Apartment Shooting

[Realia]

1 dead in York Creek Apt shooting

Posted: Sep 19, 2008 05:35 PM
Updated: Sep 20, 2008 08:21 PM

By Jessica Leffler

COMSTOCK PARK, Mich. (WOOD) -- A man was shot to death in his York Creek Apartment. His young nephew was in the apartment at the time but was not injured.

The shooting occurred around 5 p.m. Friday at 4241 Chasseral Drive NW.

Walker police, the Kent County Sheriff's Department and State police arrived at what was described as a very chaotic and very serious situation.

Kris Mathews, 27, was killed. He leaves behind a daughter and a son.

"Obviously, it's just a cruel world," said his brother Donte Mathews. "He's a loving man, a family guy. He did what he had to do for his family. He didn't ever hurt anybody or do anybody wrong. I don't know why he would get done wrong like this."

Investigators say it appears Mathews knew the trio accused in the crime and opened the door to his home for them.

The police are camped out on the outskirts of the apartments searching for the three suspects.

The man that was murdered lived right above me. I didn't hear the gun shots, but just as I was leaving for work the cops showed up and I saw Kris in his apartment dying. I'm still a little freaked by this.

Needless to say I will be moving to a new apartment. The only thing is the lease my boyfriend and I signed doesn't end until April 2009. Does anyone know anything about breaking leases early if you feel unsafe in the place you're living?

Oh, and I still have yet to reread the lease agreement, so I know that information would help a lot. Until I get that though this is all I have to share.

 

[iaredrew]

I'm so sorry you had to see something like that ; ;

You can try talking them out of it for safety reasons but I don't think that will work, never really does.

Most of the time there's a cancellation fee plus a month's worth of rent at market value (the price you usually pay for rent/month is discounted from market). It should all be listed in your leasing papers, if not the office should be more than willing to pull it up for you. Expect to pay out the ass though to get out. I think it costs me about $1500 give or take a few hundred to get out of my lease.

 

[Anttaru]

Assuming you are renting the place, you can sign the lease over to someone else and take your names off of it in the process, and your free. The only thing is, you won't get back your first deposit, which is a good deal for the new lease holder. If you really want out, talk to whoever, or whatever office governs your arrangement.

 

[iaredrew]

Assuming you are renting the place, you can sign the lease over to someone else and take your names off of it in the process, and your free. The only thing is, you won't get back your first deposit, which is a good deal for the new lease holder. If you really want out, talk to whoever, or whatever office governs your arrangement.

Most places here you're not allowed to do that at all with a fixed term lease.

 

[Strid]

A few months back there was a cabby murdered in my building's parking lot. About two days later everyone in the complex got a letter and a form that allowed them to opt out of their lease without any penalties. Seein' as this place is very nice and has a waitin' list a mile long, that would allow them to charge higher rates to make more money, I can see why they'd try to push us already locked in tenants out though. Considerin' I wasn't bothered by the incident, I didn't pursue any information about it though. So I dunno if it's a law or just place by place. My guess is that if you're place isn't anything special they'll try to hold on to you with an iron grip.

 

[exodusamphi]

Properties will either A) Consider the proximity, and judge the level of safety to you (maybe the killers can come back for witnesses), or B) Stick to the writing and say fuck off.

 

[Dejavu]

Well... I was in an apartment that was individual leases when i was down at the University of Arizona and i had a situation where my roommate (that they put me with) went insane and started threatening me over the phone. The complex decided rather than to have us try and work it out they would just cancel the lease for me and my friend and then they evicted the one who was making the threats.

As soon as i said that i was not comfortable living there for safety issues they seemed more than happy to bend the rules of the leasing agreement.

 

[Dejavu]

Oh .. another thing to look for is try to see if you can find any place where you could say that they broke the rental contract because if they broke it normally you will be given the right to opt out of the contract without penalties... It is a two way street ^^.

 

[Realia]

My boyfriend went and talked with the landlord today. She said she understands our concerns and would wave our lease buyout (if we choose to do that) as long as they have a 30 day warning. Which is very good, but means we would still have to pay rent for next month and if we get a new apartment in that time would have to pay THAT apartments rent for the month as well. :| Not sure how we're going to pull that one off.

 

[exodusamphi]

My boyfriend went and talked with the landlord today. She said she understands our concerns and would wave our lease buyout (if we choose to do that) as long as they have a 30 day warning. Which is very good, but means we would still have to pay rent for next month and if we get a new apartment in that time would have to pay THAT apartments rent for the month as well. :| Not sure how we're going to pull that one off.

Just start your lease at the new apartment 2-3 days before your 30 days is up so you only pay those 2-3 days for both, and it gives you time to move.

 

[Celvantes]

/comfort

I'm very sorry to hear this. Good luck getting out of the lease.