Police report city’s seventh murder of year Chief calls on community to help officers work through investigations, make arrests

Forrest City recorded its seventh murder overnight and the second within the past week after a man was shot inside his vehicle on Hickey Street.

The murder followed a shooting late Tuesday night in which another man was reportedly shot through his arm while walking on South Rosser Street.

Officers responding to calls of shots being fired in the Hickey Street area just after midnight found an unresponsive Wesley Mario Veasley, 30, 1945 Peevey, inside his wrecked orange and brown 1991 Chevrolet Caprice.

According to the report on file at the Forrest City Police Department, officers began administering CPR and applying pressure to Veasley’s wounds while emergency services were en route. He was taken by ambulance to Forrest City Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

The department began receiving calls about midnight regarding shots being fired along Hickey, Cook, Cherry and Mann streets, and while investigating Veasley’s murder recovered several shell casings in those areas.

The shooting occurred about 9 p.m., Tuesday, when Joseph Walker Jr., 24, was shot in the arm while walking on South Rosser Street.

Walker’s shooting was reported about 3 a.m., Wednesday, by Forrest City Medical Center when Walker sought treatment for the wound to his right arm.

According to police, Walker told officers he was walking on South Rosser when he heard gunshots.

Walker was taken to the Regional One Medical Center in Memphis where he is reportedly in stable condition.

Last Thursday night, Shannon Parchman, 26, died in a shooting at 214 W. South St., next to 216 W. South St., where Larry Hatton, 67, was shot and killed in May.

A teenager, identified by police as Korbyn Kellom, 16, was shot twice in the right torso at the time of Parchman’s murder and remains hospitalized in stable condition at the Med in Memphis, according to police.

On Sunday, the FCPD arrested Terrance Wilson, 17, of Jonesboro, on charges related to the Parchman murder and Kellom’s shooting.

The FCPD reports Wilson is being held in Craighead County on charges of capital murder, three counts of attempted murder, terroristic act and minor in possession of a firearm. The

(Continued from Page 1) firearms charge is a misdemeanor, police said.

According to police, in addition to Veasley’s murder last night, officers are continuing to investigate Hatton’s murder and that of a 20-year-old Marianna man that occurred outside an apartment in the Grobmyer Circle complex on May 7.

Arrests have been made in the murders of Demetrius Bernard Tripp, 31, who died of a gunshot wound to the chest during an altercation at the Chapel Ridge Apartment Complex in late February. They have also made arrests in the March 19 stabbing death of Jimmie Rogers, 28, and Deontre Tyrell Coulter, 25, who died from a gunshot wound he suffered during an April 11 altercation at an apartment complex on Kittle Road.

Forrest City Police Chief Deon Lee said the violence in the city has to stop and calls on all members of the community to come together to put an end to the murders and other criminal activities.

“Other than being with people when they decide to commit these crimes, there is very little our police officers can do to prevent these murders from occurring,” said Lee. “Our officers patrol our streets 24/7 in an effort to keep our community safe, but unfortunately, there are just some things we cannot prevent.”

Lee commended residents Wednesday night who reported hearing gunshots and encourages other people to do the same.

“One problem we face in our investigations is that many people are not willing to share what they know to help us make cases against these criminals,” said Lee. “We cannot be everywhere all the time, so we ask our residents to call us when they see anything suspicious or out of the ordinary in their neighborhoods.

“Our detectives are working hard to solve these cases. We’ve made arrests in four of the seven homicides, and we are following leads in the other cases,” said Lee. “This process takes time. We encourage anyone who has information on these murders or any other criminal activity to work with us.

Lee offered his condolences to the families of these violent acts, assuring them his department is working with as many people as possible to bring people to justice for the crimes.

“Together, we can put an end to this violence,” he said.