Scary: Ex-Texas A&M WR randomly hacks to death a jogger on Dallas' White Rock Trail

I've lived in the DC area for 4 years now and how safe I felt depended on which neighborhood I was living in at the time. When living in Pentagon City and Capitol Hill I had no fears running alone at night. Living in Columbia Heights I wouldn't want to run alone at night.

rojo wrote:

Note: We have been deleting comments on this thread trying to turn this into a discussion of crime rates by race. We don't want that discussion on this thread. Other posts along those lines will be deleted.

Well done, Rojo.

rojo wrote:

So people of letsrun.com, do you feel safe when you run? What say you?

I have lived in and travelled to different countries.

I always try to find out if there are any no-go areas.

A couple of times I didn't feel safe near Aurora, IL, on the Fox River Trail, on Sunday evenings between Mooseheart and Batavia.

Same with some sketchy places near Birmingham (UK).

And I have been chased by aggressive people in Riga (Latvia) and Redditch (England).

Yes, this is a very scary occurrence. I hate running in traffic, and I've always sought out trails and other deserted places to run, despite the risks we all take of being out in the middle of nowhere and getting injured or having some kind of emergency health issues, especially as we grow older. I've always told myself that I could outrun most crazies on foot as long as I keep a look out. I'm sure there aren't many crazies who could keep up with--or outlast--any even moderately conditioned runner. I always worried much more about dogs. But being attacked by a big, very fast wide receiver/sprinter who goes nuts with or without a sharp object would be a nightmare. I could always carry a gun and a cell phone while running, but who really carries or wants to carry either on a consistent basis? There are also events like that baseball player, Christopher Lane, who was shot in the back by teenagers while jogging for no reason. The world seems to be going crazy. Just look up "jogger shot," and you'll get this:

http://www.bing.com/search?q=jogger+shot+in+drive-by&form=PRUSML&mkt=en-us&refig=221427bacafe421aadc0514a549c308e&pq=jogger+shot+in+drive-by&sc=0-16&sp=-1&qs=n&sk=

Obit... wrote:

Horrible. Imagine getting murdered and being called a "jogger" by the newspaper.

This is my biggest fear.

I generally feel safe when I run. Since it is obvious, or should be, that I'm running and probably not carrying money or valuables, I assume my chances of being attached are smaller than if I was just walking around.

Attacks such as the one posted by the OP are totally random and there really isn't much you can do outside of being aware of your surroundings. These attacks don't happen that often so I don't worry about it.

The article that I read this moning on the attack mentioned that the football player just disappeared from school I believe after the Alabama game where he had 3 catches. Just walked away. Obvious that he had some mental issues going on.

Kinda. I'm not a serious runner, but the whole "being identified" in my community thing doesn't sit well with me, but I do like the registered username as other people posting are guaranteed the remarks from this username are coming from me and not some "imposter." Now, as long as the admins of the site don't start the practice of revealing personal info of its users we'll all be happy.

(Note: I've never heard of this happening on Letsrun and I do not think the admins of this site would condone it.)

To everyone talking about running with a phone. I think that's a good idea for safety in case you fall or twist an ankle but the if it's an iphone it makes you much more vulnerable for robbery as that's what they go for here in Baltimore.

I've always wanted to invent an ipod shuffle type device you put a SIM card in so you could have something incredibly lightweight that would steam pandora and what not.

Maybe I should add in a safety feature to it and then get runner John Legere to fund it with me as he's a runner. What about one that also had a button that would call 911 automatically.? Not sure if it would need to have a speakerphone of some sort in it. I was thinking of a "I've fallen and can't keep up" life alert type thing.

What do you guys think of my product idea?

They're even more scared about naming their city and being identified than running on their local running trails. For what it's worth, I just ran through Piedmont Park and East Belt trails in Atlanta toward nightfall and while there are definitely some homeless characters hanging out or living in the park in isolated sections of the park such that it would not be safe at least for women at night, otherwise big city trails nowadays tend to be crowded and if you are going fast enough it is unlikely anyone would think to go after you until you were already past and out of reach. This guy, however, would be able to get after you with a 4.4-4.6 40y. Crazies like that aren't that common, fortunately.

rojo wrote:

Maybe I should add in a safety feature to it and then get runner John Legere to fund it with me as he's a runner. What about one that also had a button that would call 911 automatically.? Not sure if it would need to have a speakerphone of some sort in it. I was thinking of a "I've fallen and can't keep up" life alert type thing.

