116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Advocates urge Cedar Rapids to get more help solving gun violence
Apr. 26, 2016 10:10 pm
CEDAR RAPIDS - Advocates trying to find solutions to gun violence in the community are asking city officials to call on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for help.
The group cited a CDC study conducted in Wilmington, Del., a community of 70,000 people that saw a 45 percent spike in shootings from 2011 to 2013, according to the New York Times. The CDC, which typically studies diseases and has restrictions on firearms research, approached the examination from an epidemiological perspective with a focus on data collection and analysis.
'We are trying to save kids' lives,” said Bernard Clayton, 61, of Cedar Rapids. 'We are not trying to embarrass anyone.”
Gun violence has been front and center in Cedar Rapids. Police reported more than 100 shots fired in 2015, and since last September three teens have been charged in connection with shooting deaths, including two in March.
Kenyauta Vesey-Keith, 16, faces first-degree murder and attempted murder charges in connection with the death of Brandon Johnson, 21, on March 19. A 13-year-old boy, Dennis Warren, 13, was charged in what police described as the unintentional shooting of Senquez Jackson, 15, the day before, on March 18. Jackson died of the injuries.
Robert Humbles, 14, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, reckless use of a firearm resulting in serious injury and going armed with intent in December, stemming from the September shooting death of Aaron Richardson, 15.
More than 15 residents and supporters, many identifying themselves as part of a group called 1Strong, called Tuesday on the Cedar Rapids City Council to take action in requesting the CDC involvement. The matter wasn't on the agenda, but instead the group appeared unannounced to make its case.
'We've recognized there's been issues for a long time,” Clayton said. 'The greater urgency is it appears the murders and the murder victims are getting younger and younger.”
Carletta Knox-Seymour, of Cedar Rapids, who wrote a guest column for The Gazette on the matter this week, said the CDC would bring an outside perspective free of biases.
'The CDC can bring the expertise to get at the underlying cause, the inner core, of what is happening here,” she said.
Traci Schwieger, a research scientist at the University of Iowa College of Public Health, told council members she analyzed the CDC study and described it as 'essentially a risk assessment.” The CDC looked at police records, emergency department admissions, child welfare services, labor indicators, school systems and juvenile services, she said.
'They data- mined the records to get risk assessments for individuals who've been shot or shot someone to identify who is at high risk of being shot or shooting and they intervene with services based on what they find in data query,” Schwieger said.
She said Cedar Rapids could start by contacting the state epidemiologist to ask the office to request CDC involvement, and she added that the Delaware study came at no cost to the city.
Acting Mayor Justin Shields said the speakers 'brought up things that need to be examined,” but it was the first he'd heard the information and he'd need to look into it more.
Council member Kris Gulick said he's already sent an email to City Manager Jeff Pomeranz, who is out of the country, and police Chief Wayne Jerman to look into it.
Assistant City Manager Sandi Fowler said the city would need to look into what information the CDC requires and would also want to make sure the efforts don't interfere with the city-commissioned task force called Safe, Equitable and Thriving Communities.