After violence sparked at one of the city parks in mid-July, the city council is calling for more security improvements to be made to make them safer.
The week following the shooting of a 17-year-old at the city park in the Sundown Subdivision, Ward 3 City Councilman Lewis Johnson said a plan should be in place to prevent incidents like these from happening again.
“These type of incidents should not be happening on or near city property,” Johnson said. “At that particular park, the gate needs to be repaired as soon as possible, so people cannot just drive in there at night.”
The shooting occurred the night of July 9, during a gathering of teenagers. The teenage boy was shot multiple times. He remains in a Memphis hospital where he is recovering. Another 17-year-old was arrested and charged with aggravated assault.
“This is not only in Sundown, but all of our parks,” Johnson said. “We need cameras in our parks so that people know that they are being watched.”
Last year, 36-year-old Mark Denton was fatally shot while parked at Rayford-Allen Park. Police said the vehicle that Denton was driving was later found near Govan Street where it crashed near a building.
Ward 4 Councilman Michael Smith said shootings are occurring too often in the city, and in his ward, the Poplar Street area has been plagued by incidents such as these.
“I’m begging and pleading that we do something about the shooting,” he said. “We have seniors that are frightened to sit on the porch at night with fear of being shot. We can’t have people just shooting simply because they want to.”
Grenada City Manager Stan Amos said he is currently working on forming a coalition of citizens in the community. He plans for their voices to aid the city in an effort to make the parks safer.
“One of the things I envisioned when I came aboard was that citizens are comfortable,” Amos said.
Amos said he would work immediately on the council’s request for safer parks.
