Two men were wounded by gunshots in an argument outside a Twelfth Street liquor store Saturday night and that prompted a call from an anti-violence group for tougher enforcement efforts on loitering.

Steve Williams, 31, and Tyrone Williams, 29, were both shot in the abdomen shortly before 8 p.m. outside the Pic-Pac Liquor Store at 4401 W. 12th, about six blocks west of the LRPD substation on 12th.

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A witness said she’d seen the two victims arguing with another man. She heard shots and the man with whom they’d been arguing left in a red vehicle. Tyrone Williams was described as being in stable condition with life-threatening wounds and Steve Williams was in stable condition in surgery, the police report said.

Sunday, Arkansas Stop the Violence, a grassroots group, issued a statement about the shooting. It said, in part::

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We feel that the shooting on last night on 12th street could have been avoided if City Manager Bruce Moore and Mayor Mark Stodola strictly enforce the anti-loitering ordinance in the city. For over a decade we have asked Mr. Moore to enforce this ordinance. We met with Mr. Moore about this issue back in the spring and he said that he would make it a top priority, but yet you ride on that corridor daily and you still see the same thing. In fact loitering is allowed in ward 1, 2, and 6th where there are black directors, but in wards 3, 4, 5 and 7 where there are white directors this isn’t allowed. This shows the racial divide in the city administration. When Mr. Moore and Police Chief Buckner looks just like the ones that are loitering and shot down in the streets. 

The statement said the city administration “needs to stop blowing a lot of hot air and get to business of all wards in this city.”

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