Reeling from a fatal shooting last week at a school bus stop, the Clay Street community pushed for stronger bonds Tuesday night across the ranks of Annapolis city government, from the mayor to the police officer working their beat.

“We don’t know y’all … get to know us. Get to know the people in the community,” Terry Tanner told police officials. “Don’t sit in your car, walk.”

Tanner was among dozens of neighbors, supporters and leaders to attend a meeting at the First Baptist Church of Annapolis, organized after a March 19 shooting that left one man dead and an 11-year-old boy injured. It was the neighborhood’s third shooting this year.

Shawnte Brown grew up in the greater Clay Street area when it was known as the Old Fourth Ward — a predominantly Black and Jewish neighborhood torn apart by racially-charged housing policies in the 1960s.

Though Brown, 50, has moved to another community, she said her grandson saw John Simms Jr. get shot and killed. He’s normally taken directly to school, but that day, he wanted to ride the bus with his friends.

“He seen everything at that bus stop,” Brown told the crowd. “So now, my grandson doesn’t even want to go to school and he just turned nine on Saturday.”

In an interview, Brown said her grandson returned to school Wednesday and that she’s planning to schedule a family therapy session.

“At the end of the day, he’s going to need a lot of support,” she said. “Not just my grandson, but all of those children.”

After the shooting, which took place around 7:40 a.m., a school bus was held at the scene and some of the government buildings around Clay Street were closed.

Police said Simms, 36, was shot several times while in the street. The boy was shot in the foot and has since been released from the hospital, his mother Tiesha Contee said.

By the end of the day, the city police department and the U.S. Marshals Service began a manhunt for Roscoe Jerome Jones, an Oxon Hill man released from prison in April and described by authorities as a “trigger puller.”

According to charging documents, security cameras recorded an argument that morning between Jones and Simms; investigators said both men used pepper spray against one another before Jones pulled a gun.

Though a warrant has been issued, carrying with it several felony offenses, as of Wednesday afternoon, Jones has not been arrested.

The effort to find him, Annapolis Police spokesperson Kortlan Jackson said Wednesday, has “fully” been taken over by the U.S. Marshals.

Jackson said he didn’t know if Jones was still in the state.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Clay Street residents offered ways to improve their security and safety.

Brown, who was vice president of a residents’ association when she lived along Clay Street, said housing managers need to do a better job of vetting those coming into the community.

“They stopped the screening. They’re not doing background checks. They’re not doing that anymore,” she said. “They’re bringing these people in here. … We can’t stop that. But at the same token, if they are not on the lease, they need not to be in the residence.”

Investigators said that Jones ran into a nearby home after the shooting. Later, when police searched it, they found his identification card and matched the photo with security footage, according to charging documents.

Brown’s sentiment was shared by others.

Veronica Grant was the second person to address Tuesday’s panel. She said Clay Street’s reputation for crime is brought on by outsiders and not her neighbors, who she knows as “hard-working … good people.”

They try to keep their heads down and mind their own business, she said. Others ride around with guns.

“Get them out of here,” she pleaded.

According to a spokesperson at Pennrose, a Baltimore-based company that manages the apartments surrounding Clay Street, “permitted unit occupants” are those named on a lease after completing all relevant screenings and background checks.

An unauthorized occupant in someone’s home violates their lease, they said.

“The individual charged is not a resident of Obery Court or College Creek,” Pennrose wrote in a statement. “All prospective residents must complete in-depth credit, criminal, and landlord background checks administered through a third-party reporting agency that specializes in tenant screening.”

Residents confronted city leaders with quality-of-life concerns and called for speed cameras to make the area safer for children, a more consistent police presence, and more outreach and recreational opportunities for youth.

College Creek Church Pastor Isaac Vineyard, who moderated Tuesday’s meeting, pointed to “a string” of unkept promises — a park years in the making and a paved basketball court without a hoop — as contributors to feelings of “hopelessness.”

“When you can’t trust the city with little things, you’re not going to trust them with big things,” Vineyard said.

Annapolis Police Chief Ed Jackson defended his department. Referencing recent arrests in the Clay Street area, including an FBI raid in October that led to 11 arrests, Jackson said he’s frustrated that police are blamed when the person most responsible “is the guy that pulled the trigger.”

Chief Jackson told the crowd that police, courts and corrections encompass one half of social control and only come into play after the others — family, faith, and education — have failed.

“I get very sensitive to the criticism that we operate in a silo,” Chief Jackson said in an interview Wednesday. “It’s exhausting sometimes. We’re trying to deal with poverty, and we take on responsibilities that aren’t even ours. But the endgame is to try and prevent some of these things from happening.”

Ward 2 Alderwoman Karma O’Neill, who represents the Clay Street area, said Tuesday was “a hard night,” but that other listening sessions will be scheduled.

“We’re ready to roll up our sleeves and do the work, all of the work,” O’Neill said. “But it’s going to take every single one of us, and not just those that are sitting here.”