After a recent surge in gun-violence, Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Payne held a press conference Thursday morning where he called on the community to put an end to what he called ‘senseless killings.’
The press conference came on the city’s southeast side at Kalamazoo and Adams, close to where Nicholas Ingram was shot and killed on September 11th. He is just one of the 27 homicide victims this year in the city, and that number is just five shy of the all-time record for murders in a single year in Grand Rapids, 32, set back in 1993.
It’s another press-conference calling for an end to gun-violence after another murder in the city—the most recent Monday morning---a visibly frustrated Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Payne addressed the media Thursday morning.
“We as a city, and as a community are saying, “enough is enough,” Payne said. “To see the numbers we have seen this year is outrageous and disheartening. We must work together to find a solution.”
One solution Chief Payne said would be to increase the number of patrols officers in neighborhoods over the weekend when shootings are more likely to happen. The GRPD is also launching a gun buy-back program in the next two weeks in an effort to get more firearms off the streets.
As to the why there has been a spike in gun-violence and murder in the city, I asked Chief Payne if it is related to a recent rise in gang violence, whether it is tied to a string of car-dealership and gun-store thefts, or if the stresses of the coronavirus pandemic have contributed.
His answer: yes.
