Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 27, 1993 TAG: 9301270098
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE SIMPSON and RON BROWN STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
SHOOTING-PLAGUED STREET FACES FEAR
Two months after moving into her new home, Cora Hayes looks forward to leaving."I feel scared," she said. "I don't even take the garbage out no more, because I am afraid to go out into the alley."
Hayes' attitude is shared by other residents along the 1300 block of Gilmer Avenue Northwest, especially after shots were fired at a house up the street over the weekend.
A teen-ager who lives in that house with his mother was charged with murder Saturday. Later, the house came under gunfire from passing vehicles.
Dwayne Carlos Miller, 18, was charged in the shooting death of Percy Johnson, 17. Police said the two youths fought after a Jan. 11 robbery in which a friend of Miller's took a $250 leather jacket from a friend of Johnson's.
Early Saturday, Johnson was shot at least seven times with a semiautomatic pistol on Bridge Street Southwest, about a mile from Miller's house.
People who live in the area of Gilmer and 13th Street feel scared now.
A 48-year-old man who has lived in the 1300 block of Gilmer Avenue for more than a decade said he's troubled by the growing tendency toward gunplay in his neighborhood. "There's a whole lot of danger walking up and down the streets," said the man, who asked not to be identified. "It's a doggone shame to have people shooting up houses."
Hayes did not hear the shooting on Saturday. She was home with her 6-month-old granddaughter, who was crying loudly.
But she has been aware of shots fired in the neighborhood. Hayes does not go out at night. She stays indoors with her granddaughter.
"She keeps me warm," Hayes said.
She also told her sister, who works late, not to walk on the street.
Hayes spoke of wanting to leave the neighborhood, "I'm going to get away from here and find an apartment," Hayes said. "You used to be able to sit on the porch, but not now."
Another neighbor, a woman in her late 20s, stood in the front hallway of her home as her 2-year-old son clung to her leg and two other children looked for reassurance. The woman seemed reluctant to talk.
"Things are quieting down now," said the woman, who did not want her name used.
Many neighbors want to get on with their lives, but they're not hiding from the problems, said Roanoke police officer Cindy Sutor.
Sutor and officer Brent Asbury spent most of the day Monday going door-to-door in the neighborhood, trying to calm fears and ask for help from residents.
"I think they felt relieved that a special effort was being made," Sutor said. "They were very receptive. They wanted to help."
Lt. Doug Allen, Sutor's supervisor, said canvassing a neighborhood for information is nothing new for the Police Department. However, he said, the police are getting more cooperation since the department started its community policing efforts 18 months ago.
In that program, police officers in some neighborhoods have gotten out of their patrol cars and talked to residents about problems on a one-to-one basis.
"It's the old cop-on-the-beat thing," Allen said.