City Council pushes for action on gun violence

Jun. 25—HENDERSON — On Wednesday, June 15, the Henderson City Council held a Public Safety Committee Meeting to address gun violence and to determine if more can be done to curb it locally through the judicial system.

The following Monday, a shooting incident near the South Henderson ballpark that resulted in four initial arrests was the impetus for organizing a Tuesday, June 28 Special Called Meeting by City Council to consider the approval of a resolution declaring gun violence a public health issue.

Tuesday's meeting is scheduled for noon at the Council Chambers and open to the public.

"Basically, the ordinance is going to state that we have a public health crisis at it relates to gun violence, which will bring in more entities than just the police department," Councilwoman Melissa Elliott said Thursday. "... This ordinance will open the door for stakeholders to come together in dialogue versus us having forums that don't move."

Elliott and fellow Council Member Sara Coffey have worked together to help craft the ordinance with Henderson Police Chief Marcus Barrow.

Elliott was making reference to the June 15 meeting organized by Coffey that welcomed District Attorney Mike Waters and Assistant District Attorney Melissa Pelfrey.

Coffey asked Waters for "some information regarding why people are sitting in jail for 1-2 years without their cases being heard," according to the meeting minutes.

"Why is it taking so long to try these people?" Coffey said Thursday. "Why is it