Columbia Borough residents pressed council members for more police patrols and the re-establishment of neighborhood crime watch programs Monday in the wake of a tragic shooting in the borough Friday.

The incident outside of the Mighty Dog Family Fun Center, 29 N. Fourth St., involved Lancaster resident Jakeem Lydell Towles, 20, who allegedly shot 20 year-old Cornell Anton Stewart once in the head, according to newspaper records.

Reports state that Stewart was scheduled to perform that night as hip-hop artist Young E-Z. Towles has since been charged with criminal homicide and taken into custody by Lancaster City police.

At the borough council meeting, resident Don Gallagher said the shooting Friday comes in the wake of recent "riot situations" that have been breaking out in the area surrounding Plane Street. "How can people live in a town where fights keep breaking out. And now we have a murder," Gallagher said Monday.

"This kind of violence started in Philadelphia and moved to Reading. People in Lancaster said it could never happen here, but it is happening here," he said. "We don't have bad people here. But we do have bad people coming in."

Resident Shirley McBride, a member of the defunct Columbia Citizens Action Committee, called for the re-establishment of neighborhood crime watch programs and asked council to look into purchasing a new drug-sniffing canine to assist the borough's current drug dog, Max.

"We need to take our community back," McBride said. "They can take over this town if we don't stand up."

Mary Barninger, council vice president, discouraged residents from trying to take the law into their own hands. She said any resident who sees anything suspicious should call 911.

"I live in that neighborhood, and there is a feeling of uneasiness," she said.

Councilwoman Sandy Duncan said that all elected officials can do is to ask the public to be vigilant. "It used to be that we knew everyone who lived on our street. Now we're wondering what people are really going to the playground to do," she said. "We've got to let people know that Columbia isn't going to stand for this."

Borough Manager Norm Meiskey attempted to calm residents' fears by reassuring them that the borough was less than 90 days away from establishing a video surveillance system, one that will allow police to monitor multiple areas and prevent an incident before it occurs.

"But even with cameras, police can't cover all areas at once," he said. "But with everyone's cooperation, we can address these issues and take a bite out of crime."

Anyone with more information on the shooting should call the Columbia Borough police at 684-7735.