PORTLAND, Ore. ( KOIN ) — A town hall in Salem is bringing leaders and community members together to find ways to curb gun violence following a recent report showing shootings have doubled over the past five years.
The main message coming out of that meeting was “we are all in this together.”
With the Salem community coming together to find solutions to the epidemic, the police chief said it starts with having a conversation.
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“Put yourself in the shoes of parents of a 15-year-old recently found shot to death in a pick-up truck,” said Chief Trevor Womack, of the Salem Police Department. ”We need to focus on our limited resources in a way that achieve big results and there’s no time to waste. These are literally life and death situations in our community.”
The Marion County Juvenile Department is also seeing concerning trends in younger kids when it comes to firearm-related offenses.
“It’s doubled almost tripled with an access to kids getting firearms in the community and being picked up on weapon-related charges,” said Troy Gregg, director of the Marion County Juvenile Department.