CRIME IN THE EAST VILLAGE: HOW BAD IS IT?

Despite some high-profile homicides -- usually drug-related --
violent crime in the area has actually fallen since 2005.

Calgary Herald archives

April 2008: Michael Hopkins was killed during a confrontation near
the Salvation Army's Centre of Hope in a grassy area frequented by
drug dealers and users.

Hopkins, a 40-year-old father of two teenagers, came to Calgary
seeking a better life after construction jobs dried up in his
hometown of Windsor.

Some witnesses to the mid-afternoon brawl said the fight was over a
$20 piece of crack cocaine.

March 2007: Christian Blake Blondeau and Alfons Daniel Kunz both died
of stab wounds after an attack underneath the Langevin Bridge.

At the time of their death, friends of the victims said they were
street-level dealers of marijuana and crack cocaine in the notorious
4th Avenue and 4th Street S.E. area near the Calgary Drop-In Centre.

The case remains unsolved.

August 2007: Police in a patrol car found Martin Arop Manyiel
bleeding from a single stab wound at 5th Avenue and 6th Street S.E.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The 31-year old, who worked laying seismic cable, moved to Calgary
from Sudan about a decade earlier.

Police weren't able to determine a motive in his death.

December 2006: Kelly Clarke Gaudek, 38, was attacked and stabbed once
in the chest on the night of Dec. 7 in an area known as "crack
cul-de-sac." He stumbled to the City Hall LRT station and was rushed
to hospital, but ultimately died from his injuries.

Gaudek was a drug addict who couldn't shake the habit.

Two local men were charged with second-degree murder in his death.

September 2005: Henry Addai, 22, died after being stabbed during a
fight with a group of other men on an East Village street notorious
for violence and drugs.

Henry was out with his younger brother, Jeff, and two friends when
the altercation began in the 400 block of 8th Avenue S.E. Jeff, 20,
survived with a minor stab wound to his chest.

One man has been charged with manslaughter for Addai's death and
aggravated assault for allegedly stabbing two others in the altercation.