ROSEBORO — Security is needed at Brantwood Court along with more scrutiny toward those who come, go and stay in the housing complex, according to a woman who, along with at least two others, plans to bring that plea for help to the town board at its April 8 meeting.

Those pleas, Dorothy Owens Young believes have often fallen on what she called “unconcerned” ears when it comes to those managing the apartments and those responsible for what goes on day in and day out, including shootings that leave many residents fearful and, in some cases, seeking “street justice,” to resolve issues they don’t believe will be handled any other way.

Young, who considers two men shot and killed at Brantwood in October 2024 as brothers, said the issues at the Roseboro apartments, where she once resided, need resolution, and she believes that resolution should start with apartment management finding safety solutions, including contracting or hiring Sampson sheriff’s deputies or other law enforcement to patrol the complex.

“We’ve talked to the mayor (Alice Butler) about this and she’s behind us. We’re going to ask the town board to help us get management to do something.”

Work to help the Brantwood Court area is already underway, according to Butler and the new executive director of the Eastern Carolina Regional Housing Authority, Denise Parsons.

Butler met with Young, local law enforcement and others recently and got right to work.

“We had the right people in the room, and we got maps down, looked at the issues, like lighting, and started trying to figure out what was needed, where the low hanging fruit was, you know, things we could handle quickly, what the town could do,” the Roseboro mayor said in a telephone interview Monday.

Among the immediate safety needs, the mayor said, was upgraded lighting, a better camera system and faster internet speeds so officers could quickly pull up footage and review, in real-time, what was going on at the complex.

The internet was the lowest hanging fruit, something Butler handled with a quick call to Star Communications, she said.

“I knew we had fiber in town, so I called Star and within a few minutes we had that issue resolved. Fiber was out there in no time.”

She’s also been in touch with Parsons, a conversation, Butler said, that had been productive as well.

Brantwood, which has 36 apartments, is run by the Eastern Carolina Regional Housing Authority, whose home office is in Goldsboro. It is a non-profit organization established through HUD and chartered by North Carolina general statute to provide decent, safe, and sanitary housing to low and moderate-income families area.

Butler said she first wrote to Parsons, and later talked with her. Parsons, Butler said, explained a number of needed upgrades at the complex were planned

Parsons, Butler said, has only been in the position a couple months and is still trying to get her arms wrapped around what is going on at the various complexes the Authority oversees.

“She was very receptive, but her budget doesn’t come out until October, so we (town officials) are looking at what we can do now,” Butler said.

Among those things is providing better lighting. Plans are in the works to add two new utility poles and upgrade four others, putting in LED lighting. In addition, plans are for the Housing Authority to purchase a new camera system.

Parsons, in a telephone interview Tuesday morning, said some of those upgrades were only a month or so away.

“Safety is a priority for us,” Parsons attested. “We want to do everything we can to make Brantwood a safe place.”

The executive director said she had been in touch with Duke Energy whose staff have been out to the complex and marked the property for new utility poles. Plans are, she said, to have six new or upgraded poles with LED lighting. “That might take about a month, but it’s in the works,” Parsons said.

In addition, upgrades are planned for the security cameras. Now displaying only black and white footage, with the upgrades, the night vision will provide real-time color imaging that, Parsons said, should be more beneficial to law enforcement. That, too, she said, should be completed within the next month or so.

Butler is also looking into a way to provide security guards at the complex, especially on the weekends. Roseboro currently contracts with the Sampson County Sheriff’s Department and has a deputy that patrols the entire town, but not specifically Brantwood Court. Security guards, the mayor said, might also be a valuable addition if it can be worked out.

“We’re trying to take a very proactive approach,” Butler said.

Brantwood Court has, at times, been considered a haven for the likes of drug dealers, fugitives and individuals walking around armed with handguns and assault rifles, something far removed from the otherwise quaint western Sampson County town, best known for its progressive efforts to draw shoppers and visitors into its limits.

There have been, through the years, shootings and drug arrests that have come from the complex, including last October when two Sampson brothers — Frederick Dixon, 46, Roseboro, and Leo Dixon, 40, of Salemburg — were found lying in the complex’s parking lot shot and dying from their wounds. Both did die despite life-saving efforts by law enforcement.

A little over a month after the shooting deaths, 24-year-old Elijah Tushawn Davis, who lived in Brantwood Court, was jailed, charged with two counts of murder, among other offenses.

Young said there had been other shootings and stabbings since, mostly unreported. “Hey, just because there’s a shooting doesn’t mean it was called in or that it didn’t happen,” she stressed. “Some people believe in street justice and others, well, they don’t call because they are afraid of what might happen to them or they don’t believe anything will come of it.”

It’s not that Young doesn’t think law enforcement won’t investigate, it’s more about officers being able to find enough people willing to share information to build a case.

“It’s hard to get people to talk. There is fear for sure. And even if they were to report it, many feel like nothing will happen. I think police are doing their best but I don’t always think the cooperation is there. There’s only so much they can do; I understand that.”

Butler said if the town or law enforcement don’t know, then there’s little that can be done. “If I look at statistics, it doesn’t show a lot of things like that (shootings) happening over there. We were told there was a shooting a couple of weeks ago at Brantwood, but when I looked into it, there was nothing reported. You cannot control what isn’t reported,” Butler attested.

Parsons concurred. “We cannot enforce what we don’t know,” she said. “People need to report the things they see or hear going on so we can be even more proactive.”

But, despite the lack of reporting, the mayor said she, law enforcement, the Housing Authority and town officials were trying to make the situation better for residents at Brantwood.

“I think we are developing a very good relationship with the Housing Authority and I know for certain that when problems arise there will be a heavy law enforcement response,” the mayor said. ,,

Young remembers a time when Brantwood wasn’t as it is now, and she credits that to managers who cared and did things to protect those who lived in the complex.

“I stayed at Brantwood around four or five years ago, and things were done differently.”

Managers, she said, posted a newsletter or memo, on everyone’s door, updating on complex news, upcoming events, town meetings and, most importantly, providing a “ban list” detailing individuals who were not allowed on the premises of Brantwood or other Housing Authority-owned properties.

That ban list, Young said, made it clear to residents that if someone on the list was visiting or staying in one of those apartments, the renter would be evicted.

“You knew if you were harboring one of those folks, you were out of there … you would lose your lease. We had different management then and things were just different. We didn’t have the issues with people coming in to cause trouble. It’s not like that now,” Young attested.

That ban list and the newsletter are no longer posted on individual apartments; instead both are posted in the office.

“And that leaves a lot of room for error or it gives people an excuse to say they didn’t know about it. The office isn’t always open and there are some people who never go over to the office; they don’t have to. You can mail your rent so why go there.”

Butler said she believes Parsons will be receptive to ideas like a return to posting the ban list on the door if not on each apartment.

“She’s very nice and really seems to want to work to make things better,” Butler said.

Parsons said Tuesday that the ban list was another item she thought could be resolved. “We are considering posting the ban list outside the office, on the door, versus inside. We are certainly looking into it to see if there is a way to put it outside.”

The town board meets April 8 at 7 p.m. at the Roseboro Town Hall.

Butler said she believes town officials will be as receptive as she is to doing all they can at the complex. “We are trying to make this better,” the mayor stressed.