'Bad guys are shooting again!': Montgomery city councilor, neighbors describe terror in Sheridan Heights

Montgomery City Councilor Marche Johnson’s two teenagers have learned to drop to the floor of their family home when the shooting starts. Her toddler, born the year she was elected, doesn’t understand what’s happening yet. She hopes he never has to learn.

“I don't want him to feel like that's normal — to have to get up out of his sleep, or if he's playing in a hallway to run because we have so many windows that something may ricochet in our house,” she said.

Johnson grew up in the north Montgomery neighborhood of Sheridan Heights, a quiet community filled with military retirees and their kids. A sign next to the neighborhood entrance warns “no loud music.” Johnson served three tours overseas with the U.S. Army, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, before moving back home next door to many of the same neighbors she’s had all her life.

About three weeks ago, gunfire started ringing down the streets. Neighbors describe it as automatic weapons, sometimes during the day but usually after midnight. Johnson said Montgomery police leaders have told her the shootings are related to an argument “between friends” in neighboring subdivisions.

The incidents are under investigation and MPD is working to identify those involved, Capt. Saba Coleman said in a statement to the Advertiser.

“I signed on the dotted line and became a service member in the U.S. Army, and deployed, because that was my duty to the United States, serving at the pleasure of the President,” Johnson said. “But here out in the streets, it is not what I signed up for. No one wants to go work a nine-to-five or seven-to-five (job), paying their taxes for their property, buying their home, and have to duck and dodge bullets from people that cannot resolve their conflict.”

Neighbors say most of the gunfire is happening behind homes owned by military retirees and their family members, many of them elderly. There’s a private school and a church within a few blocks.

Rick Watson moved back to Sheridan Heights after leaving the military so he could keep an eye on his mother and uncle, who have lived there since the 1950s. Now, Watson says they’re among the closest homes to the gunfire.

“One of the weapons used obviously is an automatic weapon by the sound of it,” he said. “With automatic weapons you don't always know where the bullets are going. So if it's one street over, then we obviously have the concern for an 88-year-old mother and an 84-year-old uncle.

“They don't claim to be special. They just claim to want to have the quality of life that their taxes are designed to pay for.”

Two houses down, Jennifer Moore lists off her neighbors, names that everyone here seems to know. “My mom is 86 across the street,” Moore said. “Mrs. Hall is in her 80s. Mrs. Watson is 88, and Mr. Charlie is in his 80s.”

Moore, also part of a military family, now cares for her granddaughters, one of whom recently had surgery for a back injury and has trouble getting to the floor when gunshots ring out. The youngest, who is four, always yells a warning. “She just says, ‘Nana, the bad guys are shooting again!’ ” Moore said. “She doesn't understand why. But she does know these are bad guys.”

Sheridan Heights resident Anthony Williams’ children are grown, but he said he’s worried about the people in the houses around him. “You’ve got (residents) that are too old, they can’t be ducking and dodging,” Williams said.

The city recently hired a new police chief, former New Orleans police commander Darryl Albert. Johnson said she plans to meet with Albert for the first time soon while explaining the problems in her own neighborhood.

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Johnson said she also supports Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed’s efforts to implement intervention programs like the Office of Violence Prevention, “but it’s going to boil down to the community speaking out about these domestic disputes.”

“My oldest son, I really have to talk to him a lot about how you resolve conflict and knowing that the crowd that you carry speaks volumes about you as a person, and your character,” Johnson said. “Even if you're not like that, if you're surrounded by these people, you need to change your environment.

“I think a lot of parents should have those conversations. We wouldn't be dealing with this as much.”

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Brad Harper at bharper1@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Gunfire terrorizes Montgomery city councilor, elderly neighbors