Just another beggar asking for money?

[jmo2003bu]

Man refused to give beggar money, shot

It makes me sick to read stuff like this. Call me paranoid, call me a profiler...call me whatever you want. But this is why I my hand moves close to my glock when approached by people asking for money and I'm not sorry for it. This happens way too often.

Sorry if this has alread been posted

 

[Scarnucci]

I had always assumed that when frequenting the Lafayette Square Mall area, your chances of getting shot were 50-50 anyways...

Seriously though, after the woman getting carjacked by a panhandler a few weeks back, now this...I would imagine the hammer to fall on these guys. I understand that the issue has come up for debate in the statehouse before, only to be shot down. (Freedom of speech issues, perhaps?)

The corners cooled down right after the car jacking, but the same people are at the same hot-spots that I have to pass through.

And do they get around!!! The same guy I've seen downtown regularly was up at 96th and 69 a weekend or two ago.

Perhaps when the seasons change, they'll migrate south for the winter.

 

[alxjmrk]

Perhaps when the seasons change, they'll migrate south for the winter.

god i hope so.... i like my north side

 

[drgnrobo]

my son is attending college in chicago & the panhandlers are thick .Best solution is to look straight ahead when they shake their cup at you. this seems to be what the majority of chicagoans do .When you do ante up some change they get t'd off & ask for more.Hate that town (cant carry)

 

[Dryden]

I do just the opposite. I look directly at them. I make eye contact to let them know I see them and am aware of them. I'll have my right hand in my pocket gripping my S&W 642, while my left hand is free to ward off and defend.
I tend to agree with the old saying "When amongst preditors, don't look like meat."

 

[Mgderf]

Did you read the replies?

Someone actually wrote that they think it should be made against the law to shoot somebody. "Too many people are getting shot".!

I would have to disagree. I don't think ENOUGH are being shot!

 

[GuyRelford]

I am an extremely tolerant person, and I realize that many panhandlers are only on the streets because of the failures of our health care system with respect to people with significant psychological problems, but I have ZERO tolerance for any beligerant or aggressive behavior from a street person. If they try to touch me or show any signs of aggression, they are going to get hurt (all within the bounds of the law, of course).

I'm a big guy and I can only assume that anyone crazy enough to try to put their hands on me because I refused to put money in their cup is crazy enough to do something more severe. And I will always respond accordingly.

 

[hookedonjeep]

I just tell them "Sorry, but all my spare change I am saving for ammo"!

 

[jmo2003bu]

I just tell them "Sorry, but all my spare change I am saving for ammo"!

This is great! I'm going to start using it

 

[stilllearning09]

This is crazy. My guess is that panhandler wanted to see his wallet and was going to rob the guy anyway.

 

[r6vr6]

This is crazy. My guess is that panhandler wanted to see his wallet and was going to rob the guy anyway.

+1

I've only been to one Burlington coat factory but from the clientele I saw there you should expect to be shot at in the parking lot at least once.

 

[Boilers]

I guess if I had to modify my thoughts on this, I would do something like this.
In Chicago I used to do this.

Just carry McD's gift certificates. Those small cards they pass out for free sandwiches and stuff. I would give those to someone asking for a handout. And it would not bother me really.

Of course if it looked like a ruse for larger extortion or robbery, I would have to defend myself.

 

[Mr. Habib]

I just tell them "Sorry, but all my spare change I am saving for ammo"!

When they ask if I have any spare change I just say "yeah, I keep it right here next to my marketable job skills," shuts them up real quick.

 

[UltraRick]

As the economy continues to tank, I am afraid this will become more common. God I hope not!

 

[ihateiraq]

thats why "Bum Fights" was such a good idea.

 

[Militarypol21]

Yup... just another shooting at good ol' Lafayette Square.

A few years back when I use to work there, myself and a few buddies where just getting off work when we witnessed an old beat up looking car sitting quite far out in parking lot. 3 shots were fired up into the air from the driver side windown and then the car stormed off. We contacted IMPD and located the shell casings (but left them where they lay). TWENTY-FIVE minutes later ONE officer showed up, got out of his vehicle, picked up the casings, said thanks, and then drove off.

As for these panhandlers... I'm getting sick and tired of all these people standing on the side of the road now days hoping for a few cents here and there. Yes, the economy is rough but why not spend the day looking for a job rather than standing on the street corner... oh, and if you have a gun/ammo... stop complaining you have no money... especially when you waist a perfectly good bullet on someone that won't give you money!

oh... and I just heard from a family member the other day that Indy just posted a new law stating panhandlers are no longer aloud to stand on the side of the road that they had to be "X-amount" of feet away??? Any truth behind that?

 

[hemicharger]

I dont feel sorry for any of those beggers. They reak of **** and booze. If they wanted too, they could get a job being a day laboror like a lot of illigal mexicans do. As much as I dont like illigals, I must admit I admire there work ethic. So I dont give bums anything. Not even the lint out of my pocket. I worked downtown EMS for years so I got to deal with these people on a daily basis. Sometimes even more than once a day. Im all about helping people, but if I see that you have done nothing to help yourself first, you aint gettin a dime from me.
Last week, some guy walked into my firehouse at 6am and stated asking me for money becouse his baby mamas sisters cousins car was out of gas. I told his absolutly not. He got all pissed and started cussing me as he walked out the door. I told him the public assistance office next door opens at 9 am. Thses idiots are getting braver. I work with 13 other guys who were ready to stomp the living @#$% out of this guy if he showed any kind of aggresion before he got out of the firehouse. Why would anyone think its a good idea to walk into a firehoue at 6am and demand money then get talk smack in front of 13 guys who's house you just walked into?

 

[spartan933]

I was running around downtown Chicago all day yesterday and I noticed that there were a lot more panhandlers on the streets than normal. Normally, you don't see bums standing on the road and walking between the cars asking for cash. Usually, they are on the sidewalks of the main thoroughfares. But, yesterday, I had a couple of these bums walk right up to my window with their signs, asking for cash. I wanted to get out and beat the hell out of them.

Don't sit there looking at me like a sad dog. I just looked at them and shook my head.

One time, I think it was a prank or a bet, I was on Michigan Avenue and some dude is sitting out in front of a bar, drinking a beer, with a bucket and a sign that said, "Honestly, I need a beer." I gave the guy $5. I respected his honesty.

Anyways, it's sad how these panhandlers, bums, etc. have come into their positions in life. But, every person comes to a point of desperation that will allow them to do anything at any given moment. They eventually can lose touch with "morality".

 

[TripleL]

There are different kinds of panhandlers. I've seen "professionals" at interstate exits get picked up by a car after their shift. Same men or women on several days and then rotated to other sites.

There's the homeless, usually downtown, down on their luck and soon to be joined by a lot more due to the stinking economy. Then there's the Lafayette Square thieves and junkies, armed and ready to kill if they don't get a fix.

 

[Militarypol21]

I have a good buddy that is a State Trooper in way southern Indiana that once told me he knows a guy that stands at an off-ramp to the interstate somewhere around the Fishers Area that was making more money an hour than he was making working for the State Police.

Which makes sense if you think about it...

If you were only making something like $15/hour (8 hour days), imagine how many vehicles come down that off ramp in an hours time. If every one (or even every other one) gave him $1 he would be making a lot more than $15/hour (taxfree).

And as for downtown... sitting outside PF Changs waiting to be seated I witnessed a panhandler that pocketed all the change people gave him in his pocket to make his cup look empty.