Area had 299 felonies since January 2007, including another shooting death
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By Dane Schiller, Matt Stiles, Melissa Phillip
The Houston Chronicle
HOUSTON, Texas — The mulch-covered playground in the heart of a sprawling apartment complex on the city’s northwest side might be among the toughest places in Houston for kids to cut their teeth.
Near one corner, a bouquet of pink and white artificial flowers marks the spot where Houston police officer Timothy Abernethy was shot and killed Sunday morning.
Near another, a Bible, more flowers, and a pair of dice mark the spot where a 20-year-old man known as Deuce died in November in a daytime shooting that has yet to be solved.
“Both of them died in my arms,” said resident April Alfred, 42, a nurse’s assistant whose door faces the playground.
Between the makeshift shrines is an apartment where another woman the kids call “Kool Cup Lady” sells ice pops in paper cups.
She does so to give the children an alternative to crossing the busy street to a strip center where drug pushers are said to roam.
Nothing seems to come easy at the Luxor Park apartment complex, where Abernethy’s death has focused attention on life and death in one of the city’s rougher neighborhoods.
Alfred and neighbor Angel McCullough, 23, applied pressure to the officer’s head wound as they sought to keep him alive.
“I call this exact spot the death zone,” Alfred said Monday. “These men both had families who are still crying for them,” she said of the officer and of Deuce, whose name was Joshua Parker.
Ongoing push by HPD
The gritty complex of 828 apartments on 29 acres with pine trees and plenty of elbow room is in the heart of an area that is no stranger to tough times.
It is a place where even with one-bedrooms going for $350 per month, the rent is usually late, most people live check-to-check, and it is often no secret who is up to no good.
It is also the site of an ongoing push by Houston police and the apartment complex management, which hires off-duty police officers, to reduce crime.
“The criminal element is brazen,” said Suan Tinsley, regional vice president of GFI Management Services, which runs the complex.
Including Abernethy, there have been three homicides at Luxor Park in the past year.
Outsiders seem to run in and out of the complex, seeking to use its numerous buildings and walkways to their advantage.
Police records show that in the 5800 and 6000 blocks of West Sunforest Drive, an area which includes Luxor Park and other complexes, officers investigated 299 felonies from January 2007 though this Halloween.
At the time of his death, Abernethy was among the officers pulling duty in a part of town known as a hot spot, which means it was targeted for extra police attention.
The man arrested and charged with shooting him did not live in the complex, police say, but ran through there as he tried to elude Abernethy and later ducked behind a gate and shot him.
Whether one loves or hates the police - and there were plenty of both here Monday - there was agreement officers have been out in force in recent weeks.
“The cops, they are taking their jobs too seriously,” said a man, who gave his name as Joe, as he openly puffed on a marijuana cigarette while standing below a balcony where a child stood in disposable diapers.
A few buildings away, a hardened woman who wouldn’t give her name said she is tired of police questioning her anytime she comes or goes.
“Neighborhoods like this are family,” she said. “You put on your clothes, and the first thing people ask is, `You seen the law?’ ”
He wasn’t alone
During a brief visit to the site of the shooting, Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt said officers will continue their press in the area.
“Some people don’t want officers; others do,” Hurtt said. “For the ones who don’t, we will be here anyway.”
McCullough, who along with Alfred was trying to save the dying officer, said she hopes their actions remind the city there are plenty of good people here. But more importantly, she hopes Abernethy knows he wasn’t alone.
“It will always be on my mind. Did he know we were there? Did he feel our touch?” she said.
Alfred added, “Did he see, before he died, that there are people who care?”
Copyright 2008 The Houston Chronicle