong with turning something that was formally a source of jobs (the winchester factories) into something that require jobs (a residential complex). the factory was built on the outside of downtown and newhallville was built around it, and since the plant closed down, the residents of newhallville have nowhere nearby to work, so making a huge residential complex only adds to number of commuters using local roads causing traffic and pollution. not to mention the waste of materials and money spend on parking structures. it may be a dream to want manufacturing jobs back in the old buildings, so i suppose that something in them is better than a massive abandoned building. you are doing some great things, but i think some of these ideas are misguided.

Posted by: norton street | February 11, 2009 11:42 PM

heres an actual example of what i was talking about

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=41.310606,-72.897989&spn=0,359.986053&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=41.310624,-72.897878&panoid=-N24L0aPZDjZvMte1k1N2Q&cbp=12,314.8954749523962,,0,-10.02307692307693

a boy was shot here a few weeks ago, maybe a month. he took himself to hospital.

if you scroll around the street, youll see that every single house is vacant/boarded up on the eastern side of the street. it is my assumption that the boy would not have been shot if those homes were occupied, or he at least wouldnt have needed to take himself to hospital, a neighbor would have heard the shots and saw the boy and taken him or called an ambulance.
the block on munson is the same deal, accept in stead of abandoned houses there are parking lots both equal no people.

Posted by: w | February 12, 2009 9:08 AM

From what I understood, the incident was in the house, perpetrated by a person known to the family. So it really could have happened anyplace where people let acquaintances into their houses.
Actually, I'm an unemployed resident who has spent a lot of time looking at these empty obsolete buildings. The old brick building that was torn down looked to me like it was beyond repair, but I'm not an architect or engineer.
Once again, you confuse me. You started out by saying that this area would be safer by having more occupied residences, then you say its wrong to turn the block-long old factory into residences.
There are hundreds of jobs coming to the new factory building on the corner of Division Street and at 25 Science Park as Yale moves in. Of course the availability of more jobs from more employers would be preferable, but we need to face that the 19th and 20th centuries are over. Manufacturing isn't coming back until we get Chinese pay rates. So Yale, the hospitals and the governments are the only major employment sources in town, and I don't see that changing soon.
And yes, the combination of new jobs and new residences in this area will make it a less desolate place.

Posted by: citizen | February 12, 2009 2:21 PM

Linda: Our thoughts are with you and your son. We hope you both recover soon your friends at Fin Aid.

Posted by: -- | February 13, 2009 10:50 AM

I feel terribly for the woman and her family's loss. Sorry to be off-topic, but the building that was demolished was beyond saving, and was demolished with an eye towards recycling, so the old floor boards and anything that can be reused were (from what I was told) ultimately going to be reused. Speaking of historic preservation, the state currently wants to totally gut many of the provisions and funding currently in place.

Posted by: robn | February 14, 2009 9:27 AM

heartbreaking...so senseless.

Posted by: concerned | February 14, 2009 11:37 AM

Does anyone know of any updates to this story? Has the woman been released from the hospital? Is her son okay? Have they caught the suspect? I assume NHP will give her protection until they do. Otherwise, it seems likely he will try to finish the job. On another note, I agree that this area has become more isolated and deserted and that, that is a problem. The construction that is going on at the other end of Mansfield has cut off the area, and there seems to be much less traffic and pedestrians because of it. I realize she knew the perpetrator, I'm just speaking generally. When, I first moved here it seems like there was a lot more public activity, kids playing in the street, etc. I've noticed that. that has changed. Anyway, if anyone knows how I can help this woman, please let me know.

Posted by: IRA JOHNSON | February 14, 2009 11:57 AM

MY PRAYERS AND THOUGHTS ARE GOING OUT TOWARD THE LAWERENCE FAMILY I KNEW THE FAMILY VERY WELL AND WHAT I NO THEM AS A WONDERFUL BROTHER AND SISTER IN CHRIST. THE VIOLENCE IN THIS WORLD IS JUST A SIGN OF THE SOON TO COMING KING OF KING AND LORD OF LORD.

GOD BLESS YOU LINDA AND THE ENTIRE LAWERENCE FAMILY

FROM YOUR BROTHER IN CHRIST

IRA JOHNSON

Posted by: IRA JOHNSON | February 14, 2009 4:53 PM

just an update unfortunently her son did not survive it hurts me to my heart I knew this young man he was a member of the church I attend,

My heart hurts for my dear sister in christ, but no this that her sons are both in good hands now they are with the Lord, and resting in his arms.