City is fighting back after it recorded 11 shootings, and 9 homicides in 72 hours, and counting
Onumba.com – It has been dubbed the “summer of violence.”
And for sure, it is not the kind of summer Mayor Michael Coleman, Director of Public Safety Mitchell Brown, and Columbus Division of Police Chief Walter Distelzweig had in mind when they kicked off an initiative last April to have folks turn in their guns to the police.
Even though a pile of guns were retrieved in that effort, city leaders are not satisfied and are continuing to fight to keep guns off the street, keep young folks from gaining access to them in order to keep the rate of youth violence down.
But for some reason, like the proverbial bad pennies, these guns keep flowing back into the community, and ending up in the hands of a trigger-thrilled generation too chicken to fight and settle their scores with fists.
The recent spike in gun violence in Columbus is pretty disturbing for city officials, to say the very least. Coleman, for one, has always complained that there are “too many guns in the street.” He decried the spate of violence and the frustration he feels for young folks dangling on the street and killing each other.
“There have been nine homicides in the past two weeks; all between the hours of 10 p.m. and 2 p.m. Four of the victims were under the age of 26. Two of the victims were 15 and 16 years old — respectively,” Coleman said.
And Young Black folks are often caught up in the deadly maelstrom.
“Seven of the nine are African-American males. Seven of the nine died as a result of gun violence. As we look at these nine, that don’t seem to be connected with each other, they clearly are acts of random violence in our city.”
In one of the killings, 16-year-old Darrick Dawson and 17-year old Jayme Eugene-Jamar Prince shot 16-year old Katrel Parker to death, and then took refuge in a nearby church by blending in with the congregation worshipping there at the time.
What’s more, since this story went to the press, there have been more homicides.
What’s stoking this rash of violence, though?
Because “far too many guns are being made available. We’re a gun state. We allow concealed weapons by law. We allow the proliferation of guns in all of our communities,” said Coleman.
“I’m frustrated by this, the proliferation of guns in all of our urban communities. There are more guns than ever in the street of Columbus,” said Coleman. “You don’t need an AK 47 to shoot deer at the corner of Broad and High in Columbus.”
You certainly don’t. Yet, more young folks probably died from gun violence this past couple of weeks in Columbus than deers.
The city is fighting back.
Coleman, last week, called an emergency powwow of his security staff, with Columbus Police Chief Walter L. Distelzweig, Director of Public Safety Mitchell Brown and other city security officials in attendance.
The reason for the strategy session was to come up with a plan to push back this wave of violence. It ended with a plan to unleash the Division’s community response team, to include a beefed up police patrol and increased community engagement.
Coleman said that the members of the response team will come from the Division’s Gang Unit and the Gun Reduction Project to patrol selected neighborhoods around the city.
Coleman said that community crime prevention is everyone’s responsibility.
“This is an issue that must engage everyone in our community. This is a problem that is everybody’s responsibility,” Mayor Coleman said.
He called on parents to ensure their children are home by midnight and urged residents to help fight crime by reporting incidents of criminal activities to the Police.
Ike Mgbatogu can be reached by email at: editor@onumba.com
