It’s sad to say that another shooting has taken place in Como and Panola County. The latest, where resident Rachel Powell on Taylor St. in Como had her house sprayed in a barrage of bullets, were likely from an AK-47 assault weapon, reports say.

Assault weapon?

Where are these weapons of mass destruction coming from? And more pressing, what is being done to take them off the streets of our town? I have written tons of commentaries in the past about this very subject. It’ll get quiet for a while then it kicks back up into high gear. As the old folks used to say back in the day, “the sap is rising.”

When the shooting took place on Sunday afternoon at the Pure gas station at the intersection of Highways 310 and 51, I was at my mother’s house and the phone began ringing off the hook.

Soon after that, a fender-bender had taken place further up the street from my mom’s house and the siren went off because of a fire near the interstate. An ambulance came barreling down Warren St. on its way to the accident and with all of that commotion unfolding simultaneously,  it made for a scary situation especially if you didn’t know exactly what was going on.

During all of this chaos, there was an interview playing out in my head. I was interviewing myself. It went something like this.

Interviewer D. Taylor: (Who will be referred to as I.D.T.) “Aren’t you gonna go out and snap some pictures of these events?”

D. Taylor: “No.”

I.D.T.: “Why not?”

D. Taylor: “I’ve had guns pulled on me before and if the shooter’s clip had been in, I would probably be worm food now.”

I.D.T.: “But you didn’t and you’re still here. You have a voice.”

D. Taylor: “And I intend to be here for a little while longer – if it’s the Lord’s will.”

I.D.T. : “Can’t you put your fears aside in the interest of the public for information?”

D. Taylor: “No, they’ll find out from someone else.”

I.D.T.: “What if they want to hear it from you? You live in the war zone.”

D. Taylor: “The information will get out. Channel 3 news was here so if anyone watched the news on Monday, they’ll know and hear from the person first hand. As for living in the war zone, that’s exactly why I stayed away. I have to live there.”

This exchange with me and my conscience went on for about an hour. I attended the S.T.O.P. meeting that was held at Cherry Street Church on Feb. 25. I expressed myself to the president of the newly formed organization that people like me are very, very hesitant to speak out when a shooting happens, even if you see what happened.

I have flashbacks of that night and two other instances since then that will haunt me until the day that I die.

 I want to help but my defense mechanism kicks in and I clam up. Anyway, I get in trouble when I pull out my camera in Como, and that’s another reason why I’m hesitant about going to crime scenes.

I am so sorry that Sister Powell had to experience such a frightening ordeal. It’s ironic that she was one of the organizers responsible for the community meeting with S.T.O.P. (Stop the Ongoing Problem).

Now she has become a victim of the very thing she was trying to prevent. I’m glad that she nor any member of her family was hurt. I can imagine that she and her husband, Rev. Joe Powell, were terrified as the bullets flew through their home, waking them up.

My cousin Gail Brunt of Sardis is trying to form a youth group in Sardis to give the young people an outlet and steer them away from gangs and violence. I wasn’t able to attend the meeting they had Monday night and I’m hoping they had a positive one.

Como Mayor Everett Hill attended and said he is willing to do anything to help our youth. Violence and gangs have become a reality in our county. It isn’t located in just one area. That’s harsh  reality that’s hard to swallow.

Peace Y’all!

(Editor’s note: Donna Taylor’s column, The Dark Side, appears regularly in The Southern Reporter where this column was first published.)