Woman shot to death in Buckhead apartment building
I'm not reacting to this as a wrongful death lawyer, but as a neighbor, husband and father. Any sudden death is awful. Death at the hands of a violent criminal who invades your home is especially horrifying.
This is a shock to me. The Gramercy apartments building is just about a block from my church. I ran past Gramercy apartments regularly from before the beginning of construction, observing the demolition of the apartments that stood there before and the construction of this building. For 12 years my office was just around the block from Gramercy apartments. Now I drive past Gramercy at least twice a day. A couple my wife and I knew in our church were murdered in their home in Dunwoody just a couple of weeks ago. And as a father of a young woman in college far away from home, it makes me think about her safety.
It is premature to speculate whether the apartment management company would have any civil liability in this incident. However, I have been on plaintiff and defense sides of such cases arising at apartment complexes in metro Atlanta over the past 20 years. A few of the the potentially relevant points include:
- Whether there were prior criminal incidents, e.g., burglaries, assaults, etc., on the property or nearby, which would put the property owner or management on notice of the need for enhanced security.
- Whether the victim was targeted for personal reasons (generally no liability of owner or management) or was the victim of a random crime of opportunity that could have been prevented with better premises security (might be liability).
- Whether there were problems with broken or defective locks or security systems.
Investigation begins with the police. Fortunately, Atlanta has a pretty professional homicide unit. Any evaluation of potential civil liability comes later.
But first the victim's family deserves space and time to grieve.
Ken Shigley, author of Georgia Law of Torts: Trial Preparation & Practice, is A Certified Civil Trial Advocate of the National Board of Trial Advocacy, and has been listed as a "Super Lawyer" (Atlanta Magazine), among the "Legal Elite" (Georgia Trend Magazine), and in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers . He practices law at the Atlanta law firm of Chambers, Aholt & Rickard, and has broad experience in catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, products liability, spinal cord injury, brain injury and burn injury cases. He is also president-elect of the State Bar of Georgia. This post is subject to our ethical disclaimer.
Mr. Shigley,
In attempt to address some of your speculations:
Gramercy has had several break-ins of this kind even as recent as the past year, none of which have resulted in any action or notification of residents other than the occasional notice on our doors. Obviously none of these prior door bashings and break-ins resulted in homicide, but I know of several people who went to the leasing office asking for cameras placed in the hallways. Nothing is ever done about it-their excuse is that cameras are not cost effective. As a young female who lives alone, this is incredibly unsettling. It is a shame that someone has to be murdered before security issues are taken seriously. Perhaps now that someones life has been taken, they will perceive it to be cost effective. Perhaps they would have a better ID on the suspect if they had cameras in the hallway. From the buzz around the complex, they have no idea who the person is.
The back yard chain link fence has been dismantled on the alternate side of the complex from where the murder occurred--easily accessed from the yards that back up to the complex. It has been like this for several weeks.
Additionally, last fall, ten cars were broken into in the middle of the night, driven around and re-parked on different floors. One of which was stolen and driven straight out of the garage. We were told that placing cameras inside the parking garage was too expensive and not worth it. However, I'm sure the people who own the vandalized cars would disagree. A few weeks ago the second and third floor of the parking garage went without lighting--I came home around 10pm and couldnt see a foot in front of my face. It was terrifying to walk alone to my apartment and absolutely unnecessary for the lights to be out for that long.
Every other day the gate to the complex is broken-- they literally have a room full of broken gates off to the side. Because the metal gate opens upward, people will follow you in a drive through the side arm. They just keep replacing it, and it just keeps happening.
We have a "security guard" who parks his volvo outside every friday and saturday night to "protect" the complex. The only successful thing that gets accomplished on these nights is the booting of cars without resident stickers who are not parked in designated guest parking. I have come home late at night on these nights and have not seen a security guard in sight--just an old volvo. Just having a squad car parked outside would be a helpful deterrent.
Mind you, every year I have lived here, they raise my rent. There are very few apartment complexes in Buckhead that are this expensive. I don't live here because its fancy. I live here because its one of the few places my parents approved of with respect to safety. I moved out of another complex because this exact thing was happening. People who have lived here for only a year just havent been here long enough to hear of all the stuff that has happened.
Appearances are obviously decieving.
Every incident in the complex has gone unresolved as far as I know. No additional security measures have been taken. Feel free to email me if you would like any more info. If there is any legal action that might help push the complex to install some additional security measures, I would be happy to help.
In the meantime, I will be purchasing some home defense materials.
I have to say that I just moved out due to lack of security. I went into great detail with the Gramercy about the issues of domestic violence, their policies versus their practices among other things. It is not a safe place to live and the majority of that has to do with the staff.
Hi Amy i read ur complaint concerning security at the complex and am sadden to hear about the lack of good security. that was my friend that lost her life on july 14 at those apartments we were hoping that the security cameras where in place so this crime could be solved. when i found out about the lack of security it crushed my heart. i had faith in the security of buckhead apartment
I too have always been concerned about the security of the Gramercy Apts. My adult child lives there. I have been there several times when people are just "parked" on the top floor of the parking deck and sitting in their cars for long lengths of time. Also, several times the lights on entire floors have been completely out in the parking garage. The security entrance gate has been broken. It was unsafe before the murder.
Gramercy is now willing to release its tenants before the end of the lease. But do tenants have any recourse regarding getting a full deposit refund, some free time in the apartment (one month+/-), moving expenses, etc. Considering this was not an anticipated move?
I too have always been concerned about the security of the Grammercy Apts. My adult child lives there. I have been there several times when people are just "parked" on the top floor of the parking deck and sitting in their cars for long lengths of time. Also several times the lights on entire floors have been out in the parking garage. The security entrance gate has been broken. It was unsafe before the murder. Yet-the first time I visited my car was booted for parking in a spot marked for future Grammercy renters. I was assured this was ok. But it was not.
Grammercy is now willing to release its tenants before the end of the lease. But do tenants have any recourse regarding getting a full deposit refund, some free time in the apartment (one month) moving expenses, etc. Considering this not an aticipated move?
I too have always been concerned about the security of the Grammercy Apts. My adult child lives there. I have been there several times when people are just "parked" on the top floor of the parking deck and sitting in their cars for long lengths of time. Also several times the lights on entire floors have been out in the parking garage. The security entrance gate has been broken. It was unsafe before the murder. Yet-the first time I visited my car was booted for parking in a spot marked for future Grammercy renters. I was assured this was ok. But it was not.
Grammercy is now willing to release its tenants before the end of the lease. But do tenants have any recourse regarding getting a full deposit refund, some free time in the apartment (one month) moving expenses, etc. Considering this not an aticipated move?
I lived here for over a year. I can attest to everything written by Amy. The staff is complacent and refers to their complex as "distinguished luxury living"
The only thing they are concerned with are placing notices on your doors about late fees if you pay your water bill a day late.
I had a friend who locked himself out of his apartment and because the leasing office was closed, had to kick in his own door. He did it around 10pm at night, with one kick, and no one coming out into the hallways to see what the disturbance was.
I whole-heartedly agree that the leasing staff is at fault due to the fact that there were several issues brought up with them from residents they chose not to prioritize-mainly our safety.
If the cameras had been installed in the hallways, as they should have been-as we supposedly pay for "luxury living", perhaps this murder would never even have happened-and perhaps the killer would be behind bars as we speak right now.
I hope someone takes them to court. They deserve to be made an example of, if nothing less.
