Humboldt Drive By
Humboldt Violence: Police Ask for Help By: Jonquil Newland jnewland@wbbjtv.com 10:30 p.m. According to Humboldt Assistant Police Chief Bill Baker, the city has seen a rash of gun violence recently. Baker said the city has witnessed about five shootings since the beginning of the year, all of which he believes are gang related, but none of them have been solved. The most recent shootings happened just days apart. On Sunday night police said there was a shooting in the 1200 block of Calhoun Street. However, just a couple days before that officers said there was another shooting just one street away, in the 200 block of Ethridge Street. “One of the areas that we are concerned about is the community support. We need information from the community. We believe somebody out there has information that could help solve these crimes,” said Baker. However, community members believe that support may have to be earned, especially after Humboldt Police Officer Paul Carrier was convicted last year of fatally shooting Roy Glenn Junior in 2009. “The community has kind of a bad look at the police here because of what happened a couple years ago,” said Humboldt resident Chancelor Baskerville. Baskerville and his family have worked and lived in the community for more than 50 years. The family business sits between Calhoun Street and Ethridge Street, two roads that are now known for gang violence. “There have been four or five shootings, I do not even know if they caught anybody that has anything to do with any of them,” Baskerville said. With a baby on the way, Baskerville said the police department’s lack of suspects has him worried, “It makes me think about the future. Do I want to actually raise my child here in Humboldt?” He believes solving crimes and catching criminals is going to have to take his neighborhood pulling together. “I just wish that the community as a whole, somehow could come together to prevent a lot of these things that are happening,” said Baskerville. If you have information that could help police solve these crimes, contact the Humboldt Police Department at (731) 784-1322 or Gibson County Crime Stoppers at (731) 995-0003.
