Middletown town hall meeting to focus on recent violence
May 15—Middletown will have a community town hall meeting this month to address recent violence in the city.
"Safer Communities for All: A Town Hall Meeting on Curbing Violence in Middletown" will be held on on May 28 at 5:30 p.m. in Middletown City Council chambers.
"Keeping our residents and city streets safe is of utmost importance for the city of Middletown," Middletown City Manager Paul Lolli said. "The violence must stop, and we believe that by bringing the community together, we can collectively come up with lasting solutions that will make our city safer now and into the future."
Community and civic leaders, business owners, church leaders and residents are all invited to participate in the town hall meeting. The goal of the town hall is to have an honest discussion on how the community and city can come together to protect all people who live, work and visit Middletown.
Councilman Steve West II said the city has plenty of activities and projects planned for the warm weather months and, with the recent uptick in violence "early in the season," it is time for the community to come together to talk about a plan.
"It has been one of the more violent springs," West said.
He said each year it seems violent incidents get a little more divisive with younger adults perhaps fueled by social media.
"It is also alarming to us incidents involving people coming into Middletown who are involved," West said.
He noted people often want to look strictly at the police department, which is hindered a bit now by open unfilled positions, "but It has to come from everyone. The community leaders for the neighborhoods, church leaders and even non-profit organizations that are deeply imbedded trying to do neighborhood revitalization."
More tools are needed to aid police in crime fighting, and residents in neighborhood that are affected need to feel empowered to speak up about problematic areas, West said.
"This town hall is to bring everybody together," he said.
A 19-year-old man was killed early Sunday morning on Sheffield Street in a drive-by shooting that injured two others. Shots were also reported fired the same night on Shafor Street and Central Avenue.
On April 16, a 26-year-old man was killed in an apparent road rage incident in the city's downtown.
On April 14, two people were shot in the legs at Middletown's Douglass Park on Minnesota Street.
All three shootings remain under investigation by police.
Acting Middletown Police Chief Andy Warrick said the department "will be supporting the meeting and provide information that the city manager (requested) for the presentation."
