In one recent episode however, a homicide was NOT solved. The "victim" was an adult black male (his race really doesn't matter) who was involved in repeatedly burglarizing an  equipment yard that repaired large commercial trucks. He was found DRT by a worker at the yard, after the worker was called by ANOTHER worker who told him he had seen "some signs of illegal activity" in the form of a cut fence. 

When the other worker arrived, he found the victim lying dead by gun shot (shot gun round as I recall). The worker called LEOs who found signs that the victim had been involved in trying to steal some large drive-shafts for trucks that had been stored on the yard (left on the ground near a fence). There were tire tracks indicating that someone else had been with the victim and abandoned him after he was shot. 

So the detectives interview the worker who called in the initial "suspicious activity" to his coworker. The guy told the cops he arrived around 5:00 AM, saw some signs of burglary, called his coworker because he had another appointment, left. He told the detectives his business had been burglarized systematically over the last few months (he used the term "robbed" incorrectly - robbery involves taking something away from PEOPLE, not just lifting it from storage when nobody is around). 

The worker was not very cooperative but there was no evidence he had done anything wrong, so they let him go. 

So the bottom line is the guy who got killed likely was part of a crew that had been preying on the business for months. He and his "friend" broke through the fence AGAIN to take more stuff, but SOMETHING HAPPENED, and he ended up being shot DRT. 

 

The detectives finally gave up after being unable to produce any evidence or leads that could help them arrest anyone - the case went cold (inactive). 

Here's what I think. The owners of the property got TIRED of being victimized and hired somebody off the books to guard the lot after hours. The guy they hired caught the criminals breaking in and confronted them with a shotgun. Maybe they refused to give up. One of them ended up being shot. The only people who knew who might have shot the thief had no intention of helping LEOs identify him so they had ZERO leads and gave up.  

Would have been a good day for the "victim" to have stayed home from "work". 

To date, no arrests have been made in the case and so it will likely remain one of the 20% of murders that are never solved. 

Frankly, I am not all that broken up about it. Sometimes bad things happen to bad people. Selah. 

Moral to the story - don't steal from people over and over and over again if you want to avoid being shot. Duh.