A 67-year old woman lost her life in an incident that didn't have to happen. Many are blaming the imcompetence of the police department on the woman's unfortunate situation and they are being asked to answer for what they did and did not do.
Helen Harrison's body was found in her backyard this week in Jackson, Mississippi. During a press conference, Chief Linsey Horton said that police didn't properly handle a 911 call made by the woman, which led to her demise. She'd called 911 at 2:23 a.m. to let police know that someone there was a prowler in the area. The dispatcher disconnected the call after 12 seconds, but the police did arrive on the scene. However, they didn't see any signs of a break-in, so they drove away. But this wasn't the end of the incident. When Harrison's children arrived at the home 11 hours later, they found their mother's body in the backyard where she's been beaten, repeatedly raped and shot in the face.
"Strangled, shot in the face and suffered blunt force trauma. Her neck was also broken, " reports the Ledger. "We are all elderly people around here," neighbor Doris Maxwell said. "I think somebody knew that she lived alone and they targeted her. That's my belief."
According to MSNewsNow.com, the chief issued this statement:
I am not pleased with it, and it is a defining moment for us, a teachable moment." Horton said if officers would have walked around the house, they would have seen the house had been broken into and they could have found Helen earlier.
"While we did a good investigation, we obviously did not do one to the extent that we covered the entire property. We know that now and I do think our officers could have done a better job, " said Horton.
Chief Horton says officers should have put eyes on her, that is their protocol, and this won't happen again, "We will be putting a system in place so this won't reoccur."
The elder woman didn't go out with battling the individuals who assailed her. "She did in fact have a weapon and there's indication she discharged one shot. We don't know whether she struck the assailant, she very well may have struck him, "said Chief Horton.
(Originally story was printed in the New Community Journal(emerging businessgr.wix.com/community-journal-. Used with permission)