HSV man killed in shooting – at housing project
2009 April 2
Huntsville police say one man was killed Wednesday night in a shooting at the intersection of Fairbanks and Alaska avenues.
Police say Thaddeus Townsend was at a home on Fairbanks when he was shot multiple times. The shooting happened just after 10 p.m. Townsend was taken to Huntsville Hospital, where he died from his injuries.
Police have not made any arrests.
The intersection of Fairbanks and Alaska is in the Huntsville Housing Authority’s Northwoods project. Probably not good timing for the HHA as they try to convince everyone that spreading around public housing complexes will be the best thing since sliced bread.
Spread them problems around.
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Isn’t the Northwoods Project a diabolical scheme to kill American citizens by the government?
Great name for a government housing unit.
no its not thank you.its just anormal projects
If “spreading around public housing complexes will be the best thing since sliced bread” is such a great idea, why not put a sexual pedophile predator in charge of all day care centers?
Where there are projects, there are also narcs always
What happen to the Post-Racist Utopia we where promised.
HPD assured us that the projects were safer than the surrounding neighborhoods.
http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/local.ssf?/base/news/1238404510266290.xml&coll=1&thispage=5
How many people have been killed in the neighborhood off University at Oster Drive? And how has the adjacent project helped their property values over the years? Might make an interesting case study for the City, but I’m sure it would validate the “myths” that we believe…
Razor wire, walls and watch towers appear to be the next phase in urban renewal.
walt – Gated Communities!
I don’t know if the victim or his killers were ”guests” of the Northwoods project. But when I lived in Boston and DC all my guests were required to sign in (with ID) with the concierge at my building (and they even asked for my ID until they got to know me). If this is required at a private upscale housing development, there is no reason not to implement it at public housing (except that public housing is so safe it must not be needed).
Y’all need to get over it and get with the program.
It is time to usher in a new era of service in Huntsville. These people need your help, but while our government can provide every opportunity imaginable for us to serve our communities, now it is up to each of us to seize those opportunities. I call on all Huntsvillians to stand up and do what they can to serve their communities, shape our history and enrich both their own lives and the lives of others across this city.
Besides, you don’t want to be accused of racism do you?
Norwood (colloquial pronunciation) has been the most dangerous neighborhood in Hsv for decades. An undercover cop got pulled from his car, beaten, and his gun taken from him in the middle of the afternoon back in the 1980s. The problem is not public housing, its the drug pushers, wherever they are, so go the problems.
Reactionary, in some projects, there is a requirement that “guests” sign and out, plus have prominently displayed cards on their dash (similar to visiting any military base). Plus, as the landlord, the Housing Authority does have Right of Common Entry, so can inspect any resident’s home at any time.
My thought (for what is worth) is that the direction the thread is taking is the same as what Rio De Janierio is doing. The tax payer/donor class must be protected by the government from their own government’s folly.
BTW former resident of District Heights in Prince George county.
I disagree with Art Kling, it isn’t the social-deviant, drug-pushing inhabitants of public housing that is the problem, I think it is the actual structure of the buildings themselves that is to blame. So get rid of the buildings, you get rid of the problems.
duh
The housing projects provide the most economically efficient method of stopping the drug trade. Require searches of all people and cars by drug sniffing dogs each time they enter or leave the complex. Make illegal possession of any amount of a controlled substance on complex property a felony with mandatory sentence of at least 3 years. Then we can just convert the housing projects into jails.
Unless you were there at shortly after 10:00 p.m. on the night of April 1, 2009, you really should monitor your responses on wheter this incident was drug-related or not. I happen to know the individual who was killed, and I’m certain that it’s a disgrace to his kids for you to have preconceived notions that this must have been a drug-related incident. Not all people who reside project housing are drug-slinging indviduals. Mr. Townsend was a gentleman and a loving, devoted father to his children. Give the man and his family some respect.
The shooting that occurred happend on Alaska Avenue and not within the Northwoods Project. According to the police, both the shooter and the victim didn’t even live at Northwoods. Not all crimes are made by the residents who live in their neighborhoods. The problem with what’s going on today is that people move to quickly to make assumptions.
Whodunnit – I don’t think anyone directly implied this specific incident was drug-related, just that the drug problem attracts lots of undesirable criminal activity.
Lisa – The intersection specified in the news report sure looks like it is in the project according to the satellite image on Google (I intended to drive through there this morning, but didn’t have time). If it isn’t then it is about a block away, which certainly doesn’t do much to make me feel better about what impact a mini-project might have.
I just think we make a lot of assumptions when crime happens everywhere and we should not always blame the projects. During the holidays there was a woman attacked at Parkway Place Mall and one in broad daylight at the new Wal-Mart in Hampton Cove. Should we say Wal-Mart and the Hampton Cove area drew in the criminal activity. We should think before we judge or point fingers.
The difference, Lisa, is that you remember those incidents at Parkway Place and Hampton Cove because they are the exception. I’d like to keep it that way.
Dear People, please send an email to Sean Hannity about this mess. He is familiar with Huntsville area since he worked here. He will love to hear about our (his too) tax money used for purchasing luxury apts for the Housing, secrecy, bringing in crimes, downgrading schools, etc.
http://www.hannity.com/contactus.asp
Brian–directly implied or not, it’s obvioius that there is an assumption that if the incident happened in Northwoods or a block away, it must certainly be drug-related. The gentleman who lost his life that night had gone to get his daughter. Neither he nor his daughter reside in this area nor was he or she involved in the selling / distribution of / purchase of drugs. It’s an incredibly unfortunate tragedy for this man’s wife, three daughters, and all who knew and loved him.
Whodunnit – thank you for reminding us of the personal tragedy of this crime.
I think you’ll find that we consistently rail against crime in Huntsville – regardless of to whom or where it happens. People who live in housing projects should be safe, and so should surrounding neighborhoods (and the rest of the City). Huntsville is the second most crime-ridden City in Alabama (after Birmingham) and IIRC #83 nationally. We’ve had a large increase in crime in HSV over the past ~six years. And it is getting worse.
I think the logic laid out in this comment thread is as follows…
Projects attract the illicit drug trade (dealers preying on the poor), which in turn brings with it a healthy dose of violence. Is every crime in the projects a drug related crime? No! But you can certainly blame the drug activity for the pervasiveness of violent crime that, regrettably, often ensnares perfectly innocent victims.