Apartment dwellers on edge as police clamp down on teens
MOUNT HEALTHY – Danielle Wissel sleeps in her living room now – after bullets came through the window of her daughter’s bedroom and her house was broken into twice.
She’s afraid to sleep upstairs in her bedroom, afraid doing so would leave her unable to protect her children if someone were to break into her home.
Wissel, 30, has been living in the Clovernook Apartments in Mount Healthy for the past four years with her two daughters, stepdaughter and boyfriend.
Mount Healthy has enacted a curfew in the Clovernook complex through the beginning of October. The curfew is 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. for anyone under age 17.
During curfew hours, all minors must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian – or be on the way home, according to a police Facebook post.
Wissel and other residents in the complex say the curfew isn’t enough.
Teenagers are still loitering outside at all hours of the night. And many of them are armed, Wissel said.
She said she has seen kids fighting, having sex and pulling guns on one another.
Her home and others around her have been broken into and property stolen. People have been shot and car windows shot through.
Wissel was sleeping in her apartment when a bullet came through the window in her daughter’s bedroom. Though the shooting happened more than a month ago, there is still a hole in the glass in the kids’ bedroom. The bullet is still lodged in the ceiling.
“It seems like the police aren’t doing anything,” Wissel said.
‘I’ve never seen anything like this’
There are 466 apartments in the Clovernook complex, which is on Compton Road near the eastern border with Springfield Township.
Charnise Nelson, 32, has been living in the apartment complex with her two teenage sons for the past two years.
While she believes the curfew has helped, she said the police and apartment building owners need to do more.
“It’s like they have a little gang going on out there,” Nelson said. “I’ve lived in other parts of Mount Healthy and I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Both women are afraid to let their children play outside. The violence has only gotten worse throughout the pandemic, they said, and this summer has not improved the situation.
“They’re never quiet. You can hear them in your sleep,” Wissel said.
August saw a number of incidents at the complex that pushed the city to enact the curfew:
h A 19-year-old was shot to death in the in the 7700 block of Clovernook Avenue in the Clovernook Apartment complex on Aug. 12. Another 19-year-old was charged with murder for that shooting death.
h On Aug. 24, a child was walking home from school on Clovernook Avenue when he was assaulted and had a gun pulled on him. He made his way home, and then five men broke in and assaulted him, according to Mount Healthy police. He needed to be hospitalized.
h On Aug. 25, officers found a schoolage child smoking marijuana in a car with a man in the 7900 block of Clovernook. The child was charged with breaking daytime school curfew, and the man was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a child.
The women said that these crimes do not scratch the surface of what goes on at Clovernook. Nelson said she doesn’t even bother calling the police. Wissel calls every time she sees something.
The Enquirer made multiple attempts to reach out to the apartment building managers and owners and were unable to reach them. No messages were returned.
Juveniles found in violation of the curfew will be detained and only released to a parent or guardian, the police Facebook post said. If parents cannot be reached, the child will be transported to juvenile detention.
This special curfew will be enforced through Oct. 5, but the city will revisit the issue at its next meeting. Council meets on at 7 p.m. Oct. 5.
Police officials said in their Facebook post that the curfew is a “result of the increase in violence involving juveniles.”
‘Too soon to tell if it is working’
Vincent L. Demasi, the Mount Healthy police chief, said the curfew came after two weeks of violence and complaints of large groups of teenagers in the apartment complex at night.
“Within a week, we had two shootings and a stabbing at the complex, so we were grasping at straws,” said City Manager William Kocher. “It’s not solving all the issues. This is really just a tool for our officers.”
Kocher says the department has 11 full-time officers in addition to the chief.
City Council modified the existing citywide 10 p.m. curfew to 9 p.m. in the apartment complex during an Aug. 17 meeting.
“We enforce curfew, we don’t pick and choose what laws we enforce,” Demasi said. “We’re trying to get compliance, not arrests.”
Police confirmed there have been 77 arrests in the Clovernook Apartments between Jan. 1 and Sept. 15. Police and emergency agencies have responded to the complex 640 times so far in 2021.
Demasi said the goal is to get all of these kids back home to their parents. If the police cannot get a hold of the parents, the children will get a trespassing violation and can be taken to the juvenile detention center.
“It’s too soon to tell if it is working or not, but so far, so good, it seems to have the desired affect,” Demasi said.
“We’re not getting complaints about kids destroying stuff. We haven’t had to arrest anyone, and we’ve just gotten to connect some kids with their parents.”