Homicide hits close to home

  • Small Text
  • Medium Text
  • Large Text

LA CROSSE, Wis. -- Imagine coming home one night to a police investigation.
That was the reality for Sara Hougom's neighbors, who say the 20-year-old's fatal shooting has them on edge.

The homicide hits close to home for Mike Randall, who lives in the same apartment building.

"She was just on the other side of my wall from where my bedroom is. That's one of the first things that struck me, was that, from where the police were checking the walls to see if there were bullet holes inside my house. It must have been some eight to 15 feet from where I sleep at night. So that kind of freaked me out a little bit," said Randall.

Randall had only met Hougom a handful of times, coming and going from their apartment building. He said he also went to her birthday party.

"It was kind of just numbing, just because you hear about things happening like that, but you never think it's going to happen anywhere that close or to anyone you actually know," said Randall.

Just across the street, administrators at Lincoln Middle School had their own concerns on the night of the shooting.

"That night that it happened, we were in close contact with the police department, just wondering obviously with school happening the next day, what sort of safety precautions do we need to get into place?" said Lincoln Middle School Dean of Students Eric Check.

Staff and students were actually in the building for after-school programs when the shooting happened at about 4 p.m. Monday, totally unaware of what took place just yards away from where students play at recess.

As the neighborhood tries to come to terms with this week's tragedy, Check hopes people don't overlook all the good in their community.

"I think sometimes Lincoln gets a tough rap, just with the neighborhood. It really is a great neighborhood. The people that live in this neighborhood are so willing to provide anything to help our students be successful. And I think sometimes that gets lost in situations like this," said Check.

Lincoln Middle may have actually helped police in their investigation. Check said investigators took a copy of the school's surveillance tapes.

  • (Copyright 2012 by WKBT News8000.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Read More @ Source



Criminal Stories Here

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Charges dismissed in grisly Ypsilanti Township triple homicide

Image
For nearly six years, they were locked up facing a possible death sentence for a grisly 2001 triple homicide in Ypsilanti Township. On Friday, a federal judge dismissed the charges against Deondre Byrd and three other men after a federal prosecutor said new evidence came to light last Friday that prevented the government from taking the case to trial. It was the second time in three years that Byrd escaped murder charges. He has been imprisoned in recent years for both the triple homicide and the slaying of a 16-year-old girl in Ann Arbor, but he has been convicted on only a federal gun charge. "Obviously, I'm pretty upset that almost 11 years later, we still don't have any answers," said Christy Brown, 30, a close family friend of the victims of the triple homicide. She said she got a call from federal prosecutors Thursday saying the case was being dropped, but they wouldn't elaborate. "I was very surprised. I honestly thought they were making some...
Keep reading

Deputies: Two men sought in connection to May murder

Image
By Bianca Prieto, Orlando Sentinel 4:56 p.m. EST, June 20, 2012 Lorenzo Holmes and Willie Bryant III are persons of interest in the shooting death of DeAnthony Ryles. (Orange County Sheriff's Office, Orange County Sheriff's Office / Jun 20, 2012) Orange County murder detectives are looking for two people of interest in the shooting death of DeAnthony Ryles last month. Detectives identified the persons of interest as 23-year-old Lorenzo Holmes and 22-year-old Willie Bryant III. DeAnthony "D.A." Ryles was gunned down around 2:43 a.m. May 21 near the intersection of Lee Road and Kingswood Drive. Ryles and his friends first encountered another group of men at Firestone Live in downtown Orlando, and then later met at aMcDonald'srestaurant north of downtown. The two groups of men began shooting at each other as they drove along Lee Road. Ryles was injured during the shooting and crashed his car into the Fifth Third bank on Lee Road. ...
Keep reading

Flint's battlefield: A three-year murder map

Image
FLINT, MI -- There have been 189 murders in the city since 2010. Below is a map of the locations of each murder in the last three years, as well as the names of the slain on Flint's battlefield. The spike in murders occurred almost immediately after large-scale layoffs in March of 2010. By year's end the city had set a record with 66 murders, breaking the previous mark of 61 set in 1986. Killing continued in 2011 with 57 murders. A look at the map shows the majority of the murders took place on the north and east sides, historically the most economically depressed areas of the city. Just 25 murders in the last three years occurred south of Court Street. The map is color-coded by year. Green markers denote 2012 murders while red markers are from 2011 and blue from 2010. 2012 No. 1: Jan. 11: Kevin Berger, 55, died Jan. 11 after a Jan. 10 double shooting at his home on Keller Avenue near Welch Boulevard around 10:15 pm. Darius McGee, 25, was also critically shot. He survi...
Keep reading