Prospect Park

In 1997, Joe Ring began to notice graffiti on the Witch’s Hat Tower. Ring was already a Prospect Park resident for 20 years at that time, and had no plans of leaving. So every morning, Ring got in his truck and drove over to the tower. If he found graffiti, he would paint over it.
At first Ring found graffiti every other day. Within a year of his effort, the spray-paint appeared once a week.
Ring’s truck and his house were vandalized. Once, the taggers confronted him. Ring made clear to them that he was going to paint over the graffiti on that day, and any other day he found it.

On her second night in University Village Apartments, Nicole Norton and a roommate stayed in to watch a movie. Around 10:30 p.m. that night, Sept. 3, they heard a popping sound coming from somewhere outside their window.

Norton’s roommate, Allison Becker , joked that it sounded like someone had just been shot. Norton replied that it was probably fireworks.