Starkville leaders add surveillance camera after two deadly shootings

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI)- Two deadly shootings and a neighborhood on edge.

Starkville leaders add a second camera this week, and police are patrolling the area more often.

Those two shootings happened just weeks apart.

Feeling hostage in their own homes. It’s what residents on Henderson Street say after learning of a second fatal shooting that happened within the same month. Starkville Police Department is enforcing more patrol to help stop the violence.

” It’s upsetting me because you don’t know if you can walk out of your house or not because you don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Fear and uncertainty. One homeowner, who chose not to be on camera, says it’s scary not knowing who you’re living next to.

In March, Justin Vaughn and Earnest Perkins, Jr. were shot on Henderson Street. A few weeks later, 17-year-old Clifton Files was shot at the intersection of Hilliard and Sherman Street on Easter Sunday.

Now, parents are afraid to let their kids play on their front lawn.

” I don’t let them play outside or anything unless I’m outside with them. Like you say, too many people ride around in a circle, and you know, most of them you don’t know.”

” I even thought about moving to try to find somewhere to move cause I got two grandkids with me,” said Terry Coggins.

Starkville police installed a second camera in the area.

Officers hope the surveillance footage will lead them to possible suspects and more evidence.

“I think it’ll help a lot to make people feel safe because they can at least know what’s going on down in here now. The community has to come together and stick together. If we don’t stick together as a unit, we’re not going to solve this problem.”

” I think PD would help a lot if they had someone to patrol the area more,” said Terry Coggins.

Homeowners said it’s like a nightmare, and they can’t seem to wake up.

“You never know. You could be driving by. A bullet has no name on it, so you don’t know.”

Starkville Police Department says investigations are ongoing.

Anyone with information should contact Starkville Police Department or Golden Triangle Crimestoppers.