LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (NewsNation) — Little Rock, Arkansas, with a beautiful river running through downtown, seems like a gem in the diamond state. However, not far from the Clinton Presidential Library, is one of the most violent parts of the country.
“A lot of people don’t know how to fight these days, so they use guns,” a Little Rock resident told NewsNation’s senior correspondent Brian Entin. “Like we standing here if they was mad at one of us they drive up and just get the shooting. They’re not aimed at no particular person, they just shoot. So like innocent people always getting killed.”
Using data from the FBI, USA Facts revealed the rate of violent crime in Arkansas was 709 per 100,000 state residents, ranking it higher than any other state in the nation.
Reverend Benny Johnson, better known in the neighborhood as Big Ben, met Entin at a church with two other community leaders.
“You can go right there on the corner — Right Avenue and Rice — and a drive-by shooting going on,” Johnson explained. “It’d be 100 blacks out there, and nobody has seen anything. We already talked about what the police not doing, well the police need your help.”
He added, “They got this no-snitching rule, and it’s been very detrimental to this whole city.”
Johnson said he faces criticism for not sugarcoating the violence.
“There’s a high rate of black-on-black homicide and a lot of people don’t like you to talk about that. It’s just obvious,” he said.
Walter Cochran, a community activist and school board employee, believes punishments should be stricter for both adult criminals and children. He claims the violence starts in schools that try to keep discipline numbers low.
“You have to have order, structure, morals principles. You can dump a lot of money into the community but without those things — first of all, money don’t give you more awesome principles. Those are things that have to be taught,” he said.
In the Little Rock suburbs, violence isn’t as prevalent, but petty crimes like home and car-break-ins occur.
Some residents say, in a way, they’re numb to it.
“It is sad, but don’t think that we have enough resources to deal with it,” a Little Rock suburban resident said. “There’s bigger problems than dealing with the small kind.”
With police spread thin, a downtown store manager learned the hard way when she was assaulted in her store.
“The second time I tried calling them, even to get them on the phone it like took a substantial, amount of time,” the employee said. “When they do show up, it’s awesome, but getting on the phone and like their response time, not very good.”