The Hood

A look at some recent news stories in Killeen, Texas in the past month…

Last Friday, a man was shot and killed around the corner from my apartment.

On Monday, an 11 year-old girl was kidnapped and assaulted on her way to school.

A couple of weeks ago, a 17 year-old high school girl was shot and killed.

A week or so before that, 4 soldiers committed suicide here at Fort Hood. One took his wife’s life too.

Killeen, home to Fort Hood, should really just be called “The Hood.”

I knew Killeen was bad when I moved to Texas a little over a year ago, but in recent weeks, it’s been extra awful. And, with the one year anniversary of the Fort Hood shooting in a couple of weeks, I’m especially bothered by this place. Not to mention the gunshots I hear outside my window every so often.

It occurred to me just how shitty of a town Killeen actually is a few months ago when my stepmom was telling me about a murder that happened in her town of Monroe, NJ. She said the community was horrified and how something like that was just unheard of. My town of East Windsor, NJ was pretty much the same. Murder doesn’t happen in normal suburbia America.

In Killeen, crime is raging. Working at the Fort Hood Sentinel, we get press releases straight away to let us know about all of the crap that goes on. Bank robberies, house burglaries, shootings, stabbings and cold murder happen a little too often. There was also the case that happened yesterday in a nearby town where a 67 year-old man exposed himself to a bunch of children in a McDonald’s playpen. I kid you not.

Am I scared? No, not really. Mom, Dad, do you need to worry? No, you don’t. I’m not an idiot, and I avoid shady situations at all costs. If it makes you feel better, I sleep with a knife and a taser behind my bed. AND Shane will be on his way back to me in 85 days and can beat up any and all bad guys.

Needless to say, I’m excited to leave Killeen when that day finally happens, because this place blows. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to moving to a new apartment on the other side of town in just 6 weeks. From what it seems like, it’s a little less “hood” over there.