CHARLOTTE, N.C. — An NBC Charlotte Defenders investigation is revealing what the Queen City’s gun violence looks like where you live.
The Defenders team is digging into the number of people rushed to the emergency room, which is all mapped out by zip code.
The map was presented at a county board meeting, in part to identify people at higher risk of being victimized. t shows some zip codes with a handful of shooting victims within a two year period, while other zip codes had hundreds of victims.
NBC Charlotte demonstrated the issue by standing on a street that borders two zip codes. On one side, there were about 30 shooting victims in that two year period; on the other side, there were was more than 200 victims.
"Let’s look at violence as a disease," said Dr. David Jacobs, medical director of trauma services for Atrium Health. "We have a violence problem in Charlotte."
Now, he’s diagnosing the problem, which he sees firsthand in the emergency room.
"This is not a random disease; this disease affects specific patient populations," Dr. Jacobs said.
NBC Charlotte has reported on the gun violence in Charlotte throughout the year, including the shooting death of 17-year-old Alysha Johnson, which happened near Beatties Ford Road and Lasalle Street.
Her boyfriend, Deante Walker, was very emotional during the interview in June.
"I don’t know how this stuff got like this, got worse where anybody can get to a gun," Walker said at the time.
Now, the Defenders team is looking into a map that shows the number of emergency room visits for gunshot wounds between 2016 and 2018. It’s divided by zip codes throughout Mecklenburg County.
The map shows the zip codes with the highest number of shooting victims are:
- 28215 with 142 victims
- 28216 with 146 victims
- 28208 with 203 victims
Dr. Jacobs said the map helps to identify people who are at higher risk for violence.
"We speak to those populations and say, 'We’re not trying to scare you, but you are at increased violence as a result of where you live, where you go to school,'" said Dr. Jacobs.
However, Dr. Jacobs also urges caution when viewing the map, particularly for those living in zip codes with fewer shootings. Zip code 28207 had among the lowest number of shooting victims in the city.
"The folks where violence doesn’t occur on the map, tend to say. 'Well, as long as it occurs in that part of town, I’m good.'" Dr. Jacobs said.
Dr. Jacobs said labeling communities as 'high crime' is not helpful for the cause.
"We’re no longer Charlotte, we’re the high crime area and the not high crime area, and so we tend to then become splintered on our effort to fight violence," Dr. Jacobs said.
Atrium Health is taking several steps to help with the violence problem, including the Stop the Bleed initiative to teach students to use tourniquets. In the E.R., every patient gets screened to see if a social worker is needed.
"Have you been in a fight in the last six months? Have you missed school as a result of threats of violence?" Dr. Jacobs said.
Now the head of the only level one trauma center in Charlotte is hoping everyone will be part of the cure.
"We can’t sit here and say, 'CMPD, you’re not doing your job,' and then say, 'The health community doesn’t have any responsibility.' We have a great responsibility,” said Dr. Jacobs.
It’s also important to point out that the map of shooting victims includes shootings caused by accidents, suicides, and those of unknown causes.