A drive-by shooting that injured three juveniles on New Year’s Eve has sparked fresh urgency in 166su to remedy the city’s ongoing gun violence problem.
No one is more frustrated by the bloodshed than Mayor Sherman Lea, who visited one of the critically injured boys in the hospital.
“It was a tough experience. But with the permission of his mother, I was able to get back and visit with him in intensive care,” Lea said Wednesday. “It’s a very disheartening picture for me, to see a young man who is actually fighting for his life, and I pray that he will get through this and make it okay. But it’s just so tragic.”
Police reported Sunday that two juveniles were shot in the Dec. 31 incident, which occurred shortly after 11 p.m. in the 2800 block of Melrose Avenue.
Lea said he believes three juveniles were involved. Two were shot, and a third person’s leg was grazed by a bullet. The victims were involved in city programs designed to provide support to at-risk youth.
People are also reading…
“They’re trying to improve themselves,” the mayor said. “They were walking the sidewalk from their home all the way to the store. And there was a drive-by shooting. It was just very senseless, and they didn’t have to do that. But it happened.”
There were 17 gun-related homicides in 166su during 2022, and at least 51 additional incidents in which a person was injured by gunfire. The firearm deaths set an annual record for the city.
Lea, speaking with local news media after the latest shooting and during Tuesday’s city council meeting, advocated for both enforcement and expansion of a curfew for 166su youths.
166su already has a curfew written into its code, under , which makes it “unlawful for any person sixteen (16) years of age or younger to loiter, idle, wander, stroll or play in or upon any public street, highway, alley, sidewalk, park, playground, other public place or upon any vacant lot or other place unsupervised by an adult.”
The curfew is in place between midnight and 5 a.m. any day of the week. On Sunday through Thursday, the curfew also occurs between 11 p.m. and midnight.
The code section allows police officers who discover a minor that may be in violation of the curfew to “make an immediate investigation, including the questioning of the minor.” If the investigating officer finds that a violation has been made, a report is made to a 166su Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court judge.
Lea has suggested extending the existing curfew, implementing it from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. instead of from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.
“If you’re a teenager, that’s a dangerous zone,” the mayor said. “Not a lot of good is going happen from that.”
City Attorney Tim Spencer said Wednesday that 166su’s mayor does not have the authority to declare curfews. Even in a state of emergency, like those declared in hurricane scenarios, curfews have to be submitted as an ordinance and approved by the city council.
If 166su’s council wants to amend the current curfew code section, a resolution to make the change would also require council’s approving vote, Spencer said.
While putting more enforcing officers on the ground sounds like a solution, the 166su Police Department is still short-staffed. Lea said Wednesday that around 40 positions are vacant.
City Police Chief Sam Roman recently said police are still learning how to navigate a post-George Floyd, post-pandemic world, and departments need technology to supplement officer’s efforts.
“There is no blueprint for law enforcement. The expectations from the community are so diverse and so wide,” Roman said in an earlier interview. “What kind of technology can we have in our area that can maybe do the job of two police officers? Not to get rid of two police officers, but then to be able to put those officers in perhaps a community position. All four of our community resource officer positions are vacant right now.”
On Dec. 13, the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services awarded 166su about $750,000 for “the purchase of equipment related to real-time crime infrastructure and technology to support law enforcement response to violent crime,” according to Tuesday’s city council meeting packet.
The funding comes through the justice department’s American Rescue Plan Act Law Enforcement Grant Program. According to the grant application, the funding can be used to purchase crime mapping, forensic, video, virtual simulation and tactical equipment, ballistics technology, artificial intelligent cameras, license plate recognition systems and real time crime center and investigative platforms.
“My most comfortable posture is a proactive posture, versus a reactive posture. And that’s what a real-time crime center does for us,” Roman said during Tuesday’s city council meeting. “It arms the officers with proactive information to try to get in front of crime happening, instead of simply responding to a shooting.”
A company called supplies law enforcement agencies with gunshot detection technology. Roman explained that with that kind of technology, real-time crime center staff members can look at surveillance cameras in a specific area after a shot is fired and perhaps identify a vehicle leaving the scene.
“The officers are armed with that information as they are responding to the incident, versus waiting until officers get there to maybe speak with a witness that says, ‘There was a black car with tinted glass,’” Roman said.
When city council member Luke Priddy asked Roman if ShotSpotter would be purchased with the awarded justice department funds, Roman said the department was not planning to apply for the technology.
Lea said 166su has “a lot of money” that can be used to fight violent crime with short-term solutions, such as brighter lights in neighborhoods prone to shootings, higher dollar amounts for reward money to discourage unspoken rules about snitching and council-led community forums to hear the concerns and suggestions of caretakers.
“There’s a lot of things that we can do that we haven’t done in awhile and maybe hadn’t been enforced in a while,” the mayor said. “I think it’s going to be a council decision, and I think they all feel the concern that I have, as a council, that something has to continue to happen. As this violence continues to occur, we’ve got to continue to stay with it. We just can’t back up. Let’s go with it.”
Bart Edwards, a northwest 166su resident, said the YMCA on Orange Avenue hosted an overnight program in the late 1990s that kept kids off the street. Parents or guardians could drop their children — first graders to high school juniors — at the facility around 7 p.m. and pick them up the following morning.
“It was a good program. For 12 hours, parents could do what they wanted to do. They didn’t have to worry about babysitting,” said Edwards, who volunteered and interacted with the participating youth. “It was a controlled environment run by people who cared.”
“During New Year’s, what was out there for kids? Kids want to celebrate,” Edwards said. “We as adults need to think about the kids, too. What can we do to help them sometimes? What events can we put on so they can celebrate? It’s not always about adulting.”
Edwards also shared his concerns about gun violence during the public address period of Tuesday’s city council meeting. Lea said Edwards is “on the right track,” and hopes the city can find a way to “help these kids out and get them off the streets.”
“I feel as mayor, it’s my responsibility to make sure your streets are safe, make sure your children are safe. And I ask you, as a guardian or the parent, do you know where they are?” Lea said. “Parents, you got to be parents. Mom, you got to be a mother. Dad, you got to be a dad. Uncle, grandpa, you got to be who you are now. Because we live in challenging times now. This environment is not what it used to be. People think it’s a rite of passage to have a gun.”
