A stray bullet that tore through the bathroom of a Houston home has become the breaking point for a family that says it has lived for years beside a troubled apartment complex. The resident, Alan Lippman, says he has no doubt the round came from the nearby Jackson Square apartment complex.
The complex sits in the 5300 block of North Bracewood. Lippman says he has been dealing with problems there since at least 2017, almost a decade, and his frustration has only grown as the situation has dragged on. He says he no longer feels safe in his own home.
He points to squatters and what he calls a huge crime rate at the complex, and he worries the violence is spilling into the surrounding area. It is really starting to destroy the neighborhood, he said, describing a danger that now reaches well beyond the property line.
The city of Houston has taken legal action, with five nuisance cases and three dangerous building cases filed against the sprawling complex. The office door is littered with code violations, and the city has filed a nuisance suit against the property.
Despite that, residents feel the response has been too slow given the volume of crime data available. The conditions were described in the report as a human rights crisis, with people paying to live in what was called deplorable conditions just steps away.
For the Lippmans, the bullet that came through the bathroom was the final straw. They say anyone standing near that area could have been struck in the head, and after years of holding on, they are now thinking about moving away from a home where, they say, gunfire can reach them at any hour of the day or night.