MEMPHIS, Tenn. — As the search for suspects in Saturday’s Orange Mound block party mass shooting continues, many in Orange Mound and Memphis are asking, “how do we stop this from happening again?”
Orange Mound residents told ABC24 they remember this same type of block party happening at Orange Mound Park in 2023, also featuring young people carrying guns out in the open.
Saturday’s shooting comes in the midst of multiple community groups working hard to revitalize Orange Mound, but they said they cannot do it alone.
Esther Cook Jones of Guns Down Orange Mound said it felt like the shots rang out from the park for a full 15 minutes.
“I have never in my life heard gunfire go on that long,” she said. “I never have.”
Jones is one of many Memphians left reeling after the mass shooting at the park that left two dead and seven injured during a block party featuring up to 300 people, according to Memphis Police.
“Two of those people who got injured are in my family,” said LaTonia Blankenship of the Historic Orange Mound Collaborative Group.
Blankenship is among those in Orange Mound who believe the shooting is the latest example of the need to change state gun laws.
“Is this what we want? Is having underdeveloped humans walking around with AKs a mark of success,” asked Shelby County Commissioner Britney Thornton.
Others are also in favor of MPD’s efforts to have all available resources from local, state and federal partners deployed to the area.
“If they need to bring in the National Guard, let them bring them,” Blankenship said, “because we got to get our city back in order.”
Thornton, who lives in Orange Mound, just blocks away from the shooting, said that is just a short term solution.
“It’s communities all across this county that are overlooked, disinvested and underfunded,” she said. “So it’s a bigger problem than Orange Mound.”
Without more investment in existing programs, supporting things like housing, economic development and education, Commissioner Thornton said it’s only a matter of time before this happens again.
“That massacre could be in Orange Mound Park today, and a whole other park in North Memphis tomorrow,” she warned.
Thornton said she and other community leaders are asking for around $5 million this budget season to put toward housing, economic development, education, cultural preservation and public safety.