Jackson hits 2020 record of 130 homicides: Who are the victims, and what's being done?

A Friday night shooting in Jackson that killed a 15-year-old and injured a 13-year-old became the city's 130th homicide for the year, tying 2020's record number of killings.

Jackson police spokesperson Sam Brown said 15-year-old Sullivan Blackmon was shot twice in the 500 block of Derrick Street at about 8 p.m. The teenager died at the scene. Brown said a .223-caliber assault rifle was found next to the body with nine shell casings lying on the street.

The 13-year-old was shot in both legs and taken to a local hospital, where he is listed in stable condition, Brown said.

As of Saturday, 121 of the homicides recorded in the city in 2021 involved a gun, according to Clarion Ledger calculations.

Hinds County Board of Supervisors President Credell Calhoun called the record number of homicides in the city terrible.

"We need to do a little more as a county and as a city and of course people of Hinds County have to work with their families and friends to lower the temperature a bit," he said.

Calhoun said guns don't need to be a part of disputes.

City leaders speak out about grim milestone

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said crime tends to rise during the holiday season and offered solace in that the Jackson Police Department will be in full force over the holidays with neighborhood patrols.

"We also understand the holiday season can be particularly stressful for some individuals and families," Lumumba said. "Unfortunately, there’s often little police can do to prevent domestic and interpersonal violence, which is the majority of violent crime cases we see."

In the past, Lumumba has blamed high crime on the pandemic, systemic poverty, poor education, a lack of jobs and little financial support from the state to change residents' circumstances.

Other experts and officials say the crime stems from family or neighborhood dispites and firearms are being used to settle the disagreements.

At a Nov. 11 crime summit, Jackson Police Chief Davis said 85% of homicides are between people who know each other, which includes domestic incidents, retaliation and disputes.

Davis said the department is doing all it can by patrolling streets and answering calls, but interpersonal disputes are hard to predict and prevent.

The department will continue a major operation, Operation Safe Shop, with officers patrolling shopping areas to ensure the safety of shoppers and retail workers.

Davis said the agency is also recruiting officers to try to fill all officer vacancies. The Clarion Ledger reported in September 2020 the department was short 100 officers and the officers. On Nov. 19, eight officers graduated from the police academy's 65th/20th basic recruit class, and five of those officers joined Jackson police, WAPT reported.

It is unclear how many more vacancies the department needs to fill.

Despite the officer shortage, Davis said the department is solving more homicides than the national average, 51.29% in 2020, according to the Murder Accountability Project. As of Nov. 18, Jackson police have solved 78 2021 homicides, according to Jackson police Deputy Chief Deric Hearn.

Who are Jackson's homicide victims?

If someone were to profile the average homicide victim in Jackson, they would be Black, between the ages of 20 and 35 and taken down by a bullet, according to an analysis by The Clarion Ledger.

Of the 130 victims to-date, 110 were men. So far in 2021, 19 women have been homicide victims, one more than in 2020.

There have been several homicides with multiple victims, including the Oct. 17 triple homicide at Club Rain on Medgar Evers Boulevard that claimed the lives of 20-year-old Jackson State University student Deanne Bell, 22-year-old Elijah Bridges of Vicksburg and 24-year old Alicia Brown of McComb.

For subscribers: Vicksburg woman remembers son and niece who died in Club Rain shooting; seeks justice

Easy access to guns a problem in Jackson

In his 2021 State of the City address, Lumumba said the increasing number of weapons on the streets should be a focus to curb crime.

A gun was the weapon of choice in approximately 93% of the year's homicide cases, according to Clarion Ledger records.

What is driving the killings?: Jackson homicides keep going up and up. What's the reason and is there a solution?

The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, an organization focused on saving lives from gun violence, conducts an annual gun law review and gave Mississippi a score of F and ranked the state the second-highest in the nation in gun death rates for 2020.

What's being done to stop the violence?

As crime continues to spike, city officials have held crime summits and community town halls to start addressing the concerns of the city's residents.

The city of Jackson hosted a Nov. 5 crime summit in an effort to workshop solutions to the alarming spike in violent crime. Lumumba said 43 officials from the city, county, state and federal government were in attendance.

Speaking to the media following the summit, Lumumba said violent crime isn't a problem just in Jackson, but across the state and nation.

He added some of the issues raised include frustrated officers not having a jail to detain criminals in once they're arrested, a court system that is three years back-dated with cases delayed due to a backlog in evidence processing by the state.

Following the mayor's crime summit, Jackson City Councilman Kenneth Stokes and Councilman Brian Grizzell both hosted crime-focused town halls with the community.

Calhoun said the Board of Supervisors is working with the Hinds County Sheriff's Office, Jackson police chief, Jackson mayor and Jackson City Council to find solutions, including building a misdemeanor jail in the city.

"All the pieces need to fit together and we're working on making that happen," he said.

Jackso residents and officers have expressed frustration about people arrested for misdemeanors being released back into the community. Davis said since March, 2020, over 3,000 people have been returned to their community after a misdemeanor arrest.

"We have repeat offenders terrorizing the city of Jackson," Davis said recently. "An easy fix is to set a clear cut message. You will no longer be released, you will go to jail. That is my plea."

During a Nov. 15 meeting, the board narrowly rejected a plan by District 2 Supervisor David Archie to use $1 million to set up a temporary holding facility in the city.

Prior to the meeting, Archie revealed the board has been planning on building a new jail on land purchased off McDowell Street.

Calhoun said the board was asked to come up with a plan for a jail, but said it needs to get permission from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The county remains under a consent decree with the department to address overcrowding and other conditions in its detention facilities

"We're going to do that eventually," Calhoun said about building a new jail.

Reporter Mina Corpuz can be reached by email at mcorpuz@gannett.com. You can follow her on Twitter @mlcorpuz.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Jackson ties 2020's record number of 130 homicides