Killing is sixth in year for NLR area
Posted on Tuesday, January 22, 2008
For the first time since she moved into a house on West 19 th Street in North Little Rock, Jacqueline Ridgel said she’s starting to wonder if her neighborhood is safe.
In the past year, the Baring Cross neighborhood has had six homicides, including four in the past three months. The latest, a shooting early Sunday, happened in a house just down the street from Ridgel’s.
“I’ve got two teenage boys,” Ridgel said. “If they tell me they want to go to the basketball court right now, I probably wouldn’t even let them go.”
Police are concerned about the spate of killings in the neighborhood and are developing a response, said Sgt. Terry Kuykendall, a Police Department spokesman.
“To have a rash of violent crime like [the neighborhood has ] had, obviously, it’s something that definitely stands out and makes people take notice,” Kuykendall said. “It’s something that’s been identified, and we’re going to have to come up with some course of action.”
Citywide, North Little Rock had 16 homicides last year, compared with 13 in 2006 and five in 2005.
Police are also investigating an additional shooting death from last year but have not determined whether it was a homicide, suicide or accident.
The Baring Cross neighborhood, west of Pike Avenue between Pershing Boulevard and River Road, was the site of four of last year’s homicides and both of the city’s homicides so far this year.
On Jan. 7, Allen Perkins, who lived in the Levy area, died after being found with at least one gunshot wound outside the Salvation Army’s offices at 18 th and Division streets.
Curry Lee Jackson, 40, who police have said lived in Little Rock and North Little Rock, died Sunday after being found shot inside a house two blocks away, at 19 th and Franklin Streets.
According to court records, Jackson had been awaiting trial in the theft of two air conditioning units from houses in the neighborhood.
Prosecutors noted in a filing that Jackson had previously been convicted of four or more felonies, although details on those convictions weren’t immediately available.
Police haven’t determined a motive for Jackson’s killing or identified any suspects, Kuykendall said.
Other people killed in the neighborhood in the past year include: Stacy Spaul, 34, who was beaten to death April 28 at 23 rd and Moss streets.
Clifton Myles, 49, of North Little Rock, who was found shot May 21 in a car in the 1600 block of Moss Street.
Shawn Bisbee, 30, who was stabbed and shot Nov. 13 during a robbery at his home at 1903 W. Long 17 th St. Cornelius Delaney, 39, of Hot Springs, who was found shot Nov. 25 in front of a house under renovation at 2209 W. 16 th St.
Police have made arrests in the deaths of Spaul, Myles and Bisbee. Nothing suggests that any of the homicides are linked, Kuykendall said.
Jack Finnegan, a co-chairman of the Baring Cross Neighborhood Association, said the neighborhood of mostly onestory houses, many of them rental properties, has long had problems with violent crime, drugs and thefts.
The neighborhood association was formed in the early 1990 s in response to the crime, he said.
At that time, the problems were mainly south of 16 th Street, where Finnegan lives. Now, the crime has moved north, he said.
“It’s a very rough area,” Finnegan said.
He added that most of the residents are “good people,” but “there is a certain small element in there that is not exactly lawabiding.”
While the neighborhood has some boarded-up and dilapidated houses, the ones on Ridgel’s block, as well as the one where Jackson was shot, look wellmaintained.
About two years ago, someone broke into Ridgel’s house and stole her sons’ Xbox video-game console, along with the family’s collection of video games and DVDs. But since then, she said, she hasn’t had any problems.
“Pretty much, I like it around here,” she said.
But Mary McGee, who lives with her daughter and grandson two doors down from the house where Jackson was shot, said she’s considering moving.
“It’s getting bad over here — really bad,” McGee said. She said the police should patrol the area more.
Baring Cross stands to benefit from the construction of Rockwater Village, which will include 175 houses and 150 to 250 apartments or condominiums along the Arkansas River, next to the neighborhood.
Developers plan to begin construction as early as this spring.
Within three to five years, the development will have a “tremendous effect” on the neighborhood from 11 th Street south, Finnegan said. But he said it could take longer for redevelopment to reach father north, especially to the area north of 16 th Street.
“My crystal ball doesn’t stretch that far,” Finnegan said.
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