ST. LOUIS — Shaw is a south St. Louis neighborhood full of bustling small businesses, and as of late Monday night, concerned neighbors.
"There's a lot of problems in the city, so when folks can't get what they need, they might end up gravitating to places like this that are on the come-up," said resident Jakob Nelson.
Crime statistics show robberies here have more than doubled, going from eight in 2018 to 20 in the first nine months of this year.
"It just seems like nobody cares," said Emmett Coleman, a resident and candidate for 8th Ward alderman.
Monday night's incident only added to these statistics after police say a woman was robbed and pistol-whipped.
The suspects took off with her purse in hand just before 11 on the 4000 block of Shenandoah.
"There should be some type of neighborhood effort to get everybody together to figure out what's going on," Coleman said.
St. Louis police tell us that effort is coming in the form of a robbery detail created by the south patrol division. It consists of 10 officers and one sergeant who will specifically handle robberies. Police say at least one sky cop will be patrolling the area as well.
"Which are all good things but that should've been orchestrated decades ago," Coleman said.
Coleman has called Shaw home for 10 years. He hopes more people take active roles in the community, so it doesn't continue to be a hotbed for criminals.
"Where do you think they're gonna go where they might get shot at, or you think they're gonna come and get a woman that's getting groceries out of her car in this neighborhood since its safe?" Coleman said.
Just last week, 5 On Your Side told you about an Instacart delivery driver who was robbed on Russell.
Two carjackers took her keys and a bag of groceries.
No arrests have been made in either case, no word on if the two are related.
