The new no-shoot zone is the red hashed area.
MONROE — After a close call with a stray bullet in the Eaglemont subdivision on the Fourth of July, residents clamored for a no-shooting zone north of their homes.
The County Council approved 4-1 last week to set a boundary covering almost all the area north of Monroe city limits, as well as an area east of Monroe, with immediate effect.
Councilman Sam Low requested creating the no-shoot area after meeting with neighbors who live in Eaglemont, a housing development that is due north from the Monroe Walmart.
Also in the new no-shooting zone is the Sweetbriar neighborhood near Eaglemont, as well as the Woodlands neighborhood and most of the southern section of the Robinhood area.
The stray bullet whizzed over a four-year-old playing outside and hit a house while people celebrated Fourth of July.
It wasn’t the first or even second time a bullet hit a house in Eaglemont. It has happened at least three times in the past four years.
Monroe Police Chief Jeff Jolley said during summer City Council meetings that he is aware of one household that has caused trouble with shooting guns during celebrations.
In August, the City Council did not support a request from Mayor Geoffrey Thomas to have the city write a letter asking county leaders create the no-shoot zone. Many City Council members didn’t support this on a general concern about infringing on public rights because of activities at a specific property.
For example, Councilman Kirk Scarboro said at the
Aug. 4 meeting that a no-shoot zone “punishes everyone for the indiscriminate act of somebody without a brain.”
City Councilwoman Heather Rousey wrote to county leaders asking them to vote no.
“It is my understanding that the stray bullets in question are coming from one particular property,” Rousey wrote. “It has been the recent practice of government to take away the freedoms of the masses in effort to get compliance of the few, or in this case, the one. I trust the coordinated effort of our law enforcement and judicial process to address this issue, without infringing on the rights of the citizens as a whole. Please vote against this ordinance.”
Dozens of neighbors in Eaglemont and Sweetbriar supported the no-shoot zone.
“Shooting anywhere near these neighborhoods, in the woods, is dangerous for these families,” Sweetbriar resident Elizabeth Njie told the County Council. “This is about reasonable use. This is about, you know, a densely populated area.”
City Councilwoman Patsy Cudaback addressed the County Council asking it to vote in favor.
The Eaglemont and Sweetbriar subdivisions popped up in the past five years, placing suburbia in what was largely open land.
In the 4-1 vote, County Council Chair Nate Nehring gave the dissenting “no” vote. Nehring said using an emergency ordinance doesn’t follow the usual procedures he supports to have neighbors arrange a petition to establish a no-shoot zone.
