NATCHEZ — Adams County Sherriff Travis Patten posted a video on social media Tuesday addressing recent crime events in Natchez and Adams County.

 

Patten asked the community to help reach the people who are responsible for recent shootings in Natchez.

“These are not random shootings,” Patten said in the video.

In the video, the sheriff said opposing groups of young people are shooting each other in an endless cycle of retaliation, in what he describes as “an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.”

“Violence is definitely not the answer or the solution,” Pattens said.

Patten asks community members to talk with those responsible to get them to cease the violence.

Patten said his office has been working closely with the police department to get those responsible for the shootings off the streets. He said those who refuse to end the violence will not be tolerated and will be brought to justice.

“We will not live in fear in the community,” Patten said.