Video: Mayor And A Downtown Business Owner Respond To The Recent Shooting In The Friendly City

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – City leaders met Monday morning to discuss concerns after that shooting in downtown Columbus this past weekend.

Everyone from the Main Street Director, to city councilmen, and the owner of the nightclub were at the table.

“I heard very clearly the shots because there was so many and I have to admit coming from being sound asleep, I thought it was fireworks,” says Hollyhocks owner, Gloria Herriott.

Herriott lives right above her 5th Street South business, and although more than ten shots were fired, less than 100 yards from her front window, Herriott isn’t too worried about crime.

“It certainly concerns me anytime there is gunfire. It’s not a good thing, but on the whole, one a year, we’re pretty lucky. There’s a lot of areas that we could be living in that are not nearly as safe as Columbus, Mississippi.”

Not everyone feels that way, Mayor Robert Smith says he received many emails, texts, and calls about downtown safety.

“We’re going to adhere to the concerns of business owners and developers that have made some major investments there, because we want to continue to recruit businesses downtown and continue to have downtown Columbus as a vibrant and progressive downtown.”

Smith says many of the people that have reached out to him want to see the Princess Theater close its doors, and he’s prepared to take action.

“When there were incidents that occurred at the David Lavender Coliseum, where we were constantly having problems, we did a moratorium, a six months moratorium, and I gave the owners an opportunity to come up with a written plan. Well, there will be some recommendations from the chief and I tomorrow night to the counsel.”

Work is already underway to make plans for brighter lighting and surveillance cameras downtown.

“We weren’t responsible for the gun shots that were fired, but it is our responsibility to provide public safety to the citizens and when there is a problem, it is on the mayor, and council, and the law enforcement officials, to take immediate action and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Columbus police will also do more foot patrols in the area.