When police found 58-year-old Fonda Poellnitz's bloodied, lifeless body in the gutter outside her home, across the street from Three Mile Creek River, no one knew the horror that would come next.
In the moment she was shot dead, Poellnitz left behind two cherished children. Hours later, a wife would lose a husband and a young toddler would face a life without its father. Then there was the suicide. The same man pulled the trigger each time.
The Feb. 19 shooting of Poellnitz, so often referred to as the day that Mobile Police Officer Justin Billa was killed in the line of duty, was a tragic moment for the city and those charged with its protection.
After the discovery of Poellnitz, who died as the result of a domestic dispute, Billa was tasked with going to the house of her ex-husband Robert Hollie. As he was setting up a police cordon, the suspect walked out of his door and shot Billa dead. Hollie then turned the gun on himself.
Those murders, along with other recent high profile shootings in the city, have cast a new light on public safety and raised the question of whether Mobile can become the safest city in the United States by 2020.
"I believe we are seeing more violence on the streets of this city," said Spiro Cheriogotis, who as a former Assistant District Attorney in Mobile has prosecuted at all levels of the county's justice system. He is also standing to run as a District Court judge.
"Respect for human life has eroded and some people care very little about their communities anymore. But I'm encouraged by the great work that the Mayor, Chief of Police James Barber, and Ashley Rich are doing in this city. We need to keep doing it."
While stats on the recent spate of shootings alone are not recorded by Mobile law enforcement, the Trinity Garden shooting and the Grand Hall shooting, in which a 15-year-old girl died, has heightened awareness around the city about general crime and whether we're any safer now than in 2013.
The good news is that the overall crime rate in Mobile is significantly down over the last 10 years and those efforts have continued under current Mayor Sandy Stimpson, who came to power in 2013.
In 2006, there were roughly 17,000 crimes compared to 13,407 in 2014, Stimpson's first full year in office. Crime continued to fall in 2015 to a nine year low, but has since increased to 13,800 in 2016.
In the first three months of 2017 and 2018, the only months publicly released by the Mobile police Department, general crime stats are on course to be slightly higher than in 2015 and 2016.
In the first three months of 2018 there have been 3,684 crimes, compared with 3,680 in the first three months of 2017. If those numbers continue, Mobile is set hit around the 14,700 mark, the highest crime rate in five years.
Over the last 10 years, Mobile has reduced many types of crime drastically, but violent crimes such as rape, homicide and aggravated assault are generally trending up when you consider statistics between 2006 and 2016.
Over the last 10 years, Mobile has reduced many types of crime drastically, but violent crimes such as rape, homicide and aggravated assault are generally trending up when you consider statistics between 2006 and 2016.
In 2016, for example, homicides hit an eight year high of 41, compared with 24, 31 and 27 in the previous three years, respectively.
In the first three months of 2017, homicides were around 10 and on target to match 2016. In the first three months of 2018, homicides are significantly down with just six.
Aggravated assault hit a 10 year high in 2016 with 1,279 being reported. That's up roughly 400 percent over a decade. In the first three months of 2017 and 2018, aggravated assaults are on track to hit the 1,200 mark again.
Mobile Chief of Police Lawrence Battiste told AL.com that he understood the perception that shootings and general violence in the city were on the increase, but said that much of the extensive coverage from the media had perpetuated that.
"I think the perception of there being more shootings is probably one of the things that we are seeing, but I don't know if there are any more than normal," said Battiste during an interview with AL.com. "I think that's because the media is always looping the same footage and story. It's on the 8 o'clock news, the 5 o'clock news, it's on at noon. The perception is that there's a lot of crime and in many instances they are reporting on the same story many times."
Between 2006 and 2016, forcible rape has shown no significant change that would suggest any kind of shifting trend.
In 2016, 87 rapes were committed, the third highest in a decade. However, that followed a large decrease over the previous two record years. In 2014, there were 137 rapes, compared with 118 in 2015. Comparing the first three months of 2017 and 2018, rape is up about 43 percent, putting it on track to hit the 120 mark this year. Up to the end of March, there have been 30 rapes.
Robbery is trending down over the last decade, shifting from a high of 854 in 2009 to 438 in 2016.
Non-violent crime in Mobile has also come down significantly since 2006. There are approximately 1,000 fewer burglaries in Mobile than 10 years ago, and that figure is continuing to fall when looking at the first three months of 2017 and 2018.
Vehicle theft and larceny are also significantly lower than 10 years ago. That said, vehicle theft in the first three months of 2018 is showing signs of being the highest in years. There have been 360 so far this year, according to MPD stats.
Mobile generally has a higher homicide rate than Montgomery and Huntsville, but far lower than Birmingham, according to statistics. During a major drug operation Wednesday, Mobile police found seven weapons and arrested 10 suspects.
In an attempt to spread positive reinforcement throughout the city, Chief Battiste announced to the media Friday that the department would start issuing positive citations for citizens that exhibit good deeds.
While a positive step in Mobile's communities, it's unclear if the scheme, which rewards each person with a Frosty from Wendy's, will create the kind of community responsibility and good will required to bring down violent crime statistics in the city.
"The fundamental job of government is the safety of our citizens," Mayor Stimpson told AL.com via an email Thursday.
"We have made tremendous strides by improving pay for our first responders and providing them with new equipment, technology and training. We are also working hard on prevention programs to stop crime before it ever happens. The statistics tell us we are making progress but we aren't there yet - and we won't stop until we reach our goal of making Mobile the safest city in America by 2020."
Anesa Baker, 15, was hit by a stray bullet on Apr. 1 at an underage rap concert at the Grand Hall venue in Southwest Mobile. She died from her injuries 10 days later.
Eyewitnesses told AL.com that the people responsible were no older than the 15 to 18 year-old.
"It's senseless, it's crazy to know that my sister had to fight for her life because you stupid," said the sister of Baker, talking about the people responsible for killing the McGill-Toolen student. "You made a dumb choice, but justice will be served for sister. She is at peace."
Battiste also announced earlier this week that a $5,000 reward would be given to people with information about the shooting.
Six weeks before Baker was killed, three teens were arrested after being accused of shooting at people during the Trinity Gardens parade. Three people suffered minor wounds as a result of the shooting. Police said that one of the teens had been released as there was not enough evidence to convict.
The shooting came during the same time as seventeen teenagers were killed in Parkland, Florida on Valentine 's Day. The suspect was 19 year-old Nikolas Cruz. After that incident, there was a spate of threats made against schools in Mobile county, with a few guns being recovered from schoolchildren.
Community leaders have long said that a lot the problem with shootings and violence comes from young people in impoverished communities.
"Every week we seem to have a murder or a shooting," the Rev. Harold Goodloe, pastor of the Emmanuel Seventh Day Adventist Church, who was a prominent voice of the black community during the shooting of Michael Moore in June 2016, told AL.com. "And we've done a lot in those communities to help people learn about what it is to deal with conflicts in a different way."
"And just so I'm clear, we have to get guns out of the hands of all young people, not just African-Americans."