CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Friday is National Gun Violence Awareness Day, honoring victims and survivors of gun violence.
“There is no one who is unaffected by the public health crisis that is gun violence,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Chief Johnny Jennings. said during an event Friday with city, county, and federal officials. “Victims result from every pull of the trigger in our City. We need community involvement from every corner and from every walk of life, for the good of Charlotte.”
Clydia Hemingway, who lost her son to gun violence, also spoke at the event.
"I love my son. I love my baby. I taught my children," she said. "I didn't care you nine months to get you to the prison. And I definitely didn't carry him to be dead at 22 years old."
In 2023, there have been 2,359 victims of firearm-related violent crime in Charlotte, down approximately 4% from the same period in 2022, according to CMPD.
CMPD provided the following statistical breakdown showing an overall snapshot of gun-related crime in Charlotte in 2023:
- Homicide by Firearm Victims: 27
- Homicide by Firearm Victims (under 18): 3
- Juvenile Victims of Violent Crime Involving Firearms: 426
- Juveniles Suspects of Violent Crime Involving Firearms: 90
- Shooting into Occupied Property Incidents: 342
- Guns Found/Seized as Evidence: 1,392
- Guns Stolen: 679
"We need accountability for offenders who victimize others in our communities," Jennings said. "And I want to speak to every Charlottean and say, 'We can do better and we have to do better together. This is not a police issue. Let's go back to neighbors looking out for neighbors and take care of each other."
That's what Greg Jackson of Heal Charlotte has been trying to do since founding his nonprofit. He focuses on neighborhood revitalization with an emphasis on housing stability and ending violence.
"The people that are on the ground doing this work; we are in afterschool programs, we are in your babies’ schools, we are helping their teachers and helping their principles, we are in your church, we are everywhere," he said. " The problem is, we are not believed in and invested as a collaborative.
Jackson said the investment is key to success.
"Invest in the organizations that are doing the work, that are boots on the ground," he said. "Give them resources so they can scale and grow [so] organizations can hire people instead of operating on volunteerism, which isn't sustainable."
The NAACP Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Branch chapter president Corine Mack told WCNC Charlotte earlier this year the issue of gun violence is very complex and will take a lot of work to resolve.
“It's destroying entire communities,” Mack said in February.
According to the Safe North Carolina report from North Carolinians Against Gun Violence, Black, non-Hispanic North Carolinians suffer far more deaths than any other group when it comes to firearm homicides. In 2018, the group made up 67% of the homicides in the state despite making up only 22% of the population.
On Saturday, June 3, the North Carolina chapter of Moms Demand Action held a rally at the Watershed Church in Plaza Midwood advocating for change. Scarlett Hollingsworth, the local lead for the organization is a survivor and said it is a day to pay tribute.
“This is impacting everyone all walks of life," Hollingsworth said. "All ages, children, schools, libraries, churches. No one is immune.”
She said the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners gave the group $40,000 to purchase and hand out gun locks. The locked were grabbed fast by participants.
“The goal is to get gun locks in the hands of everyone that might need one," Hollingsworth said.
FROM FEBRUARY: Gun violence plaguing communities of color
Mack said everyone should be concerned about the senseless acts of violence neighborhoods experience.
“We all have to buy into how important it is that we change the trajectory of our communities,” Mack said. “All of us have been affected by this. It may not be your child, your nephew, your cousin, your dad or your mother that has been killed. But it still affects that community.”
Contact Jane Monreal at jmonreal@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.