Property dispute ignites into murder – is any part of Louisville truly ‘safe’ in real estate terms?

As a Realtor, I get this question a lot: “So, is this a safe area?”

Living in Louisville for more than 42 years, I believe I have a solid grasp on the answer to that question.

Then Thursday’s shooting at Spring Creek happened.

What should have been an ordinary disagreement about property rights, specifically an oversized fence and incorrectly placed parking spot, turned violent, then deadly.

According to multiple stories, the suspect – now in custody – was angered by the neighborhood’s homeowners association (HOA) recommendations to remove property improvements that were “illegally constructed” per the The Metro Department of Public Works and Assets.

This is a Google street-view image of the suspect's home in Spring Creek. This image shows the home but before the fence and driveway were added.

The satellite photo from Bing shows the fence that started the disagreement. Because the image is newer, the fence is present.

The suspect visited the HOA meeting and allegedly shot two people, both of whom died.

The case is ongoing.

To think that a nice, East End neighborhood such as Spring Creek would be the setting for such violence is certainly an anomoly.

And this happened right around the corner to my home!

Just 2.2 miles, according to Google.

Just last week, Insider Louisville posted a piece about successful, local entrepreneur Michael Schnuerle.

His first creation, MetroMapper.org, maps a good number of government data points. Using that today, we see just how violent crimes (Homicide/Murder/Kidnapping) distribute across the city.

The pins in the map above show the location of each homicide, murder or kidnapping that occurred in Louisville since 1/1/2011. As you can see, not a single violent crime occurred near the location of this HOA dispute.

From public data we learn the suspect purchased 8412 Running Spring Dr. for $257,000 on Nov., 24, 2010.