Since 2018, crime has spiked at the apartment complex commonly known as Fox Den. The trend is continuing with five violent assaults this year alone.
At first glance, Fox Den is a quiet, well-maintained apartment community. However, police reports show that the area is actually quite dangerous.
In July, 39-year-old Venus Shelton was shot five times by three unknown assailants at the complex located off Wrightsboro Road on Fox Trace Drive. Shelton, a mother of three, is expected to survive her wounds.
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This is not the first time shots have been fired at the complex. In 2018, 22-year-old Jamie Lahuane Owens was shot and killed. An Augusta man, 29-year-old Fitz K. Williams was recently acquitted in the slaying, meaning the case remains open.
In April 2021, police responded to a call of shots fired and found 38 year-old Oscar Ramirez, who had been shot by an unknown black male. Ramirez’s injuries were not life threatening, and the assailant has never been found.
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So far this year, five violent assaults have been reported at the complex, and last year, seven such incidents were reported.
Some of the violent acts appear to be random. Shanticsha Collins reported to police that she sent her juvenile son to the Smart convenience store at the corner of the complex. There, her son was surrounded by six individuals who asked the juvenile if his name was “Antuan.”
Collins said her son told the men that Antuan was not his name, but the men assaulted the boy anyway. The men beat the child with unknown objects and kicked him in the head when he fell to the ground. The child had to be transported to Doctors Hospital with multiple lacerations to his head. One of the lacerations required 11 staples.
Not only has the complex been plagued by violent crime, multiple drug busts have occurred on the property along with several reports of theft.
In June, the management reported to police that someone had entered a storage unit on the property and carted off six refrigerators in broad daylight. Since the apartment complex has no surveillance cameras and no one claimed to have seen the theft occur, the culprits got away with the crime.
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Even a former complex employee has been accused of criminal conduct. In May, a regional manager for SMP Management, the company that manages the facility, filed a complaint that at least two rent payments made in the form of money orders were stolen and cashed by Erika Brito, an employee who had recently been fired for unrelated reasons.
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Recently, the management company changed the name of the 70-year-old complex from Fox Den to “The Landings @ 237.” The company also upgraded its website to project a more upscale type of living atmosphere.
While the company may have upgraded the facility’s website, a visit to the complex found only one camera visible on the premises. It was pointed toward the main office.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com.
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