Attacks in Williamsburg

Self-Defense Classes???

How about the radical idea of allowing people to exercise their constitutional right to keep and bear arms?

Imagine that, being able to defend yourself from violence the way our constitution allows instead of being victims in our own neighborhoods.

Oh, I forgot, people in this city love to scream and yell about every other amendment being trampled, but don't give a rat's ass about the one that allows you to protect the others.

Guns don't save people, people save people.

time to stock up on pepper spray. I'm getting them on my way home during the labor day weekend.
get a stun gun while you're at it, they're cheap.
I wouldn't carry a gun in the city, too risky.

Oh yeah #2, that's great. Let's let any idiot who can clear a basic background check run around with a handgun in his/her pocket all day. Even if you were naive enough to think people would only use them for "good" (fighting off attacks) doesn't make it any better, or safer. Think of the anarchy if people started whipping a gun out every time someone looked at them cock-eyed.

Unfortunately #6, I don't think stun guns are legal in NYC. But yeah, I have to go get some pepper spray. I leave near this area, and while my street isn't industrial it doesn't feel completely safe at night.

Self-defense is good. But, good old intelligence helps also.

Get someone to walk with you if you plan on staying out late, or take a cab and ask the driver to drop you off right in front of your door and wait until you get inside of your building. Or, if you have a roommate, call them from your cell phone and ask them to come downstairs and meet you at the front door.

A friend of mine (liek an idiot) came home at 5AM after drinking in the East Village. He llived off teh Halsey St stop in the J. When he left the station he walked by a group a black guys and was about a half block away when he heard someone running. He turned around and this six foot black dude is charging right at him. He starts to run but the guy kicks and punches him. Eventually, after much screaming the black guy get up and leaves him alone, not even robbing him! The police come and when my friend asks them what he shoud do, they reply, "Move." My friend left the hood the next day.

These are the tragic stories of gentrification.

reason #2343 to never move to williamsburg.

I disagree with #15. I've been mugged twice and both times I resisted. The attackers left with nothing. In both cases they said they were armed, but I suspected they were bluffing. If I'd seen a weapon it would have been a different story, I would have handed them what they wanted (I'm not a very imposing person).

On another note, I have to say, I hate it when people say things like, "he literally came out of nowhere." Just leave out the term "literally" and it's fine.

I was mugged at the Lorimer J, M stop in June. Apparently, my mugger had been targeting women in their 20's and 30's as they approached the subway stations. Detectives told me he had mugged approximately 6 or 7 other women in the East Williamsburg area in a span of two weeks. This was at 7pm (still light out) and there was a station attendant approximately 15 feet away. This man approached me with a gun and took everything.

PLEASE be careful when taking the J, M or G stops in this part of williamsburg. Even if it's light out, these criminals are acting extremely ballsy and threatening women. Although this man did not physically assault me, he did pistol whip one of the girls. Detective still haven't caught the guy, so be extremely cautious. I'm extremely paranoid and upset from this incident and would hate for this guy or any other mugger to attack more individuals.

#4 so "guns don't save people, people save people"? what about "people don't give a fuck about people"? We know it's true...

like many government laws, they don't know squat.
Mace is a brand name. It's still pepper spray. I suggest Fox brand pepper spray.
of course, a tazer is illegal but it's sure fun to have a parties.
A glock 26 is still pretty heavy to carry around, cops can see if you're carrying when you favor one side when walking. or, when you're constantly hiking up your waistband, a clear giveaway.

Also, might I suggest keeping your id (driver's license, cc-- mostly things w/ your name and/or add) in a seperate pocket. Just so if you do have to give up the goods the killer(s) don't know where you live!!

serves you fuckin right, gentrifier.

How the fuck is this news? Oh, because it happened in Williamsburg, not 145 and Bway.

Gothamist: your news source for grafitti and hipsters.

I like krav maga on a roll, little seasoning needed. it's the sweetest of the sweet meats.

don't anyone carry a whistle anymore?

"three shot as wild gun fire spewed in a crowded bar as a young women attempted to defend herself from an attacker. She was heavily intoxicated."

we do not need more guns

I was walking home with someone else when I was mugged at gunpoint by 2 men - so while walking home with another person is a good idea in general, it will not neccesarily prevent a mugging.

