ST. LOUIS — Community members in the Hyde Park Neighborhood in north St. Louis reacted to the death of a young woman on Saturday.
Just after 8 p.m. Friday, St. Louis police found 27-year-old Tamera Plummer dead in a running vehicle in an alley on N. 21st St. with a gunshot wound to the face.
“When I hear the sound of a gun, you know, it's sad what I say is rest in peace because I don't know if somebody's actually dead or hurt,” said Leticia Hicks-Hudson, who lives nearby.
That sound has been a norm in Hicks-Hudson’s neighborhood.
"You are actually snatching souls and people's lives from them that don't deserve it, it's just too much going on. Like I’m just afraid that it's one of my relatives,” she added.
As investigators worked to learn who killed Plummer, Hicks-Hudson told 5 On Your Side her hope was for a better year. She stressed that it would take the community, both neighbors and law enforcement, to do better at holding those who commit crimes accountable.
“You got a lot of people that scared. That don't want to talk. Because once again, retaliation. You tell on this person, they find out you told now they are mad,” Hicks-Hudson said.
“Our people are not safe. Our mothers. Our children aren't safe. it's bothersome,” said Alderman Brandon Bosley, who represents Hyde Park's neighborhood in the 3rd Ward.
Bosley named that he wanted to repaint the picture of his community through a better narrative and knowledge.
"These folks that are dying in my community don't have health insurance. Don't have life insurance. For them to be able to create a better environment for the children that are left after they lose one," he said.
Bosley also weighed in on the presence of a new police chief in St. Louis. Chief Robert Tracy has been on the job for at least one week.
“That won't make no difference if you have individuals in the board of aldermen and our state legislators saying that individuals need to reduce the amount of police presence based off of saying that we need to defund the police,” the alderman said.
He mentioned that he was working on a proposal for some legislation that will help keep young people off the streets.
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