DYERSBURG, Tenn. — Police in Dyersburg have enlisted the aid of the FBI in hope the agency can help combat the recent spike in gang violence in the city.
In just the first month of this year, there have been more than a dozen shooting calls, leaving at least three people wounded. Eddie Shelton, who lives in Dyersburg, is concerned about just how close a recent shooting was to his mother’s home in the Hendren Heights apartments in Dyersburg.
It didn’t take long to find evidence of the crime scene which included a shattered car window and bullet holes close to where a man was shot January 6th.
Just four days later, an 18-year-old was shot in the back a few streets over in the same complex. Dyersburg police called it an act of “retaliation” by rival gangs.
Shelton says the senseless violence needs to stop.
“It’s just bad because of what they’re doing. These kids, you know with this animosity toward each other. They need to stop it, before someone comes up dead,” Shelton said.
Shots have also been fired outside the neighborhood police precinct inside the Hendren Heights complex. An officer was inside at the time, but we’re told he was not the target of the shooting.
Another Dyersburg resident says he recently move to the city and is very concerned of the rising crime. But residents are the only people who are growing frustrated, so are police officers in the city.
Police have been frustrated in trying to solve many of the shootings which they say are gang related. Dyersburg Police Chief Steve Isbell they need help from the community to help solve these crimes.
“We are challenged by the lack of cooperation from the victims, but we remain committed to ending this violence.The investigations determined that the recent violence is between two two rival gangs, and not random acts,” Isbell said.
