Little Rock Police were on the scene of the city’s fourth fatal shooting of the week as Rev. Benny Johnson and fellow anti-violence activists kicked off a Thursday afternoon press conference marked by frustration and anger.
Johnson and Rev. Walter Crockran, leaders of the group Little Rock Stop the Violence, shared the microphones at the Greater Trinity Church of God in Christ with Earl Williams and LaKeshia Smith, parents who have lost their own children to gun violence.
“I’m so tired of this,” said Williams, who is Black and has lost three sons to homicide. “And it really pisses me off that we can have a news conference and talk about this, we only do this and talk about this when white people are involved.”
He noted that suspects are already in custody for this week’s homicides of a white mom of three who was killed at Park Plaza mall and a white student at Catholic High. His own sons’ deaths remain unsolved.
Smith pointed to an out-of-control gun culture and implored authorities to do something.
“The mayor and governor need to get together and get a solution about these handguns,” she said. “Change the rules, change the laws. We need more support out here for the young men who want to fly. We have no one out here to mentor these young men.”
Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Will Jones also spoke to the cameras Thursday.
“The youth of Pulaski County are in crisis. We have teenagers carrying guns, shooting up cars, shooting up houses and killing people,” he said. While homicide rates have trended downward in recent years, he said this week’s violence highlights that guns remain a huge problem.
“We can’t have our youth walking the street with handguns and AKs,” he said. “We need to save our young men and women from themselves.”
Jones seemed exhausted as he talked about the seemingly insurmountable challenge of gun violence. “How much more can this city take? We’re not meant to bury our kids,” he said.
Johnson, who founded Little Rock Stop the Violence in 1981 and has been working on the cause ever since, said Gov. Sarah Sanders has declined his requests for a meeting about how to get illegal guns off the streets.
Thursday’s press conference was taking place less than two hours after the city’s most recent homicide was called in at 11:13 a.m. Police responded to the call on Reservoir Road, where a woman had been shot to death.
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— Little Rock Police (@LRpolice) January 30, 2025
