Stabbing 3rd killing in 3 days
Jackson recorded its third homicide of the weekend on Sunday, the worst spate of killings in the city since October and its 15th of the year.
Police say in each of the three killings this weekend – one Friday night, one discovered Saturday morning and the third early Sunday – the suspect and the victim were acquaintances.
The spate compares to October 2004, when there were three homicides in two days. During the first three days of January 2004, there also were three homicides.
Jackson Police Chief Robert Moore and Mayor Harvey Johnson could not be reached Sunday for comment. But the city’s two candidates for mayor in the June 7 general election, Democrat Frank Melton and Republican Rick Whitlow, expressed their frustration and concern at the city’s most recent killings.
The two say warm weather and hot tempers could be the culprits for the weekend killing surge. Both tout crime as a top issue in Jackson as Moore’s tenure ends June 30.
“It continues to break my heart to think we are that angry with each other,” Whitlow said Sunday. “I don’t know that it’s a problem the city or an elected official or the police department can solve. You have to hope that somewhere along the line, people will find another solution than violence.”
Melton, who visited the sites of the weekend’s first two killings, said he will institute a zero-tolerance policy for crime if he prevails in the election.
Clarion Ledger
5/30/5
