Vicksburg Police Chief Tommy Moffett speaks during Tuesday’s meeting at City Hall Annex. With him are, from left, Alderman Sid Beauman, Mayor Laurence Leyens and Alderman Gertrude Young.(The Vicksburg Post/C. TODD SHERMAN)

[02/13/02] The manager of the convenience store city officials are seeking to close said Tuesday that the crimes occur near the store because of a lack of police action.

“When I call a police officer, all he does is chase the people off and as soon as he leaves they come right back,” said Eddie Khouri, manager of Fastway at Clay and Cherry streets.

Khouri was one of 15 store owners and managers who accepted Mayor Laurence Leyens’ invitation to meet at City Hall Annex and talk about solutions to violence near their places of business.

In the past six months, two people have been shot and killed near Fastway, formerly the Smoke Break, at 1209 Cherry St. Both victims were reported to have been in the store minutes before they were gunned down on a nearby sidewalk.

“We are doing everything in our power to stop people from hanging out there,” Khouri said. But, “I can’t be a policeman standing out on the parking lot and running people off all night.”

Attorneys for the city filed suit last week seeking a permanent injunction to close the store after Glen Evans, 35, was found dead Jan. 29 on a Cherry Street sidewalk. Jeffery Morrison, 39, 1410 First East St., was arrested hours later, and a murder charge is pending.

Leyens said the city filed suit because of the volume of 911 calls to the store more than any store in Vicksburg.

“I just don’t want to get another phone call from another mother telling me that her son is dead,” Leyens said.

E-911 statistics indicate that since January 2000, there have been 117 calls concerning disturbances, assaults or fights at that shop. The number of calls dropped after the July 24 killing of Eddie Baker, 38, 727 Adams St., nearby.

Brian Jamal Wilson, 18, 113 Springridge Drive, pleaded guilty Friday to manslaughter in that case and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Although the number of calls dropped after the owner made changes at the shop, including better lighting, new signs and security, 911 statistics indicate about three acts of violence there a month.

Since Baker’s death, Jamal Khouri, Eddie Khouri’s uncle and the owner of Fastway, has also been named in two civil lawsuits accusing the business of negligence in allowing violence and seeking money damages.

Tuesday, Leyens said the city’s petition to have the business closed as a public nuisance can be withdrawn. “If your store can profoundly change the outcome in a hurry, then we’ll drop that lawsuit,” Leyens said.

Benno Van Ryswyk with Hill City Oil Company, one of the parties named in the suit as having an interest in the Fastway store, said one of the reasons why crime is more prevalent there is because the store is one of the few businesses open at night in downtown Vicksburg.

“I don’t think that the criminal element is going to move out of town just because you close this store,” Van Ryswyk said.

Khouri said one example of a lack of police action contributing to crime is shoplifting. He said that three days before Evans was killed in the early morning hours, Khouri had pressed charges against Evans for shoplifting.

Khouri said Evans was not arrested although police told him they knew where Evans lived.

Vicksburg Police Chief Tommy Moffett said that another problem was that Khouri and the employees at Fastway do not keep and enforce a list of people who should not be allowed in the store.

“If you and all of your people knew he (Evans) was not allowed into the store, then why was he there minutes before he was shot?” Moffett asked.

Other convenience store owners and operators at the meeting agreed the city needs to do more, but said it was also the managers’ responsibility to help keep criminals off the property.

Richard Waring of Waring Oil Company said businesses have to be willing to spend money to make improvements and reduce crime. Waring Oil owns and operates various convenience stores in Vicksburg including the Interstate Food Store at Indiana and North Frontage Road.

Some suggestions Waring made included removing pay phones that drug dealers may use, providing free coffee or sodas to police officers to encourage their presence and conducting criminal background checks on employees.

“If you’ve got a criminal running the place, it’s going to attract criminals,” Waring said. “Once the image is there, it’s tough to change it.”

Rodney Dillamar, who has operated the South Street Shopette for 10 years in a location that was once known for drugs, said he spent a lot of time running off criminals to establish his business, but store owners need more help from the police.

“Bad people stand out,” Dillamar said, but added police sometimes ignore those doing wrong and hassle the innocent.

Dillamar also pointed to the lack of enforcement of the city’s curfew for minors as adding to the problem.

Leyens did not say what specific actions would be taken but North Ward Alderman Gertrude Young said the goal is to make the town crime-free around the clock. “Every part of Vicksburg should be safe to go to,” she said.