Residents in southwest Houston question neighborhood safety due to high crime rate

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Some residents at a southwest Houston apartment complex said they needed help.

Crime has taken over their community at the Sunset Crossing apartments on Beechnut near Wilcrest, and they're afraid to even go outside.

"I feel like I'm walking in fear because I don't know what's going to happen at any given moment," resident Renee Matson said.

Matson, 77, never wanted to live at Sunset Crossing.

But after a tornado destroyed her home in 2015, it's all she and her granddaughter could find.

"She hasn't slept in that bed one night," she said. "'You know why?' Because she's scared. She sleeps with me."

Our ABC13 Neighborhood Safety Tracker shows the area, where about 31,000 people live, had nine homicides in the past year, which is one of the worst murder rates in the city.

Remember Maliyah Bass?

It was a case that broke hearts across the world when a 2-year-old was reported missing back in 2020 and later found dead in Brays Bayou.

Maliyah's mother and her boyfriend were charged with her death.

She went missing from Sunset Crossing.

SEE ALSO: Maliyah Bass' mom sentenced to 20 years in prison for 2-year-old's death

Houston police records show hundreds of calls for service here over the past year.

ABC13 has confirmed specialized officers patrol in the area, but crime remains high.

Matson hopes to move soon. She, like all of us, deserves safety.

"I want to live in peace," she said. "I want to be able to go out there and sit on the patio during the summer time and get some fresh air."

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