With gun violence rising in Charlottesville, that city’s police chief is calling for more programs and volunteers to address the root causes of crime. The personal plea comes after four people were killed and a mid-day shooting forced officers to close one of the city’s main roads for two hours.
Twenty-twenty was a violent year for Charlottesville. Assistant Police Chief James Mooney kept score.
“The Charlottesville Police Department responded to 195 calls for shots fired," he told reporters. "One hundred, twenty-two of those were confirmed shots fired cases – meaning we found evidence of gunfire: shell casings and in numerous cases there were victims.”
And the trend continues in the new year.
“We have people who are shooting wildly," Mooney said. "On Tuesday we had two incidents where apartment buildings were hit. In one of those apartments a woman lay in her bed and a bullet traveled right through her mattress. Another woman was struck in the forehead.”
He and chief RaShall Brackney said the city cannot arrest its way out of this problem. Instead, she called on local businesses, non-profits and individuals to address the root causes of violence.
“More than sitting on a board or making your opinions known, what are you willing to do?" she asked. "What jobs are you willing to offer? Tutoring, training resources, mentoring, mental, emotional and health resources to treat the trauma and secondary effects in our community.”
At a news conference, Brackney told reporters that the COVID pandemic had made matters worse, but the underlying causes of violence could be traced back 400 years to slavery.
