Commander Marlene Purdue and Community Coordinator Sargent Steve Linn joined Sheri Weiner, Councilman Dave Rosenberg, and a packed house of Bellevue residents Thursday night at the Bellevue YMCA, to discuss neighborhood safety. This community meeting included a “standing room only” crowd in the wake of the recent shooting of Traceside resident, Erik Helffenstein, who was shot and killed early Monday morning, after chasing suspected car burglars from his Bellevue neighborhood. “This is tragic and senseless and heartbreaking for him, his wife and children, friends, neighbors and our community at large,” Sheri Weiner said in a press release. Metro Police were on hand to answer questions, and offer safety tips, or sign up interested parties for subsequent “neighborhood watch” meetings.
Sargent Linn offered the following safety tips:
- Be vigilant of your surroundings
- Remove valuables from your car and lock your vehicle
- Install remote camera monitoring devices such as Ring or Nest outside your residence
- Establish Neighborhood Watch groups, or virtual watch pages within your community
The community is also supporting Erik Helffentein’s family by raising funds, you can visit the GoFundMe here. Once again, Bellevue’s PEOPLE showed support and an overwhelming sense of “pulling together” in the wake of this tragedy. That is the beauty of community. Maximizing the reach of an important piece of information requires the dedication of humans to sharing ideas, thoughts and awareness. This was exemplified in Thursday night’s meeting. Sargent Linn and the hosts remind everyone that there have been no arrests in this case. Anyone with information is urged to call 615-862-8600.