@Dadoc. You could not be more wrong. Those small calibre rounds stand a better chance of just making your attacker enraged. .38 is the smallest size you should EVER be thinking about if you are shooting something than small game (racoons, nutrias, squirrels, and the like), .38 in +P or +P+ is great, .45 is better. The goal is to create a large cavitation, leading to internal organ disruption, sepsis, and death. You NEVER, EVER, EVER, shoot to wound. If you kill your attacker you have a police inquest, a field-sobriety test, your weapon will be taken in as evidence (This is why responsible firearms owners own more than one firearm.), and you will have to give a statement to the po-po. If you wound your attacker it's just your word against theirs (Think B. Goetz, "I wasn't trying to rob him, I was just playing with my sharpened screwdriver while my friends asked to borrow some money.") and you will soon have an assault charge and a civil lawsuit on your hands. A firearm is useable by almost anyone, regardless of size, with a minimum of training (Compared to a blade or martial arts, where you are just asking for a beat-down if you have not been training in those styles for YEARS.) All citizens need to remember that the police are not now nor have they ever been here to prevent crime. Police exist to investigate crime after it has already occured. When it comes to crime prevention or avoidance the citizen is the responsible party.

Also it NOT "dangerous" to carry a round in the chamber of an automatic. Please check out any of the fine resources available on the net to look at the operating action of single and double action semi-automatic pistols. Remember, revolvers jam too. If an semi-auto jams you can strip it and clear it, when a revolver jams you have to take it to your gunsmith.

The only reason we still have streetcrime is the idiotic attitude of folks like poster #41. ALWAYS FIGHT BACK!!! If you just bow down and turn over your wealth and dignity to these animals they will never stop. Stand up for yourself, stop living in fear. These are our streets and it is the responsibility of ALL OF US to make them safe. This means zero tolerance for quality of life crimes (loitering, vandalism, and so on). He may be a wife-cheating, 9/11 grief bandwagon riding, facist ass but Rudy was right with the broken window theory. It is high time we start holding those that purport to speak for "communties of color" to task when their "people" break the law.

wealth and dignity #44? you would actually feel like you lost your dignity if someone mugged you? the mugger is the one with no diginity. and if you give up some jewelry and some cash in exchange for not having a knife stuck in your gut or your brains blown out it's definitely worth it. "fighting back" isn't going to deter muggers. if a mugger is driven enough and selfish enough he/she doesn't think "oh gee i'm not going to mug anymore because everyone seems to be fighting back these days".

Just use common sense

dont let strangers into the building with you ever.

if someone is following you is to cross the street.. if they do too, cross back, and if they start to follow, confront them and loudly ask in a forceful voice "WHY ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME"

if they threaten you and youre alone and cant get away, give them what they want.

always run if they try to force you to go anywhere with them

most times, attackers have already decided if they are going to use force or not before attacking so running is usually a good idea

Yea 46, sounds like you've already given up and made the choice to live your life in fear. "Oh no! He might threaten me with violence. Here, take my stuff mister."

I like krav maga, too. it's the new israeli sushi.
I'd like to see you tough guys get mugged by two armed men and fight back.
me? i luv me my desert eagle point five oh with replica on it's side.
gun nuts is the correct term.

In this battle, you're going to lose when dealing with people who have nothing to lose.
sure you've won by keeping them poor and not hiring them but when it comes to this battle, give up because they'll shoot you as quick as in a blink of an eye. They got nothing to lose, death and prison means nothing, probably means a way out.

"Do not even think of buying a gun. The person attacking you knows how to use it better than you do, even if he's not carrying one." Enough with the liberal fear-mongering. That, and speak for yourself lady. Criminals generaly don't spend time training with their firearms and have an understanding of them based almost solely on pop-culture misrepresentations of same. When someone is holding their pistol sideways and not bracing their wrist, their hit probability decreases dramaticly. As for the cubicle soldiers, I'm with ya on that one. My pronounced love of the .45 ACP cartridge that I posted above is based upon 6 years with the 7th ID (light), seeing combat in Honduras, Panama, and Kuwait; followed by 10 years in the Legion Etranger, most of that in the 2e REP with combat in Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, and Afghanistan. The eye-gouging, well, the eye-gouge is just a very effective strike. Keeping your fingers loose, drive them forward into your opponent's eye with a snapping motion, then run away. When confronted with a strike towards the face, a persons natural reaction is to lean back, leaving the groin region exposed. When aiming an attack at the groin, a persons reaction is to pike down, thereby exposing their face. Simple street fighting that's all.

