Early morning shooting leaves community on edge

BROOKLAND, Ark. (KAIT) - Shock was a common word used on Thursday after many in Brookland woke up to the sound of gunfire they had never heard before.

For residents, Brookland is viewed as a quiet small town away from a lot of the crime in Jonesboro.

Amy Bromley and her family moved to Brookland to ensure safety after a shooting in their last apartment complex forced them to get out of there.

“Me and my boyfriend decided we were going to leave and go to Brookland because we were told things like that don’t happen here,” she said. “Next thing you know we are checking our phone and there is a shooting not even like a walk down there.”

On March 23, the shots were fired from one car at another at around 4 a.m. on Brookland Street, across the street from where Bromley lives, leaving her in disbelief.

“I really didn’t think it was a shooting I didn’t know because it’s really quiet around here I didn’t think anything about it,” she said.

The early wakeup call also surprised Curtis Allen, who has lived in Brookland for 19 years. He said he has never heard of anything like that before.

“Well, it was kind of surprising because we don’t have that kind of stuff going on around here,” he said.

Allen said with the small town continuously growing an increase in crime might just be something they have to get used to.

“I just don’t understand it, but we have to deal with it we have to accept change comes people do crazy things nowadays,” he said.

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