St. Paul leaders ask community for help after 9 homicides in two months
ST. PAUL, Minn. — St. Paul leaders are asking the community for help after a troubling stretch of violence.
In just eight weeks, there have been nine killings across the city. In the same stretch of time, officers with the St. Paul police have shot three people.
"That's nine too many. On top of the ones that we already had at that point," St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry said. "None of us in this community, no one standing here wants these outcomes. We don't want people shot in any way in our city."
Despite a year-over-year drop in gun violence, this is a big cause for concern for police and anti-violence advocates.
"The city and the people in it care. We have the ability to do better and we can and will be better," Henry said.
One of those murders happened just about a month ago on the city's north end, essentially in the middle of a neighborhood intersection. Neighbors say they felt it was random at the time but are still concerned about a rise in crime throughout the entire city.
Antiviolence advocates are putting pressure on the community itself to speak out before violence can happen.
"When we think about people who have shot guns in this community, there is someone — a mother, a friend, a cousin, a girlfriend — someone who knew that person had a gun and shouldn't have had a gun," Tyrone Terrill said.
Henry says he hopes to see a partnership between police and the community.
"If men in our community stand up, little boys will sit down. So the men in our community need to step up and take their rightful place for the young men and young women. Otherwise, this madness will continue," Henry said. "We need to be brokers in hope. We need to be shining the light on opportunities that are here."
Leaders from the NAACP, African American Leadership Group and the Ministers Alliance say they are partnering with St. Paul police for an anti-violence summit in early December.