What do you guys think of my product idea?

Almost as good as a stip club

Here is an article with an eyewitness account of the crime;

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Jogger-Attacked-Killed-in-North-Dallas-Park-332022712.html

Stumbled onto this sad article. Apologies if it's already been posted.

http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2015/10/man-stabbed-to-death-on-trail-in-northeast-dallas-suspect-in-custody.html/

Editor's update: Here is an article with an eyewitness account of the crime;

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Jogger-Attacked-Killed-in-North-Dallas-Park-332022712.html

In an era where everyone has access to a megaphone (the internet), why stir up trouble by mentioning where you live and giving them means to find you by deduction then free reign to use your name in personal attacks archived into perpetuity on Google?

(e.g.

1) I dont like so and so's posts on runnersworld, 2) so and so ran the 2015 boston marathon,

3) so and so says in a letsrun post they live in such and such a city

4) go to 2015 Boston Marathon registrants site, look up the registrants, now you have it )

Only on my recent visit to downtown Baltimore was I wary of where I run. Still, once I went out I was plenty safe along the Inner Harbor and Fort McHenry in broad daylight. As a male, my bigger concern remains a motorist or inattentive bicyclist.

Have run in many US cities (DC, Detroit, Chicago, LA, SF, Portland, Denver, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Charleston, Montgomery, AL) and abroad (London, Brussels, Paris, Barcelona, Vienna, Rome, etc.) And the biggest risk remains danger from passing vehicles. Closest I have come have been to victim of violent crime was on roads in AL where I had people steer at me in broad daylight and throw objects, so I felt safer at night.

rojo wrote:

Again, why not mention the name of the city?

I'll see something like this in another thread. Someone will say, "I ran at a mid-major d1 school" but not mention the name or they'll say they were "pretty fast in HS" but not mention the times.

Because I've been burned in the past when I have provided such information on other online boards.

Also, I'd rather describe my area than flat out provide its name because I highly doubt anyone else in this forum is familiar with what the area is like.

And Rojo, can't you view our IP addresses and be able to determine our posting location? That could satisfy your curiosity ;-)

If you post a few PRs and your city, it does not take long to figure out who you are if you are an above average runner. The amount of deduction is even less if you post a third identifier, like master runner, recent college grad or former Div-I runner. The anonymity of letsrun lets people speak freely about certain subjects without worrying about upsetting a running buddy who might hold a very contrary opinion. For me, the best part about running with a group is that there is almost an unwritten rule that you never talk about politics, relationships, or any controversial subject. It seems like we understand that there are very few runners in the community who run as fast as we do and do not want to spoil the group runs and workouts by getting each other bent out of shape talking about gun control or abortion.

I'm a female who has lived in three major California cities (Fresno, SF, Oakland) and feel safe running at any time of day in all but one of them (guess which one).

In Oakland, I hear gunfire, on average, about once or twice a month. Aside from the threat of violence, Oakland is still a crappy running city; amazing trail systems, though, if you venture out a bit, and in those areas I feel totally safe.

You must have a boring running group.

One of the weaknesses of our society is that we've lost the ability to discuss controversial topics without getting offended.

Wide receivers aren't huge. I'd be more concerned about the machete.

rojo wrote:

This is was in daylight and involved a male. Can you imagine the horror or being attacked by a huge football player who just 2 or 3 years ago had 3 catches in a game against #1 Alabama?

rojo wrote:

What do you guys think of my product idea?

I like the idea of a tiny emergency phone more than I like the idea of a tiny music streaming device. I run with the smallest and lightest phone I could find (described here:

), but I don't need the keypad or the screen. I just need an iPod Shuffle-sized phone that I can program with numbers from my computer or smartphone. Give it a couple of arrow buttons to scroll through numbers (with audio announcements), a call/end button, and maybe a 911 button. That would let me call a friend or an ambulance to pick me up if I'm injured.

I feel safe and confident in the areas I run in even though the main trail I run on has several homeless encampments and underpasses. I was acosted once by two homeless dudes on bikes. As they passed me one of them yelled at the top of his lungs "GTFOUTTAMYWAY". I yelled back at 'em and they stopped about 100 feet up the trail where I was running like I was supposed to be intimidated or something. I didn't even hesitate and kept running right at them. When I got close to them I stopped and put out my hands like WTF? They're all "oh it's cool, bro. sorry bout dat". I was all "Ya gawdam right it's cool, bro". I wouldn't want my wife or daughter or any woman running there alone, though.