CHARLOTTE, N.C. — At a press conference Wednesday morning, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said overall crime is down by 9% in Charlotte, with property crime, burglaries, car thefts, robberies, and sexual assaults on the decline.
The city is still struggling with violent crime, which CMPD said has increased since last year. CMPD said the uptick is in aggravated assault and homicides.
“It’s people pulling guns on each other for no good reason,” said CMPD Deputy Chief Coerte Vorhees. “They don’t know how to handle conflict, where you get slighted and you have to retaliate. We have a lot of that going on."
There have been 54 homicides so far this year as of July 8, compared to 52 by this time in 2019.
“Those were people,” Deputy Chief Vorhees said. “We can’t desensitize ourselves to the fact that every victim and every person shot is something we don’t want to stand for.”
Will Adams, the CEO of the organization Team Trublue, said they try to reach at-risk youth as young as 2nd and 3rd grade.
"What we do is we try to change the mindset of the youth by giving them hope and instilling love back into our community," Adams said.
Hope and love are two basic things Adams said he realized some kids in our community may not have after his 15-year-old son was killed in 2008.
"When the judge asked [the shooter] why he was killed, he clearly stated, ‘I wanted to see somebody’s mother cry,’” Adams said.
Adams said his son’s killer’s answer pointed to something deeper.
"That just brings it on: what’s the mindset of the youth that he just wanted to see someone’s mother cry,” Adams said. “What was going on [in his life] at the time?"
So, Adams said Team Trublue finds at-risk kids in the community, eats lunch with them at school, and organizes events that promote unity.
We started out with one child and we ended up with probably about 200," Adams said.
Unfortunately, he said the coronavirus put a halt to it.
"When they shut down the schools we couldn’t go to the schools, and we couldn’t go to the communities because of the corona."
The same happened for other organizations working to keep kids off the street across the city. CMPD said of the violent crimes they've responded to this year, most were committed by youth.
"Sixteen to 24 [years old] probably just off the top of my head, but it’s mainly young people,” Deputy Chief Coerte Vorhees said.
"What do they have to do?” Adams questioned. “ [Ages] 16-24 if they're not working, what do they have to do? They're on the street."
Adams said the community can't keep turning a blind eye to the culture of violence in young people.
“The community has to get involved, they have to,” Adams said. “It’s a must."