ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) – Roanoke City leaders reacted after three shootings left one man dead and three people hurt over the weekend.
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Mayor Joe Cobb gave comment at an event Monday, emphasizing that gun violence numbers have fallen in the Star City.
“Three gun violence incidents in 48 hours of late is very unusual and I think that’s a testament to the work that our police department is doing, that our prevention and intervention efforts are doing, the work that our citizens are doing,” he said. “It’s tragic. It’s alarming, and we’ll work to make sure it doesn’t happen very often. In the last two years we’ve seen a 65% reduction in homicides and a 55% reduction in gun violence injuries. We want to continue on that trend.”
Roanoke Police shared data comparing gun-related violence this year to last year. There were six gun-related homicides between January 1 and August 3 in 2024. There were seven during the same time frame this year. As for aggravated assaults with a gun, there were 13 by this time last year and 14 this year.
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City Council accepted a new installment of the Safer Communities grant Monday which will contribute $2,944,000 toward the Gun Violence Interruption Framework. That includes police, the RESET team, Star City Safe, and the Youth and Gang Violence Prevention Unit. The grant will cover 11 positions to assist in gun violence prevention plus training and programming…