NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Norfolk’s police chief is addressing a recent string of violence across the city in a Friday afternoon news conference.
This comes after another violent night, which saw a total of five people injured in two separate shooting incidents.
Three men were hospitalized with life-threatening injuries following a shooting in the Fairmont Park neighborhood. Police took a suspect into custody.
This shooting happened not far from where two men were shot to death earlier in the week.
A shooting in Norfolk’s NEON District injured two men early Friday morning. One of the men was hospitalized, while the other was treated on the scene.
“We’ve tried marching and we’ve tried praying,” said Norfolk Police Chief Larry Boone in a Friday afternoon press conference, calling for a new approach to curb an increase in violence on city streets.
“In Norfolk, the suspect as well as the victim are generally black males,” said Boone. “When you look at the data, we clearly have a public health issue as it relates to young black men between the ages of 15 and 34.”
Boone wants to put together a coalition of people from different backgrounds to address gun violence — who can help people change the way people settle their differences.
“They have a very, very difficult time managing conflict. Their way of managing conflict is at the end of a gun,” said Boone.
Boone wants to address poverty, the laws surrounding sold and stolen guns, the tracking of violent misdemeanor offenders and universal background checks.
“It’s easier for our youth to get their hands on a gun than it is a job application – and we ought to be ashamed of ourselves,” Boone said.
Boone also said he wants to gather lawyers, judges, educators, lawmakers and anyone else who can help change the culture surrounding guns for his public health committee.