It was a great idea by the residents of Vicksburg’s Fostoria neighborhood to hold a community meeting Wednesday night in the wake of two shootings in three days that centered around the same home on Speed Street. 

Understandably, the residents of Fostoria had questions and concerns about why multiple shots were being fired down the street from their homes at all, let alone twice in the span of three days – once during broad daylight. A crowd of mostly neighbors converged on Oak Hall Bed and Breakfast on Drummond Street to ask those questions of law enforcement and local elected officials, and it felt like the conversation left most people in attendance with a little better understanding of the hurdles that need clearing in order to effect change in Vicksburg.

In my experience covering crime across multiple communities, this is a step that is often glossed over, if not completely skipped. And make no mistake, this problem exists everywhere. It is not specific to Vicksburg. That said, the fact that shootings happen in every town across this country doesn’t make what is happening here any less of an urgent matter in need of solving. And that was the crux of the message from the residents of Fostoria and surrounding neighborhoods: We need to fix this.

Fostoria resident Anna Guizerix wanted to know what, if anything, residents could do, aside from arming themselves and calling 911. Other residents wanted to know how this sort of thing could continue to take place “for 20 years” without a resolution. And Nessa Kingdom – who serves in the U.S. Army and lives at the corner of Speed and Letitia streets – may have chimed in with the most disturbing question of all: Why did no one answer her two calls to 911 in the moments after the most recent shooting Tuesday afternoon?

You can read what officials had to say about these questions in our coverage of the meeting on page 1 of today’s edition, as well as in our follow-up story in this weekend’s newspaper. But these are valid questions and disturbing revelations about a very serious series of events in that community. But, even with those questions posed, Wednesday’s meeting wasn’t a coordinated attack on local authority figures. It was a gathering of concerned citizens asking genuine questions out of justified concern, and that makes all the difference when a community is trying to resolve an issue.

More than once, I’ve seen and written about an issue in a community that quickly devolved into residents versus city government, be it the city council, police department or some other group. That wasn’t the case Wednesday night. Tempers did flare and the conversation became heated more than once, but it seemed that a deeper understanding of what is being done by both the city and the Vicksburg Police Department was reached. 

Vicksburg’s Ward 2 Alderman Alex Monsour – who oversees the city’s IT department – spoke at length about the status of the NOLA cameras in town. He explained where they are, how they differ from the city’s other surveillance cameras and the process someone wanting to add one to their street needs to go through. Chief of Police Penny Jones, Lt. Curtis Judge and other VPD officials explained a bit of the process law enforcement has to go through in order to try and get those responsible for shootings around town off the streets. And those two subjects certainly overlapped more than once, as the cameras play a big role in helping VPD gather the evidence they need to put together a case against suspects.

Both of those steps – adding new cameras and building cases that get dangerous people with guns off our streets – come with their own sets of challenges. And while I agree we need to hold those in charge accountable, I don’t envy their positions as they try to get these things accomplished correctly and quickly. That’s especially true in the case of officers trying to build a solid case that won’t later fall apart in court. And believe me when I say, if VPD doesn’t go about bringing in these people in the right way, arrests won’t matter because the lack of a conviction will just toss the same dangerous people back onto our streets – and all at the expense of the same taxpayers who already feel unsafe.

So, did Wednesday’s meeting solve the problem? Nope. But, did it create a better understanding of what is going on inside the minds of both the residents affected by these shootings and the men and women whose job it is to protect people and hold those responsible accountable? I think it did. I think it was a step in the right direction, and as one resident put it during the meeting, sometimes you just have to take care of the little things and they’ll add up to the solution of a larger problem. 

Wednesday’s meeting may be a little thing, but hopefully it’s a step toward that larger solution and kudos to the residents for organizing it and to the officials for showing up. It will take all of us to solve these problems and working to understand where other people are coming from helps us build the united front we’ll need to rid Vicksburg of some of its most pressing issues.

Blake Bell is the general manager and executive editor of The Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at blake.bell@vicksburgpost.com.