Third Ward residents worry about safety: 'We can't love our neighbors and stop killing each other?'

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Residents in Houston's Third Ward are slamming police, saying they aren't doing enough to keep them safe.

A 19-year-old father was shot and killed near the Columbia Tap Trail on Easter Sunday.

"People are strewn on the streets, and the only difference is you don't see them every day," Dr. Ruth Ollison, the pastor at Beulah Land Church, said. "You see them often enough, but you don't care."

Data shows violent crime within a mile of the murder has been relatively consistent over the past year.

In response to our questions, Houston police touted a decrease in aggravated assaults and robberies in the area, but those numbers are only for the first four months of the year and the last.

ABC13 analyzed HPD data for Third Ward and found a slight increase in those crimes when you look at statistics for the entire year compared to a year before.

A man was shot and killed in February while riding a moped on the Columbia Tap Trail at McGowen Street.

In March, a 20-year-old man was found dead in an apartment on Truxillo Street.

Two weeks ago, an 18-year-old was found murdered in his car near Texas Southern University.

Then, on Easter Sunday, 19-year-old Jaylon Fox was shot and killed on Rosalie Street.

"Quality of life is non-existent," resident Scott Clements said.

The Columbia Tap Trail is just one example of why residents are frustrated.

Two years ago, after multiple people were beaten and robbed on the trail, city officials promised safety improvements like call boxes and lights.

That hasn't happened, and residents say other promised improvements haven't happened, either.

"You promised that, you promised this," Ken Rodgers, the president of the Greater Third Ward Super Neighborhood, said. "There used to be officers on bikes on the Columbia Tap Trail. I haven't seen one."

"For us, it's not about more policing, it's about better policing, it's about community policing," Ed Pettitt, the VP Greater Third Ward Super Neighborhood, said. "It's about going to events, knowing the residents, knowing what's going on."

Dr. Carolyn Evans-Shabazz is the councilmember over at Third Ward.

She also lives less than a block from the trail and worries about violence.

"It's almost happening weekly, and in some cases, every other day," she said.

The councilmember has been promising increased security for years.

"I will take responsibility because of my position, but I'm very limited in what I can do," she said.

She says she will be meeting with Houston police this week. ABC13 will be following up.

"I'm not sure why the lighting has not been put in, but this point forward, certainly, I'm going to press the gas to make sure this is done because this is totally not acceptable," Dr. Evans-Shabazz said.

"We can put a person on the moon, and you're going to tell you we can't educate our children, we can't love our neighbors and stop killing each other? We can do this, we just need the will to do it," Dr. Ollison said.

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