Killing in Blytheville stirs calls for patrols

The fatal shooting of a Blytheville man Friday has police wanting to increase patrols in an area rife with crime, and has residents in that area nervous about rising violence.

Delvin Meadows, 23, died early Friday after he was shot in the 2200 block of West Rose Street in south Blytheville, said Capt. Scott Adams, commander of the Blytheville Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division.

Adams said police responded to a call of shots fired in the area shortly after midnight Friday. When they arrived, they found

Meadows slumped over on the front steps of a home on West Rose Street.

“Officers rolled over the victim and discovered Meadows was deceased,” Adams said.

He said a resident of the home where Meadows was found told officers he heard gunshots and looked out his window. He saw Meadows on his front steps.

“He went outside, and [Meadows] asked for medical attention,” Adams said. “He said, ‘Call an ambulance,’ three times and then he collapsed.”

Adams said officers found a small gunshot wound in Meadows’ upper chest.

It’s the second homicide this year in the Mississippi County town of 15,120. Last year, Blytheville reported six slayings.

The shooting happened southwest of the downtown in an area that has seen an increase in slayings and shootings over the past several years, Adams said.

Mayor James Sanders urged residents of that neighborhood last year to help police by reporting any suspicious activities after a rash of shootings occurred over a four-day period in May. The city also ran radio advertisements about crime.

“If you see something, say something,” Sanders said in the announcements.

Adams said the Police Department wanted to increase patrols again this spring, but a decline in the number of officers on the force has hindered that.

Adams said officers are leaving Blytheville for other departments because of pay. The starting annual salary for a patrol officer in Blytheville is $28,000. In Osceola, a town about 25 miles to the south, police officers receive $36,000 in starting pay.

Adams said the department had 62 officers on the force in 2004. Now, 33 serve on the department, he said.

The city, which now has a combined 10 percent sales tax, has called for a May 9 special election on a half-percentage-point sales tax increase. If the tax passes, it will collect about $1.4 million a year to raise salaries for police officers and firefighters and to build a new police station.

“We’re trying to get it passed so we can hire people and retain them,” Adams said. “If we can, we’ll be able to add more officers in areas where they are needed.”

William Pate, 85, the owner of City Fish Market on 21st Street in Blytheville, said the city’s violent crime is the worst he’s seen in decades. Pate’s market is four blocks north of where Meadows was killed.

“It’s bad,” he said. “People are shooting people over everything. There were two killed on my property in the past 20 years and two more killed a block from here.

“I remember when we thought three killings a year in the county was a lot.”

Carolyn Echols, wife of New Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church pastor Douglas Echols, said the church serves meals at the intersection of Maple and West Rose streets, less than a block from where Meadows was killed.

“We’re trying to minister to the people,” Echols said. “They’ve been very supportive. We serve food and talk to those who come in. We also do door-to-door evangelizing.”

Adams asked that anyone with information about Friday’s shooting call the Blytheville Police Department at (870) 763-4411.

“It’s bad. People are shooting people over everything.” — William Pate, business owner in Blytheville