July 28: The Asheville Police Department released details late last night, including suspect descriptions, for six home invasions, four of them in the West Asheville area, some of which may be related. Public speculation and concerns about home invasions in the area have increased in recent days.
The crimes, taking place between May and July, led some residents to form West Asheville Watch, an online gathering place to share information.
The full announcement from the APD is below:
ASHEVILLE – The Asheville Police Department has responded to and continues to investigate a number of Home Invasions; particularly in West Asheville. Detectives are seeking any information that may assist in identifying the offenders. In all the cases the offenders were asking for electronics, money and drugs. Anyone with information can call crime stoppers at 828-255-5050 or the Asheville Police at 828-252-1110.
Below is information regarding locations and suspects:
1) 386 Kenilworth Rd – May 13, 2011 around 1210 am – 3 black males all dressed in black clothing and wore black bandanas fitting the following descriptions:
a) 5`9 to 5`11 light skinned Black or Hispanic, with a five inch long ponytail at the nape of his neck, wearing a black bandana with white on it, a black hoodie
b) 5`8, 215 -225 pounds, black Nike tennis shoes with a white “M” shape or design, wearing a black shirt, black pants, chubby build
c) 6’-0 to 6`4 170-180 pounds, wearing a solid black ball cap, wearing Nike Air Force tennis shoes
A handgun displayed
*This incident is not believed to be related to those in West Asheville
2) 20 Michigan Ave – June 7, 2011 around 12:30 am – 4 Offenders
Victim recalls only dark clothing, bandanas, and 2 handguns
3) 102 Burton St – June 25, 2011around 1245 am – 3 Offenders
The 3 Offenders are described as follows:
a) A “skinny” white male, 5`7“- 5`10“ tall with blonde hair wearing a t-shirt and blue jeans, light blue green eyes or bright blue.
b) Average build black male around 6`2“ tall with short hair, a red (possibly a Cardinals) baseball cap wearing a t-shirt and blue jeans.
c) A “chubby” black male 5`10“- 6`0“ tall with short dread locks with beads on the ends wearing a t-shirt and jeans also wearing a face covering.
*A handgun was displayed
4) 436 Pearson Dr – June 29, 2011 around 4:27 am – 2 Offenders
2 Offenders described as having t-shirts wrapped around their faces. No weapon shown, believed to not be related to others in the city.
5) 326 Riverview Dr – July 5, 2011 around 2:30 am – 3 Offenders
a) White male with blue or green eyes, green bandana, thin build
b) Black male, medium size, sunglasses, blue hat, light clothing
c) Dark skinned black male, wearing dark clothing
*A handgun was displayed
6) 146 Logan Ave – July 6, 2011 around 3:15 am – 3 offenders
3 Offenders described as follows:
a) Black male subject with short dreads, a green bandanna covering head and face, wearing rectangular frame glasses and had a tattoo on right forearm of possibly a female’s name.
b) Black male subject short hair, wearing unknown color bandanna.
c) White male subject thin build, wearing a bandanna covering face and head.
*All three offenders were wearing t-shirts and baggy jeans. A handgun was displayed
These reported Home Invasions are being investigated as residential burglaries, robberies and assaults – which would be referred to as Home Invasions when occurring simultaneously.
Residents are asked to contact officers if they would like to have someone speak to their group and/or if they see unusual activities taking place in their neighborhoods. Residents are also invited to attend the next Weed & Seed crime prevention meeting at noon in the Pisgah View Apartment complex in West Asheville on Monday, August 22. Call Weed & Seed Coordinator Rebecca Byrn for details 552-1311.
East and North Asheville:
CRO Brien Griffin (828) 552-1467
CRO Jeremy Woody (828) 552-9423
West Asheville:
CRO Josh Simpson (828) 251-4032
CRO Chad McCall (828) 251-4032
Central/South:
CRO Jackie Stepp (828) 337-7478
CRO Evan Coward (828) 777-4505
Non-emergency Police Department contact: (828) 252-1110
If these homeowners blasted away any of these thugs, these incidents would cease, immediately.
If the incidents occurred in May and July, why is the APD only releasing details now? Someone needs to ask Wade Wood why multiple incidents occurred over a period of more than TWO MONTHS without the APD putting out descriptions and warnings that may have prevented more violent incidents.
If the media doesn’t confront the APD concerning their egregious disregard for informing the public, who will?
Yesterday I reported two individuals whom matched descriptions from the West Asheville home invasions. I overheard one of the individuals say to the other “Thought you was layin low?”. The white individual was young, 17-20 Blond hair, Bright blue eyes, both ears pierced with clear stones. wearing black tank top blue ratty blue jeans tan suede tennis shoes. When the APD arrived multiple officers walked right passed him, you can’t exactly point and say there he is for fear of retaliation. I desperately tried to get the APDs attention to no avail. The individual boarded the 2:05 bus number 16 to Louisiana ave. He was so rattled by the police presence that he changed shirts on the b us to avoid further suspicion. The city buses have video surveillance, if anyone can get to that footage I am sure that this individual has knowledge or is the culprit of these home invasions. his friend, Black mail chubby, medium complexion, with a black bandana hanging from his right rear pocket, approx 5’10” on the bus received a call and was given details of the APDs questions at the city bus terminal. The white male was then flushed, ears turned red and neck turned visibly crimson as one does when under extreme distress. Him visibly meth affected mother or family member had a look of horror on her face and began chewing her nails. I feel that APD detectives should investigate this bus footage to concur with my findings.
I would also like to add that after I made this call to APD, within 3 minutes there were at least 13 patrolmen in squad cars and 5 bike officers covering the city bus terminal. They are being aggressive in there search for these culprits and I feel with the entire Asheville community Tweeting, calling and watching we will soon find resolve. But we have to remain vigilant and supportive to the APD, they are understaffed for the current populous. So please if we pay attention to the details, and use social media and remain pro-active, you can rest assured that the APD WILL find and convict these culprits.
This article references “six West Asheville home invasions” — but if those addresses are correct, only four of the home invasions were in West Asheville. One was in Kenilworth, and one was in Montford:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=203684034107049298562.0004a923d1b219fa86f98&msa=0
Good work, Democratic_Perversion.
Only a matter of time now unless they skip town.
[]So please if we pay attention to the details, and use social media and remain pro-active, you can rest assured that the APD WILL find and convict these culprits.[/i]
Well, at least that’s a possibility now that we have been told about this!
A letter to Rebecca Byrn, Curator of Weed & Seed
Rebecca,
I was recently addressing the possibility of creating a twitter account or an app for the APD to receive tips in realtime. It was brought to my attention after a call to Tanner Stobbe of http://www.CrimeReports.com. he is the regional director and told me that Henderson county has this software in place and in use, it’s called Tipsoft and it allows the community and whom ever has the app; which is free to users to be able to monitor and instantly report on crimes in process. The app also shows realtime sex offenders, robberies, and a host of other crimes. I was shocked to see that this was in use in Henderson county and not Buncombe county. Is this something that we need to rally about, and address the city council with a proposal? I will forward the email to you from Tanner, let me know what we as a strong, united community for a better Asheville, can do and we will get it done.
On Jul 28, 2011, at 12:47
Let’s do something to get this amazing software in place in Buncombe County
PS: I have nothing to gain monetarily other than a safer Asheville from this software. It would be nice though.
i am wondering if the victims of these home invasions were hurt in any way, and if they had dogs.