Shut down Rebelwood or make it safer? Advocates and city leaders talk improvements at meeting spurred by recent shootings

By Molly Minta | Originally published by Mississippi Today

Almost everyone in the meeting agreed: Closing Pine Ridge Gardens Apartments, a southeast Jackson complex home to some of the city’s most pervasive violence, would be a last resort. 

But the advocates and community leaders who met at the Riverside Community Coffeehouse on Wednesday were also certain: Conditions must improve at the federally subsidized apartment complex off Terry Road where, less than a week apart in March, separate shootings claimed the lives of two young men. 

On March 18, police officers arrived to find 18-year-old Trevarius Cooper had succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds outside the door of an upstairs unit. Six days later, just before 9:30 p.m., officers found 20-year-old Jakori Smith lying on a sidewalk. He died at a local hospital, according to a press release from the Jackson Police Department. 

READ MORE: People are regularly wounded at this Jackson apartment complex. Suing the landlord has only gotten harder.

The goal of the meeting convened by the Hinds County Children’s Coalition was to brainstorm ways to make the complex safer. Jacqueline Dominguez, a local representative for Aspen Companies, an affiliate of the New-Jersey-based property owner, Treetops Companies, listened to the ideas. Dominguez did not respond to an email from Mississippi Today seeking further comment after the meeting. 

Hinds County Youth Court Judge Carlyn Hicks said residents need to be more vigilant of teenagers who come to Rebelwood to hang out, fight or shoot into an abandoned elementary school behind the complex. 

“Rebelwood is a hotbed for children who are running away,” she said. 

Jerome Thompson, the new JPD commander who oversees Precinct 1 where Rebelwood is located, said he thought many teenagers causing trouble at the complex could be identified using road blocks. But, he said, the department was limited in its ability to use that tool following a 2022 lawsuit that led to a settlement prohibiting JPD from using roadblocks for “general crime control.” 

“Why are y’all messing with something that can help the community,” he said. “Because where those road blocks are? Guess what. That’s where crime is.” 

Ward 7 council member Kevin Parkinson, who recently met with Dominguez, pleaded with her to get the long-broken front gate around the complex fixed. Sharon Brown, a community activist, said the on-site property managers needed to do a better job of vetting visitors. 

Don Coleman, a resident of the neighborhood outside the complex, said fixing the front gate won’t be enough, due to gaps in Rebelwood’s fences: “There are trails through the woods,” he said. 

The low-income complex has been troubled for decades, with stories of violence, gangs and drug dealing dating back to the 1990s. 

In 2024, the New Jersey behemoth affordable housing company that owned Rebelwood sold the complex to Treetops Companies, another such company also based in New Jersey. 

Though he did not go into detail, Parkinson said he was “pleasantly surprised” after Dominguez and another company representative met with him and the city’s chief administrative officer, Pieter Teeuwissen, in February. Parkinson said the owners told him they have invested funds into repairing units and improving security since taking ownership. 

“The moment that we stop getting responsiveness, the moment that we stop seeing necessary investments being made in what needs to happen, then we’re gonna have some conversations about, is this a public nuisance?” he told attendees at Riverside. 

If the council declares Rebelwood a public nuisance, the city can shut it down. But Parkinson said nobody wants to see that happen since there are few places residents could be relocated. 

Though Dominguez said she wanted to work with local nonprofits, multiple people shared stories of the on-site managers shutting their work down — even after Treetops purchased the property. 

Teresa Johnson, a nearby homeowner, said her church was recently forced to stop providing hot meals at Rebelwood after the property manager shortened the time slot they were allowed on the complex. 

Rukia Lumumba, the founder of the People’s Advocacy Institute, recalled that management told her group to stop coming to the complex in 2022 after they started offering cash assistance to residents. PAI had started working at Rebelwood during the pandemic. 

Brown, who has helped residents traumatized by gun violence relocate, informed Dominguez that the on-site property manager treats residents poorly. Brown said that management needed to support residents, especially those who could mentor the youth. 

“You need some ordinary folks who are not afraid to say, ‘Where are you going with that gun? Come here,’” she said. 

While most agreed it was visitors, not residents, who are a problem, Thompson said that police had recently identified a gang at the complex called the “First 48.” 

“We’ve got some intel and things that’s in the works,” he said. 

As the meeting ended, a JPD car whizzed past the coffee shop, blue lights on. JPD Public Information Officer Tommie Brown said that officers responded to a report of a shooting at the complex, but they were not able to find the perpetrators, and no one was shot. 

This article was originally published by Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Source: Original Article