After Selma’s third murder in two weeks, Police Chief Robert Green said his department is declaring war on those responsible.

“I am fed up with acts of homicide being committed in Selma,” Green said. “This department is declaring war on drugs.”

Green made the announcement on Friday, only a few hours after police found the body of 28-year-old Walter Lee Jones in the 1300 block of Mabry Street.

The victim was lying on the ground near the porch of a residence. He sustained gun shot wounds to both his head and side.

“The victim was unresponsive to the efforts of emergency personnel and was pronounced dead at the scene by Dallas County Coroner Alan Dailey,” Green said.

According to the police report, Lee’s home address is 1307 Voeglin Avenue &045; the exact location where 25-year-old Clinton James Peeples, Jr. was murdered Tuesday night.

Detectives are currently trying to determine if there is a correlation between these two crimes, but it is suspected that drugs were likely involved.

“Most of the crimes committed here are drug related,” Green said. “In the last 12 months, roughly 70 percent of the murders have been related to drugs.”

In addition to the trio of murders, there have been two other shootings in Selma this month. Because of the recent string of violent crimes, the Selma Police force has decided to switch from a rotating patrol to a beat patrol.

Officers will be assigned to work continuously in specific sections of the city.

“We are doing this for the simple reason of identifying offenders in a area and get acquainted with residents,” Green said.

Drug enforcement teams were set up this weekend to invade target areas in Selma and locate drug dealers.

Green said he also plans to work with other law enforcement agencies to help get dangerous criminals off the streets.

Jones’ murder is the second one to be committed in the past week.

Leads are being investigated in both the Peeples and Jones cases, but so far no arrests have been made.

Lizzie Mae Lewis, 41, was arrested Jan. 19 for the stabbing death of her boyfriend, Roosevelt Jackson, Jr., after she found him with another woman. The first murder was not drug related.