Acres Homes residents on edge over shootings
Cynthia Smith’s 11-yearold granddaughter was scrolling through social media Dec. 26 when a bullet pierced the window inches above her head.
The projectile drilled through the washroom and living room, where the 63-year-old Smith had been watching TV with her daughter and two younger grandchildren. No one inside was hurt, but Smith, a lifelong Acres Homes resident, cannot shake the incident from her mind.
“If she had stood up… it would have been another story,” she said of the 11year-old.
Smith joined about two dozen other longtime Acres Homes residents Monday for a news conference to shed light on what they described as a major uptick in violence throughout the north Houston neighborhood.
In addition to the Dec. 26 shooting, the residents also pointed to a fatal shooting Sunday afternoon that forced people to take cover in their homes.
Houston activist Deric Muhammad led the news conference, which also drew City Council Member Tarsha Jackson and Houston Police Commander James Bryant.
In calling for an end to the violence, Muhammad noted that the historically Black neighborhood is filled with elderly residents who are proud of their roots.
“Our elders built this community,” Muhammad said. “They deserve better
than to watch what they built be torn down brick-by-brick, block-by-block and homicide-by-homicide.”
A crime wave swept through Houston and other major cities in 2020 as the nation grappled with the coronavirus pandemic. Houston surpassed 400 murders, solidifying the year’s murder rate as one of the worst in three decades. An increase in aggravated assaults also drove up the overall violent crime rate.
Acres Homes was no exception to that trend, Bryant said.
“We have to do the best we can with what we have ,” said Bryant, whose district covers the neighborhood. “That’s why it is so important we have the support of the community and (Councilmember Jackson) and Mr. Muhammad. So it’s going to have to be a team effort. But I can guarantee you, HPD is 100 percent on board when it comes to reducing the violent crime in this area.”
Smith had been visiting a neighbor Sunday afternoon when she said16 gunshots forced them to get on the ground. She said the shots came from a store at the corner of De Priest and St. Clair streets.
It was the same location from which the bullet on Dec. 26 struck her home, she said.
“Every day there’s something going on at the store,” she said. “They shoot all day and all night. We took down our kids’ trampoline because they can’t jump in the afternoon because they’re shooting . … This is like a war zone living around here.”
An employee at the store said the manager or owner was not available for comment.
Houston police have not identified a suspect or the deceased victim in Sunday’s shooting. In that incident, a roadway altercation ended in a three-car crash at the intersection of De Priest Street and West Little York, officials said. Two people were shot, one fatally, at that intersection.
A second shooting injured another two people at the corner store, about 1 mile north of the first shooting. Police believe the two incidents are related. Bryant said he could not release more information, citing the ongoing investigation.
Acres Homes resident Diane Shepard, 64, blamed corner store owners throughout the neighborhood for allowing people to commit crimes on the property
“We need to take our community back,” she said. “We need to go back to being Acres Homes proud. We need to keep our heritage and our history.”
Muhammad said a layered solution is necessary, including more economic opportunity, mentorship and counseling in the neighborhood.
Councilmember Jackson, who was born in Acres Homes, said Harris County is currently working on a community reinvestment fund that would inject resources into organizations that serve atrisk children and families inneed.
She pledged towork with community leaders, police and activists to address the crime.
During the press conference, she reflected on a time when her grandmother could leave the front door open while she ran down the street as a child.
“You didn’t have to worry about a bullet coming through the window,” she said. “We were at home, and everybody should feel safe at their home.”