By David Ball
david.ball@panews.com

The Port Arthur City Council is saying enough is enough with one apartment complex in the city.
Patrick Melvin, chief of the Port Arthur Police Department, said at the regular meeting of the Port Arthur City Council meeting on Tuesday morning his department is meeting this Friday with federal law enforcement partners about creating a multi-agency task force. The task force is needed in response to two children being shot on Oct. 19 at Louis Manor apartments.

It was reported in The News Viola Anderson, the great-aunt of the two victims, said two children, a 3 and 4 year old, were hit by gunfire in the legs at about 9 p.m.

Anderson said the children were sleeping in an upstairs apartment as many of the downstairs apartments sustained flood damage and were not habitable. However, it is not clear that the children were the targets as a silver car below the second story apartment had been shot into.
According to Anderson, the children and their mother were taken to St. Elizabeth’s in Beaumont.
“Somebody is always dying back here,” she said. “They’re always shooting.”

Melvin said the task force is moving forward.

Willie “Bae” Lewis Jr., District 5 councilman, said he has received numerous complaints about the shooting.

“It bothered me two kids got shot,” he said. “We need the cooperation of the residents who call the police and the tenants will be hiding in the complex.”

Lewis believes tenants need to be vetted during the application process and ousted from the premises when they violate the lease agreement.

“The people there have had enough,” he said.

For example, the crime in the area stopped a Family Dollar store from being built across the street from New Hope Baptist Church. Furthermore, a Houston firm was going to rebuild Louis Manor for millions of dollars, but they couldn’t get a tax credit because of the crime.

Harold Doucet Sr., District 4 councilman, asked the chief what the apartment owners were doing. The complex is owned by B Properties of Corpus Christi, according to a Jefferson County Appraisal District search.

Doucet added that the complex is a public nuisance and it’s bad for the welfare of its tenants. He further believes the complex needs private security 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“We need to look at our ordinances and the word needs to get out to citizens to get out of there or it will be locked down,” he said. “We have a responsibility to the tenants for a safe and healthy environment and not keep our law enforcement out there patrolling constantly. If you rent, they should provide you the security.”

Cal Jones, District 2 councilman, said he was either feeling emotional or he was “mad as hell.”
“This problem is like fixing our streets. We kept kicking it down the road,” Jones said. “Louis Manor has been a thorn in our side for 15 years. The kids were upstairs and still shot. Enough is enough. Nothing is being done.”

Jones called the shooters “thugs” whose violence will spread through the city if it’s not stopped at Louis Manor.

“We need to put a stop to this,” he said.

Lewis asked if Louis Manor has any in lieu of taxes agreements with the city. Val Tizeno, city attorney, said she will check out the agreement.

Thomas Kinlaw III, District 3 councilman, asked Melvin if the PAPD has met with Louis Manor owners. He said they’ve met before. Previously, off-duty law enforcement officers patrolled the complex but do so no longer for some unknown reason to Melvin.

He added that it’s difficult to keep officers out there 24/7.

Security cameras at the complex, furthermore, weren’t working the night of the incident.
Kinlaw encouraged Melvin to stay on top of things.