NEWS

City's shooting spike a 'public health crisis'

Matthew Glowicki
@MattGlo

Though overshadowed by the city’s decades-high homicide tally, shootings in Louisville are on pace to more than double from just two years ago.

Nearly 250 people were shot in Louisville through June this year, according to newly released Louisville Metro Police fatal and nonfatal shooting data.

City and community leaders have labeled the alarming statistic a "public health crisis" and a "significant problem."

Nearly three times as many people have been shot in the first half of this year compared to the same mid-year mark five years ago. Eighty-eight people suffered gunshot wounds in the first half of 2011. Louisville hit that number before the end of March this year.

In fact, 2011 saw 210 people shot, a point the city surpassed this year by June.

Figures on gunshots before 2011 were not provided by police. The data also does not include incidents in areas of the county patrolled by other law enforcement, such as in Shively and Jeffersontown.

Data points

  • Examining 2011-2015 data, the months of April, May, June, July and December have the highest average number of gunshots (between 23 and 29 per month).
  • The Chickasaw, Parkland, Portland and Russell and Shawnee neighborhoods are most marred by gun violence.
  • Of the 244 total shootings between January and June 2016, 148 are open cases. Nearly one-third are considered cleared.
  • The safest hours are between 4 a.m. and 11 a.m., as well as between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
  • Nearly 80 percent of all shootings are confined to the first, second and fourth police divisions, covering areas including Portland, Russell, Shawnee, Chickasaw, Old Louisville and South Louisville.
  • Three-fourths of those shot are age 35 or younger. A quarter of them are women. Three of every four people shot are black. One out of seven is a juvenile.

Fischer: City gun regs like chasing 'windmills'

Homicides, too, are trending significantly higher than in recent decades.

Despite a relatively quiet July with four homicides – there were 10 in July in both 2013 and 2015 – the city is on pace to approach the tally of 110 recorded in 1971, the deadliest year in police data going back to 1960.

Last year’s count of 80 homicides was the most since the 91 recorded in 1979.

"I'm so worried we could find ourselves topping that," LMPD Chief Steve Conrad said at a forum earlier this month focused on the mounting homicide rate.

Working on solutions

The 43 percent spike in shootings in 2015 prompted a number of community responses.

Announced in January and launched in the spring, the grant-funded Pivot to Peace program aims to connect those ages 18 to 34 who survived a bullet with services such as substance abuse treatment, GED attainment help and mental health counseling.

In February, Louisville Metro police announced the restructuring of its homicide unit to centralize the investigation of gun violence. Nonfatal shootings previously handled at the division level are now investigated by the specialized unit. Eight homicide detectives were also added.

Streamlined investigation of shootings, police theorized, would lead to more arrests before nonfatal shootings lead to future – potentially fatal – gunfire.

A myriad of factors are behind the shootings, say city and community figures.

Louisville gunshot victims meet with Lt. Gov.

Testifying before the Metro Council in March on the city’s rising violent crime rate, homicide unit Lt. Todd Kessinger opined a leading cause.

"If you ask me to give you one reason as to why we have these shootings and murders, it would be narcotics related," he said.

At the July forum, Conrad remarked on failures of multiple institutions, including schools, courts, families and church.

"When are we going to properly fund programs so young people succeed in life?" Conrad said. "It's frustrating."

Gun violence marred one of the city’s most beloved traditions, the Pegasus Parade, when two youth were wounded in May by two 15-year-old boys now accused of the crime.

“This is probably one of the most blatant examples of the problems we're dealing with,” Conrad said after the shootings.

Later that month, Mayor Greg Fischer attended a number of meetings in Washington, D.C. aimed at combating gun violence.

He told reporters at the time he was supportive of local gun regulations but said there wasn’t support in the statehouse to give cities that authority.

He also said at the time that current laws need to be enforced, adding that local and federal enforcement are examining if area gun dealers are conducting proper background checks, the Courier-Journal previously reported.

But in late June at a rally in support of gun control legislation organized by U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, the mayor changed course. He called for state law that would give local governments the ability to pass gun control measures.

"We should have the right locally to implement our own gun safety laws that the citizens of our cities and counties want," Fischer said.

Also at the rally was Dr. Keith Miller, a trauma surgeon who treats many wounded by shootings at the University of Louisville Hospital. He labeled gun violence in the city a "public health crisis."

Dozens turn out to reflect on year of violence

The Louisville Metro Council also has examined the issue, debating in June the cost and effectiveness of ShotSpotter, a gunshot location detection technology.

Council members weighed its projected yearly price tag of around $200,000 alongside its proclaimed ability to reduce gunshots in the city by quickly identifying where they occur.

"The improvements just based on the information that was shared with me makes it look very promising to address some of the problems that we're seeing" Conrad said in June.

The newly approved 2016-2017 budget allocates more than 60 percent toward the police and other public safety departments. During his budget plan announcement in May, Fischer called the rise in homicides and shootings a "significant problem."

In the budget, $640,000 was set aside for officer overtime in neighborhoods seeing marked violence. About $500,000 was given to the police department to bolster its citywide video surveillance system as well as the possible implementation of the ShotSpotter technology.

The spike in violence has drawn community members together in search of a solution. In recent months, meetings, peace walks and vigils have addressed the bloodshed.

In May, Rashaad Abdur-Rahman, director of the city’s Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods, asked members of area houses of worship to forego their weekly Bible study to walk their blocks to oppose gun violence.

Later that month, the Louisville Urban League called an emergency meeting to develop action steps to reduce the violence before 2016 ends in record-breaking violence.

Reporter Matthew Glowicki can be reached at 502-582-4989 or mglowicki@courier-journal.com. 

Community calls for end to violence