This is just crazy. Couple arrested for moving into their own home

[mfcorey1]

Atlanta:The Newton County Sheriff’s Office is investigating why a couple was confronted at gunpoint by neighbors and then arrested and forced to spend the night in jail when they tried to move into the home they had just purchased, Channel 2 Action News reported.

Jean Kalonji, an immigrant from the Congo, said that being confronted by armed neighbors brought back painful memories.
Channel 2 Action News Jean Kalonji, an immigrant from the Congo, said that being confronted by armed neighbors brought back painful memories.

The Kalonji family had just closed on a foreclosed home and were told by their real estate agent they should go over to the house and change the locks.

But when Jean Kalonji and his wife, Angelica, started working at the home, an armed man and another person who appeared to be the man’s son allegedly confronted them.

“He say to put the hands up and get out from the house, otherwise he would shoot us,” the husband told Channel 2.

The neighbors didn’t believe the couple when they told them they had bought the home and called the Newton County Sheriff’s Office. The Kalonjis didn’t have the closing papers with them, so deputies arrested them, charged them with loitering and prowling and took them to jail.

Yvette Harris, the couple’s real estate agent, said they never should have been arrested.

“They rightfully own this house,” Harris said.

Kalonji, who grew up in the Congo, said the experience brought back painful memories.

“There, they put me down with the gun to my head, and come here, the same,” he said.

Mark Mitchell, spokesman for the Newton Sheriff’s Office, said authorities are “looking into it, exactly what occurred, why it occurred.”

A person at the neighbors’ house said no one wanted to talk to Channel 2 about the incident.

http://www.ajc.com/news/couple-held-at-gunpoint-1423138.html

[htuttle]

1. Welcome to the neighborhood!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

44. Just don't try borrowing a cup of sugar. You'll be shot for possession of coke.

[dkf]

2. Too many stories of squatters have gotten people suspicious of everyone.

[eomer]

5. Yes, good that they moved to arrest possible squatters before they got away.

If they had waited even a few minutes the squatters might have been gone because that's what they do - move in for a few minutes and then flee before anyone can catch them. That's why there's no time to check whether they are in fact the new owners as they claimed. Or better yet, just shoot them and let God sort it out.

[obamanut2012]

6. Seriously

Good answer to a reply.

[freshwest]

27. +1

[socialist_n_TN]

36. Your last sentence is what VERY easily could have happened.............

Did you forget the thingy though?

[eomer]

37. Surely the *sarcasm* thingy wasn't necessary.

And I agree that it could have ended even worse, with people dead. There are consequences to this growing mania for solving more and more problems with guns, both by the police and by civilians.

[socialist_n_TN]

39. Yeah, you're right........

It probably wasn't necessary. Looks like everybody got it without it. But don't you just love it?

And IMO, what this proliferation of SYG laws do is allow the general public the "freedom" to enforce their biases with deadly force. The same freedom the police have had forever. Now EVERY nutso can have legal protection for killing black people. Or Latinos. Or communists. Or union workers. Just give it time and it will filter down to ALL of us except the fascists.

[eomer]

45. Spot on, as Thom says. (eom)

[me b zola]

83. ^^^THIS^^^

Very well said.

[fishwax]

97. .

good points

[fasttense]

107. I love your reply eomer. n/t

[yardwork]

7. Because Georgia has no history whatsoever of keeping black people from owning homes. /sarcasm

[Occulus]

10. Yeah, they fill the headlines daily...

there's no room for anything else on the front page...

[TheKentuckian]

20. Dealing with squatters is not their duty. They should have been arrested on the same charges

plus threatening with a deadly weapon and/or terroristic threatening.

[freshwest]

29. Yes, they should. Let them call the police first, not wave their phallic symbols first.

[Cirque du So-What]

22. We can always count on you to excuse abhorrent behavior

although this 'excuse' falls flat.

[liberalhistorian]

25. Why am I so NOT surprised

to see you defending this bullshit? Next thing you'll be saying that race had nothing to do with it and we need to wait for all of the facts 'cause we just don't know, and that the neighbors had a right to confront with their guns.

[Igel]

35. Fear of squatters, not so much.

But every time a house in my neighborhood is emptied by its inhabitants I watch it when I can.

Every time a car or truck pulls up I check out any signage on the vehicle. Inspector? From a bank? Landscaping folk keeping the weeds down?

Or somebody ripping out appliances, wiring, stealing fixtures? Just vandalizing the house for the fun of it?

