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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – People in Memphis, Tennessee, talked about the city’s crime rate after a teacher was kidnapped and killed and after a gunman went on a live shooting spree.
“Right now the kids aren’t going to any community centers or anything, learning anything,” Larry said. “A bunch of gangs got them. They’re getting guns, smoking weed.”
But another Memphis woman, Willette, said, “It’s like everywhere else to me, the crime rates, everything.”
Ronald said he thought crime in Memphis had been worse than normal recently.
(Fox News Digital)
“It’s still a safe place, you just have to watch your surroundings,” he continued. “I don’t care where you go, it’s bad. Not just Memphis.”
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A gunman opened fire in Memphis, killing four and wounding three others during a Facebook live stream on September 8. Days earlier, Memphis teacher Eliza Fletcher was kidnapped and murdered. Memphis ex-convict Cleotha Henderson was charged with first-degree murder and faces a number of other charges related to the case.
One man told Fox News it wasn’t safe “in the hood.”
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“If you want to do better, you have to get out,” he told Fox News. “Some people just want to hurt someone or want someone to be on the same level as them.”
Another local, Ronald, said the crime was “even worse than normal”.
“The last week or so, we’ve been a little bit more,” Ronald said, referring to the Fletcher case and the shootings.
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A lifelong Memphis resident said the Memphis hood was not a safe place to be.
(Fox News Digital)
Another Memphis woman told Fox News, “It’s really bad here. It’s gotten bad over the years. Crime is really high.”
Memphis, which faced a record 346 murders last year, saw violent crimes rise 18 percent from 2019 to 2021, according to data from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. However, violent crime was down 6% in the first half of 2022 compared to the same time period in 2021.
At least 16 US cities set homicide records in 2021, according to local police departments. And 70 major law enforcement agencies reported year-over-year increases in violent crime in the first six months of 2022.
A Memphis native, Willette, said she felt the city was as bad as any other metropolis facing an increase in crime.
(Fox News Digital)
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“Every city has a problem” with crime, one woman told Fox News.
“It’s not just a Memphis thing, it’s everywhere, everywhere you go,” he said. “So I still feel safe in the Memphis area.”
