It was a typical Friday night on Washington Avenue in South Columbus when T.C. Lowery heard gunshots ring out outside his home.
“I thought it a firecracker,” said Lowery’s wife Bertha.
The couple saw two men in black shirts, shorts and masks shooting at their neighbor’s car. The Lowerys heard five shots before watching the shooters run west toward the railroad tracks.
This was the evening of June 12. Officers from the Columbus Police Department responded to the scene.
“The police have never been in my house until now,” T.C. said. “Unless they want some information about something. Now, we’ve got six detectives and police and all of them talked to me or [Bertha]. Detectives came in, put their feet up on the steps and talked to us.”
Washington Avenue is a small street, east of the railroad tracks past Mississippi University for Women. Houses line the street and El Bethel Baptist Church is near the corner. The Lowerys have lived on the street since 1969 when they bought the house they still live in and began fixing up the interior, which had been burned in a fire. They know most of their neighbors well — T.C. mows many of their lawns for them. When it’s not too hot, he and Bertha sit on their front porch.
But now when he sits out front, he keeps a bullet casing he found across the street in his pocket.
Crime uptick not seen on campus
Lowery said the violence has been worse this year than it ever has been in his 45 years in Columbus. A police media release said there have been at least five shootings on one street alone in the last month.
Even so, Randy Vibrock has not noticed a significant increase in violence in the area of MUW in the six years he has worked as a campus police officer. Now a sergeant, he says that what violence is going on in surrounding neighborhoods hasn’t spilled on MUW campus.
Social media plays a role in making the violence seem more frequent and widespread than it actually is, Vibrock said. Now when campus police issue an alert, people who receive the alert begin posting about violence on Facebook.
“It’s just, you hear about it on Facebook right away,” he said. “People continue to talk about it more and more as opposed to say six years ago.”
The Facebook effect
Laisha Neal is a lifelong Columbus resident. She posted a warning on Facebook to people in a violent area when she heard about a shooting in South Columbus on a police scanner. Word of the violence spread quickly, and multiple people commented on the post.
“That’s so sad, but this has gotta be stopped,” said one commenter.
“What in the world is going on in my beloved hometown? Prayers are going up,” said another.
Neal thinks part of the problem is police not patrolling the right areas.
“They need to do what they’re paid to do and protect and serve or turn in their badge,” she said.
Another lifelong Columbus resident, Tawonn Troop, said the areas where the violence is happening are neighborhoods full of mostly elderly people, and that those perpetrating the violence are coming from other parts of Columbus or even outside the city. Troop also did not mind saying what the problem was.
“Poor upbringing,” he said.
If more people raised their children correctly, he said, they wouldn’t have to worry about teenagers shooting at each other or others.
“It’s for nothing,” he said of the violence.
During a recent shooting on the Southside, a Facebook thread warning about the violence had over 30 comments, as people described to each other what they heard over police scanners or checked to see if friends and family were safe.
“The south done got to bad but momma and daddy will not move,” said one Facebook poster.
Straying from God
T.C., on the other hand, said if he was a decade younger — he is 84 — he would move. He’s seen drug deals take place in broad daylight on the street, he said, and neighbors just do not care about their community like they used to.
“Nine out of 10 (in the neighborhood are) Christian people, church people,” he said. “And it looks like they’re trying to tap the community. We have never had a shooting like that happened on Friday. Never.”
Lowery had several suggestions for what may have caused Friday’s shooting, but in general, he said he thinks drugs and gangs in Columbus have gotten worse over the years because they’ve gotten worse everywhere. He specifically mentioned Chicago, where he lived for a few years before he lived in Columbus, and where he says he’ll never go back.
“People have strayed away from God,” he said.
For example, organized prayer has been taken out of school, he said. He remembered when he was a child, his class always started the school day with a prayer.
“Back then, people didn’t have much but they loved one another,” he said. “I don’t believe the world can stand too much much longer before God comes back and judges the world.”
Still the Lowerys aren’t worried.
“There’s one thing I do know,” Bertha said. “If you stay close to God, he’ll take care of you. And he took care of us Friday.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.