Over a period of three months, the 7-Eleven parking lot saw both a stabbing death and a shooting death altercation.

New owner Ziad Alawad, who bought the store in mid-July, had his work cut out for him.

On May 12, a man was killed after he was stabbed to death in the 7-Eleven parking lot, 930 Annie Glidden Road. Two months later, on July 11, an altercation which started near the 7-Eleven property ended with a man being shot to death behind the Phi Kappa Sigma house, 1020 W. Hillcrest Drive.

Those crimes, added to the numerous reported fights near the convenience store and gas station, forced Alawad to come up with a way to deter crime in the area. One major step taken to ensure customer safety was the installation of a $15,000 security system from Westec Interactive Security.

The new system places four cameras in and around the store, Alawad said. Stephanie Watts, 7-Eleven loss prevention manager for the Great Lakes area, said the “top-of-the-line” system allows Westec not only to keep a 24-hour watch over the store, but also to listen in through a microphone system placed on the cameras.

Through the system, professionals at Westec will be able to take the correct measures, like calling the police or sending verbal warnings through the microphones.

Though this system may help to deter loitering or shoplifting, not much can be done to eliminate violent crimes, DeKalb police Lt. Jim Kayes said.

“It’s an issue more than police presence,” Kayes said. “The fact that you got cameras or even cops in the area will deter certain people.”

He went on to say that almost nothing will deter someone who is angry, drunk or under the influence of drugs, citing that a police officer was in the 7-Eleven parking lot about 100 feet away when the May 12 stabbing occurred.

Some of the people living in the area also have a lot to do with the crime rate.

“If you go up to that neck of the woods on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night, it’s one call after another for the department,” Kayes said.

The area needs to be cleaned up, DeKalb police chief Bill Feithen said.

Kayes and Feithen said the responsibility falls on a number of people’s shoulders. Most notably, both agreed that the residents in the area need to work on keeping it looking nice and presentable.

Kayes mentioned that it’s difficult to lease an apartment to someone in an area with too much noise or mess. He said tenant screening would diminish the number of known drug dealers, criminals or other non-desirable residents in the area.