When I was househunting there were a lot of houses with holes in the wall where the vandals (apologies to the real Vandals) found plastic pipe. Housing without stoves or fridges that had them when the occupants moved out.

The house we finally got hadn't been broken into. (I assume some of the damage I fixed was due to the bitterness of the previous occupants, who managed to have cable and satellite TV, 3 landlines plus several cell phones, etc., but couldn't afford $1100/month in mortgage/escrow.) However I did spend a day fixing the fence that neighborhood kids knocked down for the heck of it and cleaning up glass on the back porch from where kids had decided to trash stuff the former owners left behind and add broken soda/beer bottles to the mix.

[Diclotican]

46. Igel

Igel

Don't feel bad using the name Vandal - as the Vandals was a nasty tribe, who really made the late antiquities a hell for the romans....

Diclotican

[eShirl]

104. I think the Romans knew a thing or two about being nasty

and making hell for their enemies. That's just how the ancient peoples rolled.

[Diclotican]

106. eShirl

eShirl

Oh yes they did... When they was building their little empire they did horrible thing to their enemies, and could be rather nasty to others - but when the empire was stabilized, and the "best" emperors was put into charge, after the republic was dead that is, it was universal stated that the roman Empire was at peace, and inside the empire peace prospered for more than 250 year... Under the aegis of roman governors.. Some bad, some good, some just did their job as best as they could...

Diclotican

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

86. A good friend of ours (for 30 years) died a couple of years back

When his brother showed up to clean the place out and get it ready to sell, he found someone had come and taken the water heater.

[Rex]

28. Nice sarcasm there!

.

[trumad]

34. and to many of your dumbass posts.

[dionysus]

57. +1000000000000000000000000000

[Aerows]

93. Said the same thing

well, mostly. I expect I'll get a ding and a hide, and don't particularly care.

[sabrina 1]

38. Not fearful of 'everyone'. Fearful of people who, to them, do not belong in their

neighborhood.

I think that's pretty obvious. I wonder how many White people, moving into a new home they've held at gun-point assuming they must be squatters?

[dkf]

40. Frankly I would not have been suspicious of anyone squatting til I saw all the posts cheering on

This behavior.

[Rex]

71. So post #2 is just pure speculation?

[me b zola]

84. You were the second person to respond to this thread

[Cali_Democrat]

96. So you're suspicious of squatters because of posts you saw on DU that allegedly cheered this on?

[Iggo]

41. Squatters should be killed.

Death to trespassers and thieves.

[coalition_unwilling]

118. And let's forgo the formality of a trial, shall we? Trials and due process

are so late-20th Century.

(in case it's needed)

[pasto76]

48. thats a bullshit excuse

the shitheads have zero ground to monitor, patrol or conduct any other business on property that is not theirs. Do you carry proof that you own your house? Shouldnt you carry your mortgage papers then? I expect in your head you think that's a stupid point, but if you want to offer something other than "they were black/foreigners" (which is what you reply really says), then you have to accept that. It's OK for them to get arrested, it's OK for you to get arrested.

[azurnoir]

49. so seriously here your advocating for people to confront

those they think are squatters with a gun? why did they just not call the sheriff's in the first place, unless of course calling the sheriff consisted of looking over their shoulder and yelling "hey Roy looky at what we got us here"
it's one thing to be suspicious it's another to go point a gun in someones face

BTW I live in a city neighborhood where we have had problems with squatters including ones that attempted to open a meth lab in an abandon house, no one in their right mind does what these people did

[Blue_Tires]

50. You seriously think this has anything to do with squatters' rights?

FFS

[Honeycombe8]

110. I do. I read an article about the squatter problem. It's happened in my area.

It takes a lot of doing to get them outta there. Legal process and all. In the meantime, they don't care for the property properly, become part of the community, etc.

[dionysus]

56. once again defending heinous bullshit.

[nadinbrzezinski]

59. Not that I have checked on the story fully

But
Let me take a guess...new owners are black and heroic paranoid eighbors are white...

Just a guess. I mean them %#^* don't belong.

Oh and I doubt it has much to do with squatters who usually don't change locks.

[paulk]

88. actually, if you watch the video

one of the "new owners", the wife - is white.

[nadinbrzezinski]

91. Ooh much worst thn I thought.

It's a deep fear in the US.

[CreekDog]

60. don't you want fairness for these people as you do for Mr. Zimmerman?

guess not.

