Murders Ignored In Phoenix

Richard is back living with Steve and me again.

How that relates to the title is a story. I'll start in the middle.

I was on the phone when I spotted him walking up to the front door. It puzzled me because he knows we keep that one locked. Also puzzling was the fact he didn't knock, just stood there. Ending my call, I let him in.  Being late afternoon, and him looking like he was at the end of his endurance, my first act was bringing him a bottle of water, which he gulped down in about a minute. It gave me time to wonder that he arrived without laundry, his most recent reason for showing up. Something was obviously going on.

We hadn't talked long before I went to wake up Steve. Even though he'd only been sleeping less than an hour, this needed to be a three-way conversation.

Rich has been out of touch for weeks now, not completely unexpected, due both to his not wanting to take a chance on bringing the virus here since he is unable to social distance, and the fact that his phone(s) keep getting stolen from him. Just like everything else, now, while he's been staying at the homeless shelter, CASS.

(For those who care to know, CASS is at 230 South 12th Ave., sandwiched between downtown and the capitol. The "tent city" spreads out from there.)

That was one of the first things he told me. When he informed me he'd left the shelter, I assumed the thefts were the primary reason he'd finally left. That's when he informed me about how dangerous it had become, or at least the beginning of the information. It took a day to get the rest of it from him. But that is what prompted me to wake Steve. What I had in mind had to be a family decision, taking him back in.

The part we both heard then from Rich is that there is a local gang in that area, and somehow they had set their eyes on Rich when some of their things went missing. They had taken all of his belongings as the first step in what they considered retaliation, and he now had to try to avoid being seen by any of them. The threat wasn't over. He'd left the shelter, had been sleeping in an alley under a bush, and so far had kept safe.

Rich never actually asked to move back in with us, but I asked Steve to help decide. He was instantly welcomed back. Now it was my turn to get moving. It would be dark soon, and Rich had a few things he'd accumulated after leaving CASS still sitting under that bush in the alley. I got dressed for outside and drove him there to pick them up.

His "new digs" were a couple miles from the shelter, and the bush was a very full white oleander hedge handing over the alley on one side, wide enough for him to work his way in between branches and become completely hidden once inside. He marked his location by some empty cabinets that had been tossed out and cluttered the other side of the alley. In fact, the entire alley was narrowed both by this hedge and other detritus tossed along the other side, making it a challenge for my little hatchback to dodge the large holes untended in the pavement. I just put the flashers on and hoped nobody else would need to use the alley for a few minutes as I now completely blocked it even from pedestrians.

I did mention that oleanders are poisonous when Rich noted they had been drippping sap on him, prompting a check for scratches to see if attention was needed. All the scratches he bore had scabbed over, however. Anyway, I had already insisted on him taking a full shower once home, doing laundry, and leaving any other items outside for a couple days to let any possible virus particles disappear before bringing them into the house, and this would also take care of any new oleander sap before it might cause issues. Not sure if it's a contact poison, if the contact isn't with the digestive system. but why take chances?

This was all on Thursday. Friday the full story came out. Rich and I were back in the car, back in Phoenix. Between the thefts and the virus, he had been unable to start his new job.  Primary was having no communication, via phone or internet access. Even libraries were closed so there was nobody else's connection available either. Finally here, he was able to let the IRS know where to find him to send his check, enabling him to open a bank account, get a phone and wardrobe, and a new start.

First thing we did, now that he was cleaned up, was head to the bank where they were holding his badge for his upcoming security job. While there, he got his appointment for next Tuesday to start orientation. The last step, coordinating the location and shift for work, is delayed because the person handling that is out sick.

Uh-oh. Let's hope it's anything but that! Maybe just a case of the Friday Flu? He'll know more next week.

There was plenty of time for conversation on this trip, filling in the blanks. What he told me absolutely chilled me. In the time he's spent at the shelter, he's made friends, found out who he can absolutely trust, and who not. It is a fairly long-term tight-knit community, depending only on themselves and the latest charitable handouts. Tent walls are thin, and secrets difficult to keep. I have no reason to doubt any part of what he told me.

I've previously mentioned that for blocks around the shelter, homeless people who don't make it in are camped out in tents or whatever kinds of shelter they can organize. These are being preyed upon. There has been a series of overdose deaths. Not surprising, you think? Thing is, a large number of them are known in their community  never to have used drugs, particularly injectible ones. These deaths are all injection ODs. There is one case Rich is aware of where a victim was in trouble with this same gang Rich has been trying to avoid, and it is believed widely through the community that the gang is responsible. Their primary "business" is drugs, and this particular victim was a customer, perhaps a minor dealer who didn't pay up. Or perhaps the gang had as much reason to declare him an enemy as they had with Rich.

The cops of course are aware. They are labeling these deaths as homicides. But nothing seems to be getting done about it, other than hauling bodies away and filing the requisite reports. To be fair, they don't usually go around telling everybody what they are doing about any crimes that don't make it into the news, so they may in fact be investigating. But nothing, nothing is making it into the local news. In the time not spent on Covid 19, weather, and graduations, it seems you have to be a cop who died in the line of duty to get any air time. Somebody murdering the homeless just doesn't cut it.