Searching for solutions as violent crimes grip CSRA
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - During what’s usually a festive time of year, the CSRA has seen several acts of deadly violence.
“I know places like Chicago or different and bigger places, it may happen all the time but Augusta, this is so unique, it’s different,” community activist Lucresha Thomas of the Deep in the Heart Foundation said.
Six separate shootings to be exact, with seven lives lost:
- A drive-by shooting claimed the life of a Barnwell woman early Nov. 28 at her home in the 6700 block of U.S. 278.
- One person was killed and 14 people were injured early Nov. 28 in a shooting at the 7th Lounge nightclub in Aiken.
- A man was pronounced dead early Thanksgiving Day after being shot in the 3600 block of Byrd Road.
- On Nov. 21, someone shot and killed an 18-year-old on Aiken Street.
- Two days later, a customer found a barber and another customer dead in Johnson’s Beauty and Barbershop.
- And the next night, a shooting at the Benson Estates Apartments left one person dead and injured another.
“My condolences goes out to those families. You know who are traumatized with this knowing that their loved one went out to get a haircut, and never made it back,” community activist Jack Logan said.
Logan is the founder of Put Down the Guns Now Young People. He says acts of violence can impact a whole community.
“That makes people not feel not as safe, you know when they’re out in the yard, knowing that people who should not have a gun, will carry out these acts of violence,” Logan said.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, crimes like theft and robbery increase during the holidays but violent crimes like assault do not.
So why now? Experts say it could be holiday or pandemic stress or just too much free time.
“I feel like people have so much time on their hands and they’re just doing senseless crimes,” Thomas said.
Three of those shootings are still under investigation.
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