Pine Bluff Police Chief Shirley Warrior discussed the city’s latest crime statistics at a Tuesday night town hall-style meeting that included members of the community and city leaders.
Warrior said it’s important to release information as soon as its available in order “for our department to be transparent.”
“We don’t want to wait a month and then have people wondering why we waited so long,” she said in a news release.
On the heels of two recent homicides, Warrior assured the public that the PBPD is continuing its commitment to fight crime and ensure public safety.
The July 19 shooting death of 14-year-old Floyd Allen of Pine Bluff marked the first juvenile homicide in more than a year-and-a-half. Dicoreon Ford, 18, has been arrested in the case.
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Thirty-six-year-old Markee Avery was killed just a day earlier, and 37-year-old Michael King has been arrested in that case. Police are still searching for King’s brother, 39-year-old LaMarcus Benton, in connection to Avery’s death, according to the release.
In all, there have been eight homicides in Pine Bluff since the start of 2025. Six of those cases are cleared, according to the PBPD detective’s office.
A couple of weeks before Allen and Avery were killed, there had been just four reported homicides in the city; however, an ongoing investigation and the death of a victim earlier in July caused the homicide number to spike.
Antonio Gardner, 34, was shot on June 14 but died on July 10. Keyontae Johnson, 29, is a suspect in the homicide. Additionally, the investigation into an infant’s death in a motel bathtub on June 14 has resulted in homicide charges for the child’s mother, LaCrystal Matthews, 24.
Year-over-year, homicides for July are up from one in 2024 to two in 2025.
OTHER STATISTICS
From July 1-20, there were 28 calls about possible shots fired, with a majority — nine — occurring in Zone 1. That’s where the city’s first four rounds of Operation Stop the Bleed took place earlier this month.
The police saturation event is designed to show the community that police are taking a proactive approach to crime fighting, Warrior said.
Twelve Stop the Bleed events are planned.
In all, more than 100 citations were given out during the first four Stop the Bleed campaigns. Officers wrote citations for failure to wear a seatbelt, no proof of insurance, no driver’s license or suspended driver’s license, among other violations.
“We’re not harassing you, we’re not trying to put anybody down,” Warrior said of the events. “We just want to live in a safe environment. Just obey the law of the land, that’s all we’re asking.”
Warrior said one area of particular concern relates to domestic violence, with more than 50 police calls being made between July 1-20.
A majority of the calls were related to “boyfriend/girlfriend” arguments that ended in a physical altercation. There were 25 domestic violence-related arrests between July 1-20.
Above all, Warrior said it’s important that everyone in the city help fight crime, whether it’s making a phone call about possible gunfire, tipping detectives on major crimes or helping a couple receive counseling.
“We want to encourage everybody to get more involved,” Warrior said. “We might not be here tomorrow or the next day … but we hope our kids, our grandkids will be. We want them to come back and visit our city and be proud.”
Warrior concluded: “There’s only a handful of people who are bad in our city. If we can get control of that handful, and if we all work together, we can get it done. I live in the heart of this city, and in our neighborhoods, we just want to be safe.”
Pine Bluff Mayor Vivian Flowers, who attended the event, said that although there is work to be done, the city has been heading in the right direction.
“We saw a year-and-a-half with no homicides of young people; that is prevention,” the mayor said. “Lighting is prevention, cameras are prevention … all of those things, coupled with pastors in the schools, assisting parents with wraparound services, are important.”
Flowers said the police department is looking to hire a social worker and psychologist to assist officers in their efforts to fight crime.
“We want to make sure that people who are arrested and need mental services get access to them,” Flowers said.
“It’s not just one thing (that’s needed),” she added. “Police are good at policing, but in order for us to make our community safe and (for) our officers to go home to their families, we have to engage in prevention. We have to do it with them.”