Little Rock city leaders react after 9 homicides in the month of January
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – There have been nearly 10 homicides in 30 days in Little Rock to start 2025.
'We hadn't had this many coming at this pace in a little while,' Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Will Jones said.
Thursday, Jones joined local organizations including Arkansas Stop the Violence, Parents of Murdered Children, and Pain to Purpose to plead for change as 4 people have been killed in the last 3 days.
'We need everybody to come together now and say enough is enough,' Jones said.
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On Monday, 47-year-old Cynthia Gregory was shot and killed outside of Park Plaza Mall.
18-year-old Abdelrahmanahmed Sallam is behind bars after being accused of killing Gregory.
Sallam has been charged with capital murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated assault, theft of property, and refusal to submit to arrest.
Early Tuesday morning, police were called to investigate another deadly shooting on Stanton Road.
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In that case, 15-year-old John Staats was found dead inside of a car, and a juvenile has been arrested for the murder of Staats.
On the same evening of Staats' murder, officers were called to a scene on Labette Manor where 19-year-old Anthony White was found dead from a shooting.
On Thursday, police began investigating a fourth homicide which left a woman dead at the Chenal Place Apartments on Reservoir Road.
'Hopefully this is not a trend that continues,' said Jones.
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Jones adds that crime is down. According to the police, in 2024 Little Rock saw 37 homicides. Although it may not have felt like it, that's a 41% decrease compared to 2023 which had 63 homicides.
But despite the numbers, Jones said the youth of Pulaski County are in a crisis.
'We have teenagers carrying guns, shooting at cars, shooting up houses and killing people. They say it takes a village to raise a child but as these men have said, our village has ignored this problem for way too long,' Jones said.
At the press conference, proactive measures were discussed to help get guns out the hands of children.
Woman killed in deadly shooting at Reservoir Road apartment complex
Rev. Bennie Johnon with Arkansas Stop the Violence asked for 'Governor Sanders to pass bringing in the Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms to the city of Little Rock to get these weapons off the street.'
Will Jones said 'we're trying to figure out how we look outside the box than just this happens; we go to court and this happens. We've got to figure out a way to get with the community before the problem happens.'
In the last decade, the largest number of homicides Little Rock had seen in a year was in 2022 where there were 81.
Right now, with 9 in the first month of 2025, the capital city is on pace to shatter that.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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