As summer heats up, city focuses on safety at parks, community centers
Neighbors play a pickup game at Orange Mound Park June 7, 2024. Orange Mound Park is surrounded by a strong neighborhood, according to Memphis Parks Director Nick Walker. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)
Tonya Wright was surprised and saddened when she heard about the April 20 block party at Orange Mound Park that resulted in the deaths of two people, a teenage boy and a young man.
She grew up in the Orange Mound community and has spent a lot of time at the park.
“The Mound is a good place,” Wright said tearfully as she sat on a bench in the park. “So why did that happen over here? We don’t know. I don’t know. I’m not even trying to find out.”
Orange Mound Park is surrounded by a strong neighborhood, according to Memphis Parks Director Nick Walker. “(The shooting) hurt my heart,” he said, especially because his department hosted a successful block party there last year when it kicked off its Family Fun Friday series.
Photos from the 2023 event show families enjoying the splash pad, bounce houses, toy car races, carnival rides and more. Videos from the block party in April show people brandishing firearms and doing doughnuts in the parking lot before gunfire erupted.
The Orange Mound Park shooting occurred just days after a separate fatal shooting at a community center in North Memphis. Memphis Parks is addressing violence by providing summer opportunities to young people and looking into added security measures, but stakeholders agree combating crime requires everyone’s effort.
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Julia Baker
A lifelong Memphian, Julia Baker graduated from the University of Memphis in 2021. Other publications and organizations she has written for include Chalkbeat, Memphis Flyer, Memphis Parent magazine and Memphis magazine.
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