MACON, Ga. — It's been 51 days since Matt Brown was killed in his North Macon neighborhood. On Tuesday, his family and neighbors spoke to the Bibb County commission about their safety concerns.
Susan Jolley was one of many people from Lokchapee Landing who attended the commission meeting.
"We're a very close community and Matt was very important part of the community and, you know, this is probably the first time any of us have experienced this type of crime close to us and we're just all affected by it," Jolley said.
Jolley decided to speak about their safety concerns after Brown was murdered.
"We want to draw attention to the increase in crime in our area and just have this public forum to speak out and you know let the community know what we've gone through," Jolley said.
Matt was shot and killed after checking on an alarm outside near his truck. His wife, Sylvia Rose-Brown, wishes a professional from the county could have been there to support her in her initial shock and grief.
"Having some wrap-around service in place to help those the night those things happen such as a chaplain to pray for us or even a counselor to say these are the next steps, these are normal feelings to kind of guide you through the process," Sylvia said.
Mayor Lester Miller admits there needs to be more support in those situations.
"Shame on us for not having someone there and that's just something we're going to have to own," Miller said.
People in Lokchappe Landing are worried what happened to Brown could happen to someone else. They live in fear as Jolley said crime continues to run through their neighborhood.
"We've known this has been a problem for the past couple of years. People coming into the community and entering their cars, but we never thought that we would be in danger by confronting them. That as we can see now, somebody could lose their life," Jolley said.
Mayor Miller also explained sometimes the county can't get involved or speak about these crimes until an investigation is complete. He asked that their absence not be taken as a lack of sympathy.
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