After two recent incidents in which young men were wounded by gunfire at The Vault on Statesboro Place Circle, the city of Statesboro has issued a “notice of criminal activity” letter to the owners of the apartment complex and strongly suggested that they apply for a city grant and install security cameras.

City Attorney Cain Smith signed the letter, dated May 1, and City Manager Charles Penny informed the mayor and council at their Tuesday morning, May 7, regular meeting. The letter was addressed to Paracorp Inc. in Lawrenceville as registered agent for Statesboro United LLC, which owns the property.

The first line of the letter refers to “a recent spate of calls for service made by (the) Statesboro Police Department just this year” to the apartment complex.

“There have been 242 calls running the gamut from firearm discharges to aggravated assault,” Smith wrote. “Most of these calls were police initiated, but are certainly the direct result of problems at The Vault. In one recent incident a tenant was shot while lying in his bed.”

That April 28 incident also led to the arrests of three teenagers. Police determined that the 20-year resident hit by a bullet while inside his apartment was an innocent bystander, not involved in the exchange of gunfire.

According to information released later that day and the next by Capt. Jared Akins, Statesboro police officers patrolling in the area of Statesboro Place Circle heard multiple gunshots at 12:20 a.m.  Acoustic gunshot detectors associated with the SPD’s “Flock” brand camera network registered the discharges as coming from The Vault apartments,

“Noting damage to an apartment’s window, officers discovered a 20-year-old male inside suffering from a gunshot wound to the torso,” Akins said in the media release. “He was taken to East Georgia Regional Medical Center where he was treated and released after several hours of care.”

Akins said officers arrested the suspects inside a third-floor apartment in the 3 Building of The Vault.

Detectives charged Shamarge Brown, 18, of Sylvania, and Aurico Delauder, 19, of Oak Hill MHP in Statesboro with aggravated assault. Also, 18-year-old Ar’Quise Newton of Lanier Drive was charged with false statements and writings.

Earlier April shooting

Less than two weeks earlier, on April 17, SPD officers were on patrol at 8:10 p.m. when they heard gunfire coming from The Vault apartment complex.

“Two males, one juvenile and one adult, were detained running from the #3 Building at the Vault,” Akins said then.

Officers also located a 17-year-old suffering from at least one gunshot wound to the torso. He was later flown to Memorial Medical Center in Savannah, Akins said. He has since been released.

Jayden Staley, 18, of Chandler Road and a juvenile were arrested immediately after the incident and charged with being parties to the crime of aggravated assault along with other, unrelated, offenses.

Jayvion Johnson, 18, of Savannah and Nasir Wilson, 17, of Park Place Apartments in Statesboro were later arrested and charged with aggravated assault.

Put on notice

Citing a Georgia Supreme Court opinion, in the case Sturbridge Partners Ltd. V. Walker, as having “established that landlords can be found to be civilly liable for foreseeable criminal activity by others,” Smith in the city’s letter asserts, “Criminal activity has gone far beyond foreseeable all the way to likely and expected based on what we have seen so far this year.”

He stated that the letter had a two-fold purpose, “to absolutely establish landlord notice of criminal activity at The Vault” but also to remind the owners that the city has a grant program to help with the cost of security cameras in apartment complexes.

“We have seen major reductions in crime with installation of these cameras in other apartment complexes,” Smith wrote.

After asserting that the “criminal activity at The Vault is fast approaching nuisance level” and stating that previous requests by the city for controlled access points and cameras to be installed “have been rebuffed,” he added that a copy of the grant application form was being attached to the letter.

When Penny informed the mayor and council of the letter during the “city manager comments” time, it was actually the third matter addressing the security of apartment complexes during Tuesday’s meeting. He noted that the city does have nuisance ordinances it could seek to enforce.

“But we want to start by publicly saying that they are on notice, that this cannot continue,” Penny said. “They need to take advantage of technology and whatever else to reduce the crime situation in that complex.”

About 60% of the 242 calls counted the city’s letter were police-initiated calls, including walking patrols and drive-ups to shine a light and check the backs of buildings, Police Chief Mike Broadhead said after the meeting.

“We’re not trying to hold our activity against them, but the reason that we have to be there so much is that we’re concerned about the safety and security in there,” he said.

Broadhead mentioned some efforts the department has made to work with the management.

“We have provided them a couple of security surveys that go over, like, lighting and fence options and that kind of stuff,” he said. “We just want to work with them and keep that community as safe as possible.”

Security Ordinance

A little earlier in Tuesday’s meeting, the council by a 4-0 vote reinstated the Apartment Security Ordinance, second of two ordinance sections said to have been inadvertently repealed with the adoption last fall of the Statesboro Unified Development Code. The older Noise Ordinance was “recodified” last month.

Enacted for the first time in early September 2023 – two weeks before it was apparently redacted by mistake – the ordinance requires security cameras at drives into and out of new, resold or extensively renovated apartment complexes with 25 or more units. For those with 50 or more units, either gates or license plate readers are also required. But these mandates do not apply to complexes existing before Aug. 1, 2023 and remaining unchanged under current ownership.

Stadium Walk grant

In a separate matter related to the same issue, the council unanimously approved a $17,875 Security Enhancement Incentive Program grant for installation of cameras a Stadium Walk Apartments on Lanier Drive. The Stadium Walk Homeowners Association, Aries Management LLC and APLL Investments LLC submitted the application.

City Council created the incentive program last year in advance of the Apartment Security Ordinance. Budgeted $80,000 from federal American Rescue Plan Act funding, it will eventually run out of money if more apartment complexes apply, Penny noted.

Observing that Stadium Walk is not a unified complex but contains units with different owners, Councilman Phil Boyum suggested that applications from homeowners’ associations could help to bring these grants to other condominium-type developments.

The lowest of several reported bid prices for the Stadium Walk camera system was $35,750, so the grant is for half of the lowest available cost.

Police previously identified Pinewood Manor on Packinghouse Road as one apartment complex where security measures, including the installation of cameras attached to the Police Department’s contracted Fusus video-sharing network and posting of signs calling attention to the camera system, resulted in fewer crimes.

When the Statesboro Herald phoned The Vault at Statesboro on Wednesday afternoon, Anthony Dix answered and identified himself as the leasing manager. He said he had not heard about the city’s letter and was not prepared to comment yet. The complex does have some security cameras, Dix said.