"Hold people accountable": Belzoni townhall examines local gun violence after Friday shooting

The death of 16-year-old football player JaKamryn Price has deeply impacted people in an area that's seen a spate of other shootings in the last few months. On Thursday, the school district announced it was cancelling Friday's football game against Yazoo City to allow more time for "reflection and healing". 

At a townall on Tuesday, residents in Belzoni and Humphreys County discussed ways to address what they see as increasing gun violence in the area. Many, like 11th grader Marieanna Woods, say that the entire community need to work together to tackle the issue.

"Create the plans, fund the programs, increase the patrols, improve access to health care, support our schools, support our parents, support our young people," Woods said. "Fix what is not working, listen to the young people, hold people accountable."

Woods called on adults — parents, teachers and law enforcement — to pay more attention to what's happening with the young people in the area. She also called on her peers to take responsibility for what's happening, too. 

"Students: we have a responsibility in this," Woods said. "We cannot ask adults to save our community while we continue making decisions that destroy it."

Less than a year ago, one weekend in October saw multiple shootings around the Delta that left at least eight dead. Many of those, like the shooting in Belzoni this past weekend, followed high school football games. 

"We should buying prom dresses and suits, not funeral clothes," Woods said. "We should be taking senior pictures, not choosing pictures for memorial programs."

Barbara Williams, a former school nurse for Humphreys County High School said resources they've had in the past — like federal grants and collaborations with colleges and nonprofit groups — provided a lot of support they don't have now.

"We were encouraging kids to look at a future and not giving into things that could deter them, and it really, really helped," Williams said in an interview. "We brought in resources for them to be educated, to know some solutions to things."

"Sometimes they don't always want to ask a parent; they may want to get that advice from somebody else who they think ain't going to judge them." 

The big questions, for Williams start with access to guns. 

"We wonder, where are they getting them from? How are young people getting access to those type guns?" Williams said. "How can we figure out and track down the people who allow them to buy or [are] selling those guns to them?"

But after that, she believes it's up to adults in the community to work together. 

"We need law enforcement to see it and identify it and then have conversations with parents," said Williams. "We're going to have to start holding parents accountable for those issues." 

State representative Timaka James-Jones, who represents Humphreys County, agrees that collaboration is important, especially with law enforcement. 

"Trying to figure out if there is any way possible that we can have sheriffs talking to sheriffs, police officers sharing with other police officers," James-Jones told MPB News. "If it's small-town Belzoni, maybe the chief of police at Jackson can share their strategic plans."

But along with collaboration between local officials, she sees statewide action as a critical step to curbing violence. A recently enacted law now requires that minors who commit violent crimes while armed be tried as adults. James-Jones put her focus primarily on legislation to address the cause even further upstream. 

"The constituents are asking us where where these folks are getting these guns, where the kids getting the guns and, honestly, I just don't know," James-Jones said.  "But then when I look around and I see there are gun show, there are now opportunities for children to get guns, either online, any place, because they're so freely and easily accessible."