Community Leaders Concerned After Three Homicides in Three Days in Salisbury

Marvin Beach,

SALISBURY, NC – Three homicides in three days has neighbors on edge in Salisbury. Now community leaders say more needs to be done to combat growing violence.

“We are a small city. We are a quaint city. But what we have to do, is realize that we have big city problems,” says Salisbury City Council member Kenny Hardin.

He’s urging action.

“I don’t think we have a strategic plan in place to address this gang and gun violence,” he says.

The latest murder came Monday. Police found 21-year-old Shawn Spry dead from a gunshot wound near a home on South Link Ave.

It’s a mile and a half from where five people were shot, two of them killed, early Saturday morning.

23-year-old Daquan Robertson was found dead in a downtown parking lot on West Fisher Street. 22-year-old Anthony Gill died at the hospital.

“Three lives lost to gun violence and as a city and a community we’re just gonna have to work together,” says Salisbury resident Al Heggins.

Heggins organized a “Stop the Violence” Summit earlier this year after 7-year-old A’yanna Allen was the innocent victim of a drive-by shooting.
She says it is critical for police and the community to work together, to convince witnesses to speak up to solve the murders.
 
“I think with some of the new initiatives from the police department, we’re seeing more community policing. I think that’s going to be critical,” Heggins says.