Betty Street shooting leaves couple shaken

Stacey Gatson hasn’t been to work since a bullet came through the wall of her Betty Street home early Sunday morning and lodged in the mattress on which she and her husband, James, slept.

Outside the house it was chaos, according to witnesses, as victims lay wounded and the shooters fled.

The wounded, whose names were not released, suffered non-life threatening injuries.

Within hours Tyrell Braylin, 19, of Farmerville was in custody and charged with attempted second degree murder. Two days later police caught up to, Jylon Fields, 20, of Marion in Shreveport and booked the young man with attempted second degree murder and aggravated criminal damage to property.

Since the shooting, Gatson said on Thursday, she has been unable to go to work at the childcare center she owns in Farmerville.

In addition to being a business owners, Gatson also sits on the board of the East Union Hospital Service District.

Traumatized by how close she and her husband came to being shot, Gatson said she is disappointed in local law enforcement’s inability to address the violence in Farmerville’s black neighborhoods.

“We hear gunfire down here all the time,” she said. “That club is a problem and (law enforcement) won’t do anything about it. How does a public official just let this happen?”

Gatson was referring to Club Freedom, the Betty Street bar where officials said the alleged shooters were partying prior to the shooting. 

Club Freedom is owned by Farmerville City Councilman Thomas Nation.