Holiday shootings have residents concerned over safety

Shootings on Christmas Eve and then on Christmas Day have people thinking it’s time to take back their streets.

Christmas is a day for loved ones to come together. But this year, Christmas Day tore two Wilmington families apart.

25 year old Montez Jones was leaving his girlfriend’s house on Christmas at 1315 Castle Street when three gunshots took his life.

Neighbor Errol Yeoman was outside frying turkey’s in his yard when he heard the shots. Immediately he knew something was wrong. “A family can only recognize it as a season of taking, a life was taken from them. It hurts to know, I have children and it hurts to know that a mother lost their child on Christmas day due to violence.”

This incident happened only a few hours after a Christmas Eve nightmare across town.

Long time residents Minnie Streets and Caroline Barnes say the neighborhood has been changing, and not for the better.

Now, they are even more concerned after 29 year-old Jameel Robbins was shot outside his home. Police say he was talking on his cell phone on his front porch.

Minnie Streets said, “I’ve just never seen anyone in that house, they keep the door open, I watched the police go in and out, I opened the windows so I could hear, and they were talking about something on the porch.”

Now they fear for the safety of their own children. Caroline Barnes stated, “If someone came to retaliate, and my child was over there, that they could shoot and kill my child.”

The police are investigating both cases, and will pursue both of them more on Monday when they reopen.