5 People Shot Within 24 Hours In Allegheny County
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Just within a 24-hour period, there were three shootings in Allegheny County.
A 15-year-old boy was shot in Stowe Township, a man was shot in the Hill District and two men and a woman were shot in Spring Hill outside of the Three Rivers Manor apartment complex.
Pittsburgh City Councilman Bobby Wilson says he was just there Friday and residents shared their concerns about the violence. He says he's taking a multi-pronged approach to stop the shootings.
"Which is really trying to contact HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development). I just had a meeting with them yesterday to see what can be done to increase safety, to really increase community input in these locations," said Wilson.
Wilson is also working with local intervention groups to find solutions.
"I want to keep pointing back to if we follow the bullet that was in the guns of everyone that were there, what brought them to that moment?" said Wilson.
Wilson and Councilman Corey O'Connor believe putting more funding into community programs and prevention will help save lives.
"We see this with our young people that have bright futures that we want involved in our city, that they are going to be the future leaders of our city," said O'Connor. "I think for us, it's more the education to those individuals to say, 'Look, there are great opportunities here. How can we help?'"
O'Connor says the Stop the Violence initiative alone receives around $3 million in funding. The council just introduced new grants to distribute in the near future.
"If you have organizations that are working within the community as well as with our leaders down at city government to try to get to the neighborhood and to have people in the neighborhood to work with these young kids, to give them a sense of hope and that there's other things to do out there," said O'Connor.
O'Connor says community policing also makes a big difference. He says the police chief and officers go out in neighborhoods to connect with residents and participate in youth programs.
Councilmembers hope taking steps like these will help make the streets safer.
