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Slayings inflame Florida's clash with homeless population
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by Kaitlin | February 7, 2007 at 11:51 am
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The increasing tension between the homeless and officials--and, it would seem, the criminal element--in Miami and other Florida communities worsens with the slayings of two of St. Petersburg's homeless.
ST. PETERSBURG - (AP) -- Two men were arrested on charges they fatally shot two homeless men in alleys, authorities said.Cordaro Antwan Hardin, 18, and Dorion Deshawn Dillard, 20, were arrested Tuesday on charges of first-degree murder, St. Petersburg police spokesman George Kajtsa said. It was not clear today if the men had lawyers.
''That's great news,'' said Richard Hartz, 65, stepfather of 43-year-old Jeffery Shultz, one of the men shot to death on Jan. 17. The other victim was David Heath, 53. Police believe robbery was the motive for the shootings.
The slayings intensified a clash between the city and its homeless, who gathered after the shootings in tent encampments in defiance of city codes. City officials are now allowing two tent cities near downtown St. Petersburg.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (1)
at 19:18 on November 26th, 2007
The killings in Saint Petersburg were a direct result of a city decision to close Tent City and force the homeless to leave the relative safety of their camp where they could look out for each other. Another camp was set up and soon someone at city hall ordered the police to slash their tents with box cutters and confiscate their belongings. The media blamed the police despite Mayor Rick Baker's refusal to deny that he had ordered the attack.
Recently the homeless have been camping at city hall and someone has been turning on the sprinklers to soak them with water on cold nights.
Many of the homeless are camping out near the CNN-YouTube Republican debate site. Today the city has announced plans to fence off an area where previously an arrangement had been made to allow the homeless to sleep. Mass arrests are possible.
The St. Petersburg Times continues to blame police for alleged harassment of the homeless and to not ask the mayor directly if he or someone in his office was responsible for these many actions against the homeless. Local media have followed this lead, as have commentaries on the YouTube site.
From today's Times:
"In the past few years, harassment of St. Petersburg's homeless has intensified, said the Rev. Bruce Wright. The most dramatic example of this trend came when police officers were filmed slashing the tents of dozens of homeless people last January. The video was uploaded on the video-sharing Web site YouTube, and St. Petersburg received nationwide criticism."
The tent slashing this year was blamed on the police department based
on the Mayor’s strange non-denial, “I did not know that the operation
had occurred until it occurred,” The Times ran this and the rest of
the media followed uncritically.
Links for more information:
http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/blurbex/2007/11/16/no-need-to-arrest-the-homeless-just-drown-them/
http://bartlettpark.blogspot.com/2007/11/rise-up-system-is-broken.html
http://newsouthstpete.blogspot.com/2007/11/bike-ride-to-support-pinellas-hope.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrPdZmPB36U
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/11/26/Southpinellas/City_plans_to_fence_i.shtml