As the sun rose two days ago on Palm Sunday, the rays of light fell on a tragic scene on Franklin Street — another senseless, stupid murder in Natchez.

Police are still investigating the matter and a suspect has been arrested, which seems to indicate good, swift police work on the part of Natchez police investigators.

Simply moving on and chalking up the murder as another statistic would be doing a disservice to residents and the victim.

The real question, the real challenge, for law-abiding citizens is: How can we stop the violence in our community?

In the past few years, the arrogant disregard for human life has become far too familiar in our community.

From the elderly man beaten and killed by a gang of young thugs a few years ago to the murder outside the Natchez Mall to the latest killing, a sea of change is required if we hope to stop the violence.

First, Natchez’s police force must become more aggressive on breaking up lingering groups of people on the streets at the wee hours of the morning, when and where many of these murders seems to happen.

If we don’t have enough police officers available to adequately cover the city, let’s cut other city services until we can hire the appropriate level of officers. That may seem harsh, but at the moment, but the first priority the city owes its residents is a sense of safety and security.

Finally, citizens must demand better results from our judicial system. When criminals are caught we must lock them up — for a long, long time.

At the moment, Natchez is fast becoming a throw-back to the days of the wild, wild West.

That’s a shame, but it’s downright disgraceful if we do nothing to change it.