Weekend crimes leave neighbors on edge

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)- It was a violent start to December in The Friendly City.

Officers responded to two shootings and an armed robbery within the span of 12 hours.

“It is the time of the season where we do have armed robberies and more violent crimes,” said Police Chief Fred Shelton.

Law enforcement stayed busy this weekend after multiple violent events.

An early evening armed robbery kicked everything off followed by two separate shootings.

And while all incidents are under investigation, those in Columbus are thinking about what happens if they find themselves in a violent situation.

“I always tell my grandson to be careful somebody gets into it don’t try to see what’s going on just get away fast as you can but you know it’s frightening,” said Maxine Shotwell.

“All you can do is just try to keep yourself safe and your family safe like I said I have a 10-month-old and that’s my main concern if it was to happen I couldn’t tell you what I would do in that situation,” said Jennifer Mendiz.

Both shootings, police involved people who knew each other. Police Chief Fred Shelton says there are some signs to look for when out and about.

“We are asking the store owners and the people around if you see something that doesn’t look right, I realize that it’s cold, but if a person has a toboggan on then that’s perfectly normal, but when you have a ski mask under that, or you have a towel or scarf blocking your face, we don’t have extremely cold weather here where a person can get frostbite, but if that doesn’t look right, and it looks out of place, if there’s a person that has a large overcoat on and it has a bulge in it that doesn’t look right anything that doesn’t look right or that it’s out of the ordinary give the police a call,” said Chief Shelton.

During the holiday season, it is even more important to pay attention to your surroundings.

“We realize that people try to take it advantage of the people being busy and not being aware, but if everyone would be aware of their surroundings and what’s going on just take an extra minute to take a look around and if you see something that’s not right pick up the phone call 911 and your Police Department be there,” said Chief Shelton.

Police are still investigating whether any of the incidents are related.