Valerie Martin-Davis stood in the Willowood Community Center Monday evening, hand to her chest, pleading with law enforcement to hear her out.

It was just two nights earlier that five young men allegedly engaged in a shootout on her street which left one injured, shattered car windows and left bullets lodged in homes.

“I don’t want to move to Madison. I don’t want to move to Ridgeland. I want to stay right here in Jackson,” Martin-Davis said to a round of passionate claps. “I’ll be doggone if they make me move. This is home for me. You’re not going to mess with my folks.”

Martin-Davis has lived in Will-O-Wood for 36 years. In recent years, she said she’s seen her neighborhood become overrun with crime and gang activity. She’s called the police multiple times and left complaints with an

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