20 June 2023
TOPEKA (KSNT) – Problems are brewing in one Topeka neighborhood after a homeless camp appeared there over the weekend. Neighbors say what was once a very nice neighborhood is now an eyesore after a homeless camp sprang up before dawn Saturday morning.
Branden Bullocks lives under a tarp in a residential area in South Topeka with his wife,
but this wasn’t always his home. They’ve bounced around from time to time. Not that long ago they were in East Topeka.
“First the police came out and talked to us, and they were really good to us, and they told us because it was in a flood area that we could not camp here so we came closer to the west side,” Branden Bullocks said.
After moving further west, Bullocks says he was told by Shawnee County Park Police that he was still in a flood area and had to move.
“He was good enough to, kind enough to show us where we could and this is the spot where he showed us it is all legal,” Bullocks said.
But neighbors living across the street are upset. One even saying that Bullocks is creating an eyesore for the neighborhood, making their property value go down, and now she’s scared for their safety. One neighbor who tried to confront the group says she was threatened.
“When I went over there, I said ‘Hey excuse me I need to let you guys know the police have been called.’ He jumped up and started screaming at me, threatening my life saying that he’s going to end me,” homeowner Cory Chandler said.
But Bullock says that’s not necessarily the case and that many of his words are out of self-defense, saying that other neighbors are threatening him as well.
“Later on, that night, he [other neighbors] pushed it to the edge and did the whole firework thing, tried to set our camp on fire,” Bullocks said. “While he was doing that, he said verbally, ‘You’re not going to last long in this neighborhood.'”
Still scared for her life, Chandler is bringing safety precautions to another level.
“I am putting in place a security system,” Chandler said. “If you break my security system not only will the cops be called but there’s a siren that’s going to be so loud that you will go deaf.”
So what’s next in this homeless camp and neighborhood feud? Chandler says she plans to take the issue to the city council on Tuesday to see what can be done.