LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Neighbors in Little Rock’s South End are banding together because they say the Little Rock Police Department is not doing enough to stop crime.
They held a vigil Monday evening to honor two women who were murdered inside their home and used the moment to demand attention from the Little Rock Police Department.
Approximately 20 people met on the lawn of that house on Ringo Street.
Police Chief Keith Humphrey and four officers were there, but the neighbors were not exactly excited to see them.
The group lit candles against a breezy evening, sang, and prayed over the deaths of Brittany and I’Quira Tate. They were killed inside their home on January 25. A two-year-old boy was also shot that night, while a 15-year-old girl was unharmed.
“And it’s been so many [crimes] in the South End that has never, never been solved,” Minnie Hatchett lamented.
Chief Humphrey could not say if detectives have identified the suspect in the shooting. He promised the group his staff would find the man who pulled the trigger and that the investigation would remain a top priority.
“This happened on my watch,” he said.
Hatchett said she did not feel relieved to see the police presence at the vigil.
“I’m still in shock because this is the first time that I have seen [Chief Humphrey] in this neighborhood since he’s been here,” she stated.
“And we have more police here tonight than we ever have before.”
Hatchett said violence in the South End has become a bigger problem recently and she no longer feels safe in her home.
“January 16th, 10:46 p.m., there was a shooting directly in front of my house,” she recalled.
“Three children and a lady in the house. A 39-year-old lady with three children. Yet, police didn’t even come to the neighbors and talk to us about it. We had to just look out the window, and then the next day, I went to see her when she came back to the house.”
She said neighbors have asked for increased patrols in the area for several years, but LRPD has never delivered. They want the city to install sidewalks and streetlights, too, to drive out the criminals that thrive in the shadows.
“We’re coming together to try to develop, or redevelop, our neighborhood and make it safe for anyone who wants to come and live in this area,” she stated.
The City of Little Rock has offered a $10,000 reward for any information that leads detectives to the shooter.
Hatchett said she hopes information becomes much more important to everyone around Little Rock. “I think that one of the things that we all learned from it is: we must pay close attention to the people that surround us,” she said.
“Who’s coming in and who’s coming out of our neighborhoods?”
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