BLYTHEVILLE, Ark. — People in Blytheville were speaking out about the city’s ranking as the “Most Dangerous City in Arkansas” on Tuesday.
A website called Homesnacks. net posted its findings recently and attributed the rating to Blytheville’s violent crimes and number of property crimes.
The dubious “top spot” came as Blytheville Police dealt with two murders Monday.
“Here are the most dangerous places in Arkansas. Blytheville is number one,” said Vivian Harrison.
Vivian Harrison and her sister Barbara McAdoo-Brothers were upset by Blytheville’s ranking from Homesnacks. net.
“You know, when you’re in school, you always want to be number one. And I thought, ‘we’re finally number one at something.’ But that’s not what we need to be proud of,” said McAdoo-Brothers.
But neither were entirely surprised by the ranking which showed Blytheville leading the list of ten Arkansas cities.
Also on the list: Little Rock, Helena-West Helena, Osceola, Trumann, Forrest City, Texarkana, North Little Rock, Hope and El Dorado.
“We’ve got to do something about it. It’s to the point where people don’t even want to live here. They want to move because they are afraid,” said Harrison.
Harrison has a vested interest in the city’s violent crime problem because her son Justin was murdered the night of August 28, 2014.
“He’d just been riding his motorcycle that night, and a turn of events just happened, and he was shot and killed,” said Vivian Harrison.
Since her son’s death, she’s paid more attention to the increase in robberies and shootings in Blytheville and wants Mayor James Sanders to take action.
Mayor Sanders said the ranking was unfair and misleading.
“We also looked over just to see what Google said about it. And Google lists us as seven. But at the same time it is a concern of ours,” said Mayor Sanders.
Concerns over high crime came as Blytheville Police coped with two murders Monday, both happening within an eleven-hour time span.
“Pow, pow, pow, pow, pow. Five of them,” said a man who heard the gunfire.
The man didn’t want to be identified but said he saw one of the victims in Williams Park Monday night.
Earlier in the day, a man was shot several times on East McHaney Street.
Both men were in their 20’s and died at area hospitals.
The man disagreed with Blytheville’s ranking as the Most Dangerous City in Arkansas but said he feels as helpless as most folks here.
“We didn’t put the guns in these people’s, these boy’s, hands. We didn’t bring the guns in here. Somebody had to bring the guns in here for them to get them,” said the man.
Mayor Sanders told WREG it was possible the two men who were killed Monday knew each other and the shootings were not random acts.
Police identified the victims as 22-year-old Vincent Stone and 20-year-old Kennon Daniels.
