HARTFORD, Conn. — Violence in a community can have an impact on more than just the people directly involved and this week has been a difficult one in Hartford.
"That’s compounding when you have back-to-back homicides for any community," said Andrew Woods, executive director of Hartford Communities That Care. "The more it happens, the more difficult it takes to shake," he said.
Three deadly shootings in just four days. The most recent happening Wednesday evening on Main Street in the city's North end.
It's where Hartford Communities That Care set out Thursday evening.
"We were handing out trauma information just to make sure the community knows what the services are that are available to them," said Shenell Benjamin.
Going door-to-door, their mission is to make sure people know they're not alone.
"We like to assure them to that they not only have law enforcement people that come in and check on them but regular community people that live in the same environments that come day to day to check on them," said Tyrone Bynum.
The team is made up of people who grew up in Hartford, doing their part to make their own community better.
"It’s my city, I love this city. I’ve been here my whole life a lot of my friends I grew up with are part of this city. They work for city officials and I’m doing my work here on the ground," said Fonda Williams.
Woods said that is what it's going to take to address the problem of violence.
"Really I think it’s a matter of all hands on deck quite frankly. To where people just really need to think about, what can I do? In my own home? What can I do on my own block?" he said.
The city has seen 36 homicides so far this year, on track to be one of the deadliest in over a decade.
"I often times say that the gun is the extension of the fist. You know back in the days when people usually resolved conflict by just talking it out or even having a fight but you know walking away and being able to live and talk about it the next day," Woods said.
Mayor Luke Bronin sent FOX61 a statement that reads:
“While the number of shootings overall is down this year, the number of fatal shootings is devastatingly high, as we’ve seen so much of this violence driven by very personal, close-quarters disputes between people who know each other well, including these three most recent homicides. Like almost all of the gun violence we have seen, these three most recent homicides involved people who knew each other well, and the Hartford Police have already identified suspects in all three of these most recent incidents.
“This year and in past years, our Hartford police worked with extraordinary skill to identify and arrest suspects in both fatal and non-fatal shootings, and they’re sending a clear message that you cannot commit acts of violence in our city and expect to get away with it. They’re also taking more illegal guns off our street than ever before, and we’ve made unprecedented investment in community-based partnerships and violence intervention work. That said, we have to have a serious conversation as a state about doing more to ensure that, when our police do their job and make an arrest, the people involved in violence are detained by the courts and kept out of our community and off of our streets.”
Gaby Molina is a reporter and anchor at FOX61 News. She can be reached at mmolina@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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