Across the street from where a man was gunned down in a church parking lot, black political leaders issued a call to action.
The call to action came at a time when crime is down across the city, but violence continues to plague the black community.
A half-dozen African-American political leaders and activists gathered Monday at 5 p.m. for a street-side press conference outside the Goffe Street Armory. The event was organized by Newhallville Alderman Charles Blango (at right in photo above with Alderman Greg Morehead) in the wake of a rash of violence and deaths.
The gathering took place just half a block away from the most recent killing.
Corey Brown, 32, was fatally shot in the parking lot of 654 Orchard St. early Friday morning. That’s the parking lot right next to the Bethel A.M.E. Church, where Newhallville Alderwoman Katrina Jones serves as a minister.
Jones said church members arrived Friday to find a pile of sand covering blood in the parking lot.
“You’d think that would be a sanctuary,” she said.
She said she was struck by the victim’s age — he wasn’t a young teen. He was 32.
“I have a son that’s 33 years old,” Jones said. “It could have been one of my sons.”
She said the violence has “escalated so much in the past few months — we’ve got to do something.”
Officer Shafiq Abdussabur noticed the victim’s age, too. He said it’s part of an emerging trend.
Abdussabur (pictured) pulled out an R.I.P. button bearing the face of Jajauna Cole, the 13-year-old girl who was killed on Dickerman Street in the summer of 2006.
He said something has changed — young people aren’t just wearing buttons of their friends who died on the streets. They’re wearing buttons of their fathers, too.
When Brown died last week, he left behind two daughters, ages 6 and 7, according to a family member.
Abdussabur highlighted another trend: crime has dropped 12 percent citywide, but African-American neighborhoods continue to be hammered by gun violence.
Of the 13 people killed this year, 11 were black males, and one was a black female. (The other was Yale grad student Annie Le.)
Of the 11 who died by gun violence, 90 percent were black males, Abdussabur calculated.
Most of the gun-related killings took place in predominantly black neighborhoods, he added: There were three in Newhallville, three in Dixwell, one in West River, one in the Hill and one in Dwight. One took place in a downtown bar.
Abdussabur, a city cop who has run successful youth programs targeting at-risk kids, issued a wake-up call.
“We have to restore the outrage,” he said.
He added that the killings drain taxpayer money through police overtime, medical costs and by deterring business investors.
Homicides are down significantly this year over 2008, when 23 people were killed in New Haven.
After a quiet summer, homicides have picked up in pace over the last couple of months. On Oct. 2, a woman woke up to find her son had been shot to death inside her Orchard Street home. On Oct. 7, a man was shot in the head on Sheffield Avenue. On Nov. 28, a Hamden man was killed in a brawl at a downtown club. On Dec. 5, a man was fatally shot inside a car on Elm Street.
The vast majority of victims of crime have criminal records. Alderman Blango called for increased support for re-entry programs to help ex-cons get back on track. Alderman Morehead said he’s looking to start a mentoring program. State Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, former Alderman Willie Greene and Alderman Yusuf Shah joined their call to stop the violence.
The leaders hope to hear input from the public soon. African-American leaders are organizing a public discussion on gun violence on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at City Hall.