Residents complain about crime in West Ghent

Brett Lawson walks with his newborn son in West Ghent. He picked the neighborhood because he felt it was a safe place to start a family, but his car has been broken into a few times, and he’s worried about what’s next.

“I haven’t put my car stereo back in my car because you just never know when it’s going to happen again,” said Lawson.

Then he says they took some classic bicycles he had restored.

“I completely had [it] redone for my girlfriend for her Christmas present and they took it,” Lawson said. “I mean I put hours and hours in that thing. We were distraught when that happened. It was awful.”

Down the street on Claremont Avenue, Amy Johnson returned home from class Monday afternoon.

“Then I saw the wood chips, kind of. They were all along the bottom and hanging out of here and the door was slightly open,” Johnson said. “It was definitely damaged all along the edge.”

Whoever broke in, was in and out quickly, taking Johnson’s TV and video game systems.

“I was really surprised to have my door kicked in in Ghent. I’m leaving now,” Johnson said.

Johnson was already planning on moving. She’s feeling fortunate they didn’t check her bedroom; everything is packed up in boxes, so it would be easy to take.

And she can’t wait to move into her new place after what happened on Monday.

“This is definitely a nice motivating factor to move a little faster,” Johnson said.