Warner Robins Residents Fed Up with Crime on McArthur Boulevard

WARNER ROBINS, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Residents in one Warner Robins neighborhood are fed up with what they call a “crime infested community”.

The outcry comes after a stabbing on McArthur Boulevard on Saturday, just blocks away from a playground. According to Warner Robins Police, officers were dispatched to a home in the 600-block in reference to an assault. But Leon Wynn, who lives on the street, says the violence goes far beyond Saturday’s stabbing. A few months earlier, a teen on the same block was shot in the face. Before that, the SWAT team was called out to a home on the same block, after a resident threatened to kill police.”

“In the past couple of years, it’s gotten real bad out here,” Wynn said.

For many residents, like Wynn, the sounds of gunshots are all too common in this community. Several people would not comment on the recent crime in fear of retaliation.

“Why should they be in danger in their own home?’ asked Matthew Hudson, “this is where we live.”

Hudson has lived on McArthur Boulevard for nearly 20 years. But the recently reported burglaries, break-ins and drug busts have been unbearable for him. Hudson said his neighbors try to look out for each other and even have a neighborhood watch group. But he feels there’s only so much they can do, without the help of law enforcement.

“They need to patrol more,” Hudson said, “if something happened in another neighborhood, that’s doing well, they’d be there in a heartbeat, we’re right around the corner from the city.”

“Often we don’t see police officers until something really happens in the neighborhood,” Wynn said.

Warner Robins Police Department spokesperson Tabitha Pugh said officers patrol the neighborhood regularly. She said the victim in Saturday’s stabbing is in stable condition and officers have a male suspect in custody.