MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Blue lights, ambulances and crime scene tape have become an all too familiar sight in Memphis.
The Memphis Police Department’s crime tracker reports 77 aggravated assaults just in the past week.
Now, the school year is over, and many, like 84-year-old Fannie Warr, believe that’s only going to get worse.
“This is my bathroom. They put a shot there,” said Warr. “See that window? That`s where the shot went.”
Warr pointed out the bullet holes using her walking cane. She said she was reading the paper a few nights ago when a couple of bullets tore threw her home on Goodwyn.
“It scared the heck out of me when they were shooting the other night,” she said.
Unfortunately, the sound of gunfire has become all too familiar.
“I hear about it all the time. Not just on my street but all over. All the time,” said Warr.
Danny Washington echoed Warr.
“That`s pretty much normal around here,” he said.
Washington said he heard about a shootout between a park and apartmetn complex near his home on Mimosa early Thursday morning.
He’s concerned the violence will pick up as kids start their summer break, and more families are out and about.
“There`s a lot of little kids over here,” said Washington.
Lt. Andre Pruitt with MPD’s gang unit talked to WREG.
“It’s very frustrating when someone can`t sleep somewhere at night in their own beds. When little kids can`t play in their yards,” he said.
He’s just one peice of the puzzle workign ot fight crime throughout the year. He said city officials are beefing up the gang unit while also working to recurit more officers.
“There’s a lot of things being put in place to fight crime,” he said. “We are out here every day on the streets and looking for the bad guy. We are going to make a difference.”
Warr believes things will only get better once the community steps in.
“The people have to do what`s right. Police can`t stop all this stuff,” she said.
Warr pointed out when her neighborhood had a neighborhood watch, crime and blight got better.
As for crime this summer and what we can expect, there’s no sceientific evidence in Memphis that suggests crime increases during the summer months.
However, we still asked MPD for crime stats to see if we see any trends.
We’ll let you know when we get that information.