What is happening to Calgary!

[Ariadne]

What the heck is happening in Calgary!!!

"A teenage boy was killed last night in what witnesses describe as a pick-axe attack, after a Queensland house party erupted in violence.Friends of the victim said the Grade 12 student suffered a fatal head wound during a confrontation with uninvited guests who crashed a small party at a home located on Queen Alexandra Rd. S.E.
"One of my good buddies got an axe in the head. He was an innocent party in the garage," said one sobbing teen, who asked not to be named."
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=c70bb98c-03fd-44ed-828f-12c4596b89e1&k=71144

Every weekend there are a few murders. It never used to be like this. In fact, I always had to read American news if I wanted to know about how gruesome people are ... but crimes just seems to get worse by the day.

A few weeks ago, a group of thugs was driving around shooting homeless people in the butts ... until one died. Three weeks ago, there was a gang of teenagers that beat another one in a park in a nice neighbourhood until he was critically injured. There is no explanation for these crimes ... just thugs wanting to beat people up.

 

[shadowshiv]

The scary thing is that this is happening everywhere. I am not sure what can be done about, but I hope they figure something out fast.

 

[Ariadne]

It like Clockwork Orange does not only exist in the imagination.

 

[YoungJoonKim]

I assume that you live in Alberta..
Well, that's what happens when a specific region is occupied by "supposedly" booming economy.
Its just natural!
Boom = Crime follows
I know..its just one of my crazy theory hehe
But in my town, there is hardly any crime. Maybe some burglary but..hardly any murder.

 

[Ariadne]

Calgary has always had a low level of crime, but nothing like the random violence that seems to be on the news almost daily. The randomness, or violence for entertainment, is what is different.

 

[roys_elites]

Calgary had one of the lowest homicide rates of any western Canadian city, and still does. I am sure homicides have rised in the last few years and with it the sensationalistic media coverage, but if you look at the overall numbers you are not going to see a huge jump, maybe from 15-20 a few years back to 25-30 today. Factor in the huge population growth as well, and for a city of over a million your shouldnt be to scared to walk the streets ; )

I used to live in Calgary and a good friend of mine was an officer. But yea I have noticed the homeless problems and "gang activity" the last few years.

 

[Ariadne]

There's no sensationalism of crime in Calgary ... it's not that much of an American city. The grade 12 student that had a pick axe stuck into his head last night was buried in the section B of the newspaper and got about 15 seconds on the evening news.

The downtown core has changed and even large companies are advising employees to be careful outside of work hours.

 

[roys_elites]

Just did a quick google search, one article from the Sun...
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2007/09/24/4521189-sun.html

 

[Ariadne]

Here's the important thing to know. Every teenager has a cell phone (well, almost everyone) and when there's a party, each friend texts the address to 10 more friends and so on until over 100 people (many uninvited) arrive at a party. Teenagers spill onto the street and it becomes a mob of drinking teenagers. Interviewed students said picking a party is like going through a shopping list. The pick axe in the face happened when an uninvited guest attacked an invited guest.

Predictions are that the situation will worsen as people send videos of good parties, and more people swarm to them. Many peers at the student's high school knew about the murder within minutes as text messaging spread the word around the city. Many teens said that it's not safe to go to parties anymore because they are always invaded by strangers and trouble.

 

[Jsan]

Calgary always seems to have more than their share of violent youth crime for some reason. Here in Edmonton you get a mix of all sorts of crime but I remember when I was living in Calgary there always seemed to be some sort of High School Brawl happening every other week. Too many young Punks in the city. I don't recall ever going to a bar in Calgary and not seeing at least a couple of fights happen.

 

[gerryh]

Here's the important thing to know. Every teenager has a cell phone (well, almost everyone) and when there's a party, each friend texts the address to 10 more friends and so on until over 100 people (many uninvited) arrive at a party. Teenagers spill onto the street and it becomes a mob of drinking teenagers. Interviewed students said picking a party is like going through a shopping list. The pick axe in the face happened when an uninvited guest attacked an invited guest.

Predictions are that the situation will worsen as people send videos of good parties, and more people swarm to them. Many peers at the student's high school knew about the murder within minutes as text messaging spread the word around the city. Many teens said that it's not safe to go to parties anymore because they are always invaded by strangers and trouble.

This is nothing new. When I was a teen, waaaaaaaaaaaaaay before cell phones, parties were "crashed" back then too. Sometimes with very violent outcomes also. It's just alot easier to hear about it now...... more media.....whether it be newspapers, TV, or Internet.

 

[Ariadne]

I'm pretty sure the violence at parties has gone up in the last year or two. I can't imagine what 100 teenagers are going through after witnessing a 19 year old plant a pick ax in a 17 year old's head. It seem like teens today aren't aware of the severity of their actions, or their tempers get the better of them, or they're tards ... but something is wrong.

 

[Frances]

I have only just joined this forum and was checking out threads. Calgary is by no means alone in teenage violence. I live in the UK and although our gun laws are very different from yours, violence amongst teenagers or towards the population at large by teenagers is very much on the increase. Gun violence is on the increase but the majority of our violence seems to be stabbings. I live just outside one of our bigger towns, but we have had 3 murders in the last couple of weeks. One was a prostitute, one was a teenager and the worst was a 4 year old little boy by his own father. All were stabbings. The frightening thing is that often when they are caught they show no remorse and see it almost as a status symbol or street cred.
I am not just being an old fogey or living in the past, but when I was young murders and physical violence were few and far between and virtually never heard of by teenagers. I think it is a sad reflection of todays modern world that we all find ourselves in this state.

 

[hermanntrude]

I'm from the UK and moved to Edmonton.

I see the same stuff in both countries. Teenagers will always be a bit rowdy and a few of them will always take it WAY too far.