[CreekDog]

61. should the people who did this be sued and/or charged?

they did falsely arrest and imprison people.

are you saying they can just go, "oops, my bad"?

[tblue37]

67. I sure hope someone advises these homeowners to sue their nasty neighbors. nt

[pnwmom]

99. They absolutely should. n/t

[jpak]

64. If they had been white - there would be no problem with the racist neighborhood vigilantes

racial profile fail

yup

[MattBaggins]

68. With the silly SYG laws

Either party could have shot the other. Question is which individuals would have actually been arrested for it?

[Aerows]

92. Dear LORD.

You come up with this?

You are consistent, at least. How you have managed to have friends (or not) speaks to your abilities.

Good grief. Get a dog or a cat or something and learn some compassion.

On the other hand, just learn some compassion and leave innocents out of it. For crying out loud.

[pnwmom]

100. Too many self-appointed vigilantes have gotten hold of too many guns. n/t

[UnrepentantLiberal]

105. Shouldn't you be posting at the not liberal website?

[Honeycombe8]

108. I think that's probably it. The people didn't have any proof they owned the home,

I guess, so the neighbors wanted to prevent squatting. Once someone squats, it takes a while and a legal court proceeding to get them out.

There may have been a language problem, too, since it sounds like they don't speak English very well.

The better course of action would've been to call whoever owned the house (the mortgage company or tax authority) to see if they'd sold the house & notify them of someone changing the locks.

[exboyfil]

3. The only way for this crap to stop

is for the police to arrest the the neighbors with guns and charge them with assault and menacing or whatever else would be appropriate.

If this couple had a CCW, then how would this have ended?

[Kaleva]

16. I'm very curious as to why the neigbors didn't get a trip to the jail

They had no legal right to go onto property they didn't own and threaten to shoot the people they found there.

[MattBaggins]

72. They did have the right

If Georgia has the really crappy SYG laws (being Georgia I suspect they do); then you only have to think someone is breaking into a house to shoot them.

How does one define "reasonable suspicion"? This is America and being black is reasonable suspicion.

[Kaleva]

74. But if they didn't have prior permisson from whoever owned the foreclosed home..

then I don't see how they had the right to go there armed and threaten to shoot the couple unless they left.

[MattBaggins]

76. Some of the threads on the Sam Moody case

have the SYG laws and from the crappy way the laws were written, it is defensible that you can shoot someone for "breaking" into someone else house or even a car on the street.

They are horribly written.

[obamanut2012]

111. SYG laws don't allow you to trespass and brandish at who you find there

That's not even a Castle Doctrine-type law. Those type laws would have protected the owners in this case, not their Dirty Harry neighbors.

[ladjf]

80. "Shoot first and ask questions later. nt

[blueamy66]

47. but I'm afraid that this won't happen in my lifetime

Who has the time and effort to watch a house, with their gun cocked, ready to take the law into their own hands?

get a life

[MattBaggins]

70. Apparently people like these two, and the ones at Gravine, and Zimmerman

[MattBaggins]

69. With many of the SYG laws

the neighbors had the right to do this.

"Reasonable suspicion" is all they have to claim to trespass on a neighbors property and shoot some one they think is there to burgle. They saw black people in a white neighborhood and that's good enough. If the black couple had been armed as well and shot people approaching them with weapons drawn and pointed at them; I am certain they would have been in jail if they had fired on the white people.

[robinlynne]

82. I agree. at the least. Imagine how the new couple feels coming home every day with neighbors like th

that....

[newspeak]

115. and all the deputies had to do, instead of arresting the couple

was call their RE agent or the RE office. Instead, they humiliated them by handcuffing them and taking them to jail.

[DrDan]

4. more neighbors with guns - they are lucky to be alive

[Kalidurga]

13. that was my first thought.

I am glad I didn't read about two new home owners that were shot dead by neighbors and noone knew why. I doubt that SYG, would be appropriate here. No one forces a neighbor to confront a possibly dangerous person, with or without a gun. The burden of proof I would think would be on the shooter if they shot even a burglar if that burglar was unarmed. Where is the threat to life and limb. In any case they sheriff it seems should have access to home sales records so this is kind of weird.

[DrDan]

17. seems like it just turned over - so the records may not have been available

Also, the way these SYG laws are written, it seems the shooter only needs to claim they felt threatened - whether there was a threat or not.

It makes anyone with a gun judge, jury and unfortunately, executioner.

Welcome to the 1870's, NRA-style.

[freshwest]

42. This could've read: 'Award to neighborhood watch for stopping burglars from robbing empty house.'

'Unfortunately, deadly force had to applied to prevent the two trespassers in the neighborhood attempting to change the locks on the house. The shooting began when alert neighbors confronted the pair, who claimed to be the homeowners and tried to escape. Shots were fired and the bodies of the unknown perpertrators atttempting to loot the residence have been sent to the county morgue awaiting news of missing persons reports to identify the remains.'

'Dead men tell no tales,' and Trayvon Martin can't tell his side of the story. This could have ended the same way, if the neighbors had been a little more vigilant, or rather vigilante. Thanks ALEC, for promoting laws and paying for media to encourage this kind of behavior.

[slackmaster]

8. Same thing happened to two friends of mine. They were "ripping the place on."

Last edited Sun Apr 22, 2012, 04:40 AM - Edit history (1)

It happened in the fall of 1976. Two white male friends of mine got arrested and briefly detained while they were moving boxes of belongs INTO a house they had just rented in La Jolla, CA. Both were undergraduates at UC San Diego.

A neighbor (or maybe more than one) called police because the two looked out of place. Most of the people in the neighborhood were elderly, many had lived in their homes near Windansea Beach since the 1940s or 50s.

The incident will become a treasured memory to be discussed every Thanksgiving.

[pnwmom]

101. Did you friends have to spend a night in jail? If so, they should have sued.

So should this couple.

[slackmaster]

114. Yes, but police around here have a whole lot of legal protections for errors they make on duty.

As long as they can claim they were "acting in good faith," you can't sue them unless you have very deep pockets.

[pnwmom]

117. I don't see how the police in this situation could claim good faith.

There would have been no danger to letting this couple go till the police could have the property records checked, or even call the couple's real estate agent.

This was grossly negligent, IMHO.

[slackmaster]

120. I hope the cops who arrested the couple in Florida get disciplined severely

[flvegan]

9. And with the right lawyer, they'll own the neighbors' house as well.

[freshwest]

31. That would be perfect. Wouldn't want those nuts as neighbors.

[LaurenG]

52. We can only hope. nt

[Solomon]

11. Good thing they stopped them. They might have stolen

the house and carried it to God knows where.

[Posteritatis]

30. By this point I imagine they wish they had. (nt)

[varelse]

12. Doesn't fit my mental image of southern hospitality at all

I thought new neighbors were typically welcomed with casseroles and invitations to dinner?

[Phentex]

18. it's brownies in our neighborhood...

it's how my neighbor gets the scoop on anyone new on the street.

[varelse]

21. Brownies

much better than guns

[Ian David]

14. They had better be the best neighbors ever...

"Can I borrow your lawnmower?"
"Well, I don't know--"
"Remember that time you held my wife and I at gunpoint and had us arrested?"
"Okay, you can borrow it."
"Make sure there's gasoline in it."
"Of course."

"My septic tank is backed-up."
"I'll give you the number for my septic tank guy."
"I was thinking you'd just fix it for me yourself."
"I can't do that."
"Remember that time you held my wife and I at gunpoint and had us arrested?"
"I'll need to rent a back hoe."
"That's fine with me, since I'm not paying for it."
"Good point."

[barbtries]

54. that was good.

[Ms. Toad]

58. Editing out that last example would be appreciated.

Last edited Sat Apr 21, 2012, 02:34 PM - Edit history (1)

Demanding sex with the wife, or offering the wife up for sex, in payment of debt is not cool.

ETA: It is particularly inappropriate in this case, given the history of rape and dehumanization of women in the Congo, where the man requesting the sexual services of the neighbor's wife is from.

[Ian David]

65. I hadn't thought of that. Good point. Nt.

[Ms. Toad]

66. Thanks! n/t

[varelse]

81. that was even more hilarious before you edited it

still priceless though

[MjolnirTime]

15. I hope they sue the shit out of the Cops and the Neighbors

[tclambert]

102. The cops and the neighbors were simply defending the neighborhood from dark-skinned people.

This is America. It's in the Constitution or something. Besides, these people talked funny. Ya know, like immigrants. That's another subtraction from their rights. In fact, with all that working against them, I don't think they have the right to legally own property, let alone file a lawsuit. See the Supreme Court decision Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 1831. That basically established the right of white people with guns to force darker skinned people out of their homes.

[coalition_unwilling]

119. Man was black, woman was white, so cops and neighbors were

simply defending the neighborhood from miscegenation.

God, how I sometimes wish Sherman had gone a step further and salted the earth of Georgia and South Carolina.

[Baitball Blogger]

19. Profiled, obviously.

[appleannie1]

23. Why haven't the two nuts with guns been arrested? Unlawful restraint or assault with a deadly

weapon or something? This idea of grabbing a gun and going after people is insane. Thank God they did not shoot the new owners of the house.

[Posteritatis]

26. My guess would be they passed the local cops' colour test. (nt)

[Phentex]

63. It's under investigation...

I suspect they will be charged with something. But stranger things have happened!

[progressoid]

24. "Kalonji, who grew up in the Congo..."

"Kalonji, who grew up in the Congo, said the experience brought back painful memories. "

Shame on America.

[freshwest]

32. And they may have moved here to be safe. Fat chance. Shame on America, indeed.

[Rex]

33. Think you are leaving a third world country? Think again!

America - come for the superpower, stay for that third world feeling!

[BlueIris]

43. Awful. No wonder people are staying out of the ownership game.

[Odin2005]

51. Racists not wanting N***ers in their neighborhood.

[The Wizard]

53. Any normal people

thinking of buying property in any of the Confederate states should think twice before making a major investment. Wasn't Georgia a penal colony?

[obamanut2012]

62. Niiiiiiice

[onehandle]

55. Gun culture is making this acceptable behavior.

At least that's what they think.

[Initech]

73. The sad thing is the people who were foreclosed on were probably victims of this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002593122

[sendero]

75. Welcome..

.. to the neighborhood.

[paulk]

77. in the light of the many charges of racism in this thread

I'd be interested to know if it was a white neighborhood and/or if the people with the guns were white (or not black).


anyone know?

[Kaleva]

85. i think it's just assumed that the people with the guns are white.

[paulk]

87. why is that, I wonder?

that seems like a fairly... racist assumption to make.

[Kaleva]

89. Without a racist element to this story, it'd quickly die for lack of interest.

[Kablooie]

78. It's the goddamn gun toting vigilantes that are the problem.

If they suspected someone of breaking in they should call 911 and let the police check it out. I think people should go to jail if they use a gun as a vigilante.

[ladjf]

79. "Stand your ground, even it belongs to someone else. nt

[DeSwiss]

90. Damn. - K&R n/t

[U4ikLefty]

94. restraining order

[Serve The Servants]

95. I think I finally figured out the Red States plans to stop immigration

Make the United States so fucking unbearable and dangerous that no one in their right mind would ever want to move here.

[Maynar]

98. Bingo!

...

[SemperEadem]

103. Thanks, ALEC

because if you're born black or in another part of the world, you cannot be innocent. Ever in your life. In your cradle, you were guilty of something.

If you're not up to something, you have been up to something or you will be up to something, so there is no way you can be considered innocent of anything.

[sendero]

109. In most of the country...

.... aiming a gun at someone is ASSAULT.

But of course, the racist cops only enforce the law when it suits them.

[obamanut2012]

112. It is in Georgia, too, in these circumstances

They also brandished (felony), held the neighbors there until the deputies arrived (felony), and trespassed (probably misdeamor), and did they actually go INTO the home? If so, then whatever charges over trespassing a home invasion is there.

They also need to have their sidearms seized and, if they have CCWs, have them pulled.

They need to be arrested.

[CreekDog]

121. good point

why do i have feeling if the races were reversed this would have ended differently?

[obxhead]

113. Hopefully they get to learn how our legal system can be applied.

Eventually their foreclosed home will probably be pimped out and paid off thanks to the welcoming of the neighbors and police.

[HipChick]

116. Welcome to America where racism is alive and well and thriving..

[Homer Wells]

122. Holy Shit!!!

Now that's one helluva Welcome Wagon".

Whatever happened to the big basket of fruit???

[blackspade]

123. disgusting.

[Kaleva]

124. Here is Angelica Kalonji's Facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/people/Angelica-Kalonji/509515406

I was hoping she'd have something posted on her wall giving more info as to what happened that day and since then but she doesn't.

Stories such as this one and about the lady who ran her SUV into a go-cart I find interesting but they are also frustrating as they soon disappear and one is left not knowing the outcome.

[Capt. Obvious]

125. They should have been more polite to the armed maniacs

Haven't we learned anything from the Zimmerman case?