RICHMOND, Va. -- In Richmond's Highland Park neighborhood, some residents feel that crime is crippling parts of their community.
"It's not safe. I've been in this neighborhood for a long time and my kids are not allowed to walk through the neighborhood at all," one resident said.
Extra concern has been raised following a shooting that injured three men last month at the Carolina Express convenience store. Just a month prior, there was a quadruple shooting at the same convenience store.
Since then, community members have vocalized concerns about how they believe some of the convenience stores in the neighborhood are breeding grounds for crimes.
"It's the same people that patronize the store and loiter at the store. They have people that stand outside and buy and sell drugs. They go on the side and the back and use drugs," one neighbor said.
Similar concerns were also brought up by Councilwoman Ellen Robertson who is calling for a community agreement to be made between businesses to change practices to promote the health and safety of the community.
"It's essential that businesses that do operation in the Highland Park community are community-oriented and they are here to provide meaningful and valuable services," Robertson said.
CBS 6 got the crime numbers for the eight convenience or food marts in the Highland Park area. They showed that half of the stores, like Jim's Grocery, Sali Food, One Stop Food Market and Simspons Market, haven't required police to come out for service this year.
However, the numbers from the police show that they aren't strangers to stores in the area.
So far this year, police have been called 21 times to Carolina Express, 27 times to Six Point Express, 33 times to Market Place #8 and 46 times to S+K Supermarket. These calls include shootings, disorderly conduct, armed robberies, overdoses and suspicious situations.
Below is a further breakdown of the calls:
Carolina Express:
Market Place #8
Six Point Express Mart:
S+K Supermarket
Some community members believe the statistics show that something needs to be done. Neighbors hope that may include somewhere that is safe and offers healthy choices to shoppers.
"We come together to say to the business community that if you want to do business in this community, you're going to provide the resources and services this community needs and demands," Robertson said.
The owner of Carolina Express didn't want to comment following the recent outbreak of violence.
Robertson is bringing a resolution to a committee on Tuesday that would propose a change to city code. Click hereto read more.
