Gang Task Force on High Alert After Pettaway Park Shooting
By: Deedra Wilson, KARK 4 News
Updated: October 24, 2012
A young girl claims she was almost killed for wearing a blue bandana to a park Tuesday night, and police say her brother was beaten up by almost a dozen people and shot for trying to defend her.
Little Rock police say this could very well be the result of gang activity.
But one man who lives right next door to the park says even though he hears the gunshots, he's not going anywhere.
"You could sleep on the front porch, leave the front door open and the back door open in the summer time," says Carl Lee Vault, who has lived in Little Rock's Ward One for 81 years.
But now, Vault says those days of living are over.
"You ain't safe with lights, cameras, bars."
Vault lives right next to door to Pettaway Park, where according to a police report, a girl says she was visiting friends Tuesday night when a man became angry that she was wearing a blue bandana.
The man reportedly took it from her head, threw it on the ground and burned it. When her brother tried to intervene, he was jumped on by almost a dozen people and shot in the leg.
Gang violence in Little Rock exploded in 1993 and was the focus of the HBO documentary "Bangin' in Little Rock," but Cassandra Davis with LRPD says things are not that bad today.
"The gang activity as compared to the early 90s is nowhere near close," she says.
However, Davis says because of what happened at Pettaway Park, the gang task force is on high alert.
"But because of this incident they will increase monitoring that area particularly," she says.
But Vault says after all these years, he's not going anywhere.
Little Rock police say this could very well be the result of gang activity.
But one man who lives right next door to the park says even though he hears the gunshots, he's not going anywhere.
"You could sleep on the front porch, leave the front door open and the back door open in the summer time," says Carl Lee Vault, who has lived in Little Rock's Ward One for 81 years.
But now, Vault says those days of living are over.
"You ain't safe with lights, cameras, bars."
Vault lives right next to door to Pettaway Park, where according to a police report, a girl says she was visiting friends Tuesday night when a man became angry that she was wearing a blue bandana.
The man reportedly took it from her head, threw it on the ground and burned it. When her brother tried to intervene, he was jumped on by almost a dozen people and shot in the leg.
Gang violence in Little Rock exploded in 1993 and was the focus of the HBO documentary "Bangin' in Little Rock," but Cassandra Davis with LRPD says things are not that bad today.
"The gang activity as compared to the early 90s is nowhere near close," she says.
However, Davis says because of what happened at Pettaway Park, the gang task force is on high alert.
"But because of this incident they will increase monitoring that area particularly," she says.
But Vault says after all these years, he's not going anywhere.
