Jackson Free Press

Despite what top brass of the Jackson Police Department describe as a hectic night of arrests, statistics show a steady decrease in major crimes.

On Nov. 19, JPD arrested 22-year-old Zehulum James, a junior at Jackson State University majoring in civil engineering, in connection with a shooting spree in which he allegedly killed two women and fired shots into a bus. Police say James shot a woman named Kristy Lynn Mitchell, a Missouri native, in the parking lot of a hotel on County Line Road. They say he shot another woman, Suzanne Hogan of New York, at a gas station near Watkins Drive and Beasley Road the same night.

Chief Lee Vance said the shootings appear to be random and that investigators do not believe James targeted women. James is also a suspect in three other shootings, at a city bus and in two occupied dwellings.

Vance applauded the work of the patrol and investigative divisions in making a quick arrest of James around 7 p.m. last night. After his arrest, JPD officials say they had a busier than usual night of responding to calls for service.

"While it was a very sad incident, I can truly say I was very satisfied with our response," Vance said at today's weekly crime-statistics meeting at headquarters.

Overall, major crimes in Jackson continue to go down. Total major crimes have fallen almost 16 percent compared to last year, down to 6,542 crimes through 2015 from 7,774 in the same period last year.

Violent crime has seen a 4.2 percent dip from last year, with rapes being the only category experiencing an increase of 10.3 percent—118 from 107 in 2014, statistics show. In addition, all of the city's four police precincts are experiencing a decline, the steepest taking place in Precinct 4, which covers the northeast portion of the city.

Other accomplishments JPD touted included the demolition of more than 100 neglected houses around the city. Since Mayor Tony Yarber moved the code enforcement unit under the auspices of JPD to give inspectors more authority, Vance said the department has saved the city $421,000 by using inmate labor instead of public-works crews to demolish problem structures.

In addition, JPD reports that the backlog of calls to the 311 system for requesting City services (e.g. leaky fire hydrants, nuisance properties) has been cut by 50 percent.