Wow, that's pretty negative, bitter, and demonstrably wrong #57. Life is better in the ghettos of NYC in the 21st century than it ever was for the VAST majority of humanity for the last 10,000 years. Life in 21st century America is better (no matter what your social standing) than it is for a great many people on Earth today. Indoor plumbing, potable water, dentistry, the ability to go about your day without the king sending someone over to lop off your head because you belive in a different big, invisible, man in the sky than he does, or someone blowing up a Pizza Hut full of teenagers because his deity gets upset when women show their ankles. Make no mistake, their is nothing hellish about their lives other than their consience decision to prey on those weaker than themeselves. Their presense should not be tolerated by freedom loving peoples. I'm certainly no fan of the po-po but this city is too small and too crowded for us to accept such sociopathic behavior from our neighbors. This isn't about standing up to muggers, it's about living the golden rule and not suffering those that don't to live amongst us.

Hey, to 56 from 55... okay, you're the exception on this forum when it comes to guns, because clearly you know how to use one, and the eye gouge is one of the best moves to learn. I just get tired of hearing people with two bits of knowledge or less blathering on about how tough they are...

I think it's disingenuous to say these people have "nothing to lose." I won't argue that these muggers' lives may be terrible, but violence against innocent people is not their only choice.

@61: The suspects in the Connecticut case were career criminals, in the suburbs/countryside. I'm not really sure the two things are comparable.

@63/61(?): So you don't believe in rehabilitation? A better future? These people may have given up on a better life but it isn't because one isn't available to them.

Oh wah! Why am I supposed to feel bad about scumbags who beat up a woman??? This incident happened to a close friend of mine and I am supposed to tell her - "Well that's what you get for coming home so late?" We live in a free country where you are given the right as an adult to come out of your home at any time and to return to said home whenever the hell you want. When we start saying - "well I shouldn't have gone done that alley or I shouldn't have worn that jewelry" then we give in to the criminals.

I could give two craps if these people don't have anything to live for. They are crooks and scumbags who haven't found any other way to make money - god forbid getting a job. If these people decided to stand up and change their communities for a more positive way, they wouldn't have these problems. And I get even more disgruntled when we are told we (I am assuming white people with jobs) shouldn't live in their neighborhoods. What's funny about this is we all can barely afford to live in NY - just because we happen to be white does not make me rich. For years, I have had to hear how terrible it must be to live in the ghetto or hood - well soon we will all be learning all too well since the housing market is so terrible.

In these days, with the economics being what it is - not everyone has the option of owning a home. And if they do - does that give anyone the right to rob them of their money?

Muggings in those areas are NOT uncommon. I can't tell you how many calls I'd get from women living in those blocks who desperately wanted to move to Italian Williamsburg or Greenpoint, just out of the Southside. The thing is, those areas are FINE if you use *common sense*, which, as another posted noted, does NOT mean walking home drunk from the L at 4 in the morning. That does not mean it's your fault; that just means BE MINDFUL. This is not the suburbs.

there is apparently a guy in williamsburg who is attacking girls from behind and cutting their faces
Apparently? According to who? This sounds like bullshit. There are dangerous people around, but starting rumors like this is irresponsible. Someone attacking women, yes I believe that is happening. Some "psychopath" sneaking up on women and cutting them? Sounds like an episode of Law and Order.

1st off
#71
Your love for the concept of "The Hood" is so sweet. unfortunately since this is New York City it has absolutely no meaning except an unfortunate affection everyone has to the areas they are from, THE HOOD is a term given to the areas of low income residents to create a false sense of pride which has unfortunately manifested into an endearing idea which keeps people down in those areas, especially youths that grow up wanting to be "Gangstas" instead of something Real - I taught 5th grades in Crown Heights that all lived below the poverty level - their talents were lost because of the influence from people like you who felt for some reason that culture is a Positive thing - the reason of course is your personal fear with doing something in your life - like the bully who is actually a scared little boy.
Anyway with that aside, since this is New York City that means that for the past 400 years all these areas have been going up and down tearing down and rebuilding and tearing down - any areas that are Hoods now 50 years ago were either classic upwardly mobal city scapes (for example Crown Heights) or they were FARMS yeah - East New York was once a farm
Hence 50 years from now your precious Hood will be completely different with completely different people and so on and so on
There is nothing you can do about it
My conclusion is that You should quit Your Whining and realize we live in a horrible world but the one thing that should be is that No One Should Hurt Another Person - End of Story.
No Matter what their reasoning is, it is wrong and if you don't like it Than Tough Shit