Mayor Gainey, community leaders address uptick in Pittsburgh-area gun violence

PITTSBURGH — According to recent data, nearly one-third of Pittsburgh’s homicides in 2021 were teenagers.

Channel 11 News spoke with Mayor Ed Gainey and community leaders to address the uptick in gun violence. The mayor shared a simple message:

“If you know something, please say something. We can’t do anything unless we work together to solve these issues.”

On Wednesday evening around 6 p.m., police found 15-year-old Dayvon Vickers shot in broad daylight while riding his bike on North Homewood Avenue.

At the same time across town in Mt. Washington, 23-year-old Micah Stoner was shot and killed on Kingsboro Street.

The day before, on Tuesday, witnesses in Brookline heard 20 shots before police found Devonte White dead in front of a home.

On Thursday, the mayor said it must stop.

“We need the nonprofits, we need the corporations, we need everybody to play a part to say that we want to eliminate violence and create peace in our streets. What we need is a citywide initiative,” said Gainey.

A citywide initiative is something community leaders say they can get behind. On Wednesday, Tim Stevens, the CEO of B-PEP, penned a letter urging city leaders and the mayor to act.

The letter read in part, “Find the funds to employ our young people and our young adults to physically clean up our neighborhoods.”

“There are millions of dollars in Pittsburgh in infrastructure,” said Rashad Byrdsong of the Community Empowerment Association.

Byrdsong agreed with Stevens and added, “We need to have access to those resources so we can employ a lot of these young people as contractors, entrepreneurs; they need access just like we see in other communities.”

Brydsong also would like issues that lead to violence addressed, such as substance abuse, homelessness and mental health.

“It’s been an emergency, and we have to address (gun violence) the same (as) we did COVID,” said Byrdsong.

The mayor did not go into detail about the proposed solutions, but did confirm that he is ready to continue the work.

“There’s no one-size-fits-all; it’s happening everywhere,” said Gainey.

The Community Empowerment Association is hosting a public meeting from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. this Saturday, April 2, to address the violence and hear from residents.

On Friday, Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert also released the following statement:

“I have been profoundly troubled by the recent spate of violent crimes in the City. In a matter of five days, there have been three shootings that have taken the lives of three young people, aggravated assaults, multiple shots fired, and now, two children, two young boys, have suffered critical stabbing injuries.

While the number of violent crimes has been rising around the United States since 2020 and the onset of the pandemic, this is an oversimplified explanation. This is unacceptable in Pittsburgh. This is not reflective of the city we know and love. People are clearly hurting.

As the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, we strive daily to work with all of our communities to build a safer, more equitable city for everyone. Our officers will investigate all crimes, but we are also there to help, listen, and connect people with valuable social services before a crisis occurs. We urge citizens to utilize Pittsburgh Police as a resource. We are here to help.

We need to do this together. We need to look out for one another and take care of one another. Only then will we begin to heal the deep trauma that is at the root of violence.”

RAW: Black Political Empowerment Project CEO speaks with Channel 11 about rise in violence Black Political Empowerment Project CEO speaks with Channel 11 about rise in violence

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