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Nothing much else to say... [Violence in Selma: 'It’s just gotten out of hand', Montgomery Advertiser, January 21, 2017
SELMA - His look said it all.
Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson is still angry more than a month after a woman and her disabled daughter died in a fire that had been deliberately set.
Katrina Moore, 44, and Coleman Moore, 20, never had a chance in what authorities determined was a fire set by an arsonist.
Fire and smoke may have claimed the lives of the two women, but it’s the same as if a gun had been used.
The mother apparently died of smoke inhalation as she tried to push her wheelchair-bound, special needs daughter out of the house to safety.
Three other residents managed to get out in time, but their mental distress will be with them for the rest of their lives.
Coleman Moore, who suffered from cerebral palsy, was pronounced dead at the scene. Her mother died later at a hospital.
“This was an outrageous crime,” said Jackson, who lives in the neighborhood. “We’ve got to stop what’s been happening in Selma. It’s just gotten out of hand.”
Violence seems to have grabbed this historic little town by the throat and won’t let go. Of that, there is no doubt.
Shootings have become commonplace in some neighborhoods and residents know to stay inside at night, but even that hasn’t helped at times because stray bullets have no name on them.
Jackson will be driving soon to Mobile to meet with Kenyen Brown who is the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama and a former Selma resident.
A discussion about Selma’s growing crime problems is expected to be a major topic of concern.
Crime task forces aren’t new to Selma. They’ve been created in the past to deal with illegal drug activity, but not much seems to work. It hasn’t stopped Jackson from trying, though.
One thing is certain. The guilty party or parties will be charged with capital murder. If convicted it could mean the possibility of a death sentence.
When Jackson drives by the rubble, the first thing that catches his attention is yellow investigative tape that stretches around the property. It’s still there and likely to remain for a while until the case is resolved.
“There never was a question if the fire was the result of arson,” he said. “Material found inside determined that.”
Theories abound as to reasons, but investigators haven’t ruled out the possibility that the arsonist torched the wrong house.
It’s happened before in Selma where gang activity continues to cause headaches for authorities. Somebody dies violently and vengeful payback often follows.
The burned house was built on a corner lot in an area where there are many just like it. The fire started at 4 a.m. Cowards often like to work in the dark.
Rewards totaling $8,000 have been posted for information leading to arrests because loose lips often have been known to do the trick.
The victims’ neighbors are still in shock but hold out hope that arrests will be made soon. There is no way of knowing at the moment when that might be.
Millie Vick, 75, lives across the street from the burned house and knows how difficult it is to care for special needs children. She has two.
One of Coleman Moore’s few joys in life was a Popsicle. It was a treat she looked forward to every day and Vick would often cross the street to pay her respects to the family.
“I’d go over, pray for Coleman and then give her a Popsicle,” she said. “Two others in the house were on dialysis and that made life for them even more difficult.”
She praised the Selma Fire Department for keeping the flames from reaching the home of neighbors but said some embers found their way onto her property.
One of Millie’s daily pleasures is sitting on her sweeping front porch and relaxing. Concern over increased violence in Selma tempers some of that happiness, however, and she has good reason to worry the way she does.
Her concern has extended to Selma City Hall where the town’s new mayor is just as worried.
During his successful mayoral campaign last September, Darrio Melton and a friend were leaving an event when several shots were fired in their direction.
Two men had been hiding in the bushes in what appeared to have been an aborted robbery attempt.
Melton and his friend were able to run from danger and neither was hit by the shots.
It's official: Blacks were safer when whites/Jim Crow controlled Selma than they are now that blacks control 80 percent black city.
But this fact runs counter to the narrative of the civil rights movement liberating the city into utopian black rule...
