“It’s not what you want to wake up to, it’s not, but it’s typical here. It wasn’t anything I was shocked by,” R&R Automotive Owner Tawny Taylor said.
An overnight shooting at the Villa Town Motel was unfortunate news, but not surprising for neighbors.
Taylor said the motel functions as a permanent home for lots of its residents.
“There have been threats to tear it down because it’s really not up to city code,” Taylor said, “There’s staircases falling in, there’s boards holding up windows or where windows should be…obviously there’s not windows there.”
And with every violent incident, Taylor said she loses business.
“We lose a ton of business, people don’t want to come leave their cars here with that next door. What if the shooting would’ve been on this side of the hotel and our cars would’ve got shot up?”
Police records show a total of 189 violent crimes reported since January 2014. The numbers don’t include any non-violent calls police responded to, like theft or vandalism.
We reached out to hotel management, but they declined to comment.
Taylor said for now, she’ll continue hoping for the best.
“Of course we would want to move to where we’re not scared, but at the same time there are a ton of good people over here. There’s a ton of good people that live next door in the Villa…circumstances have them where they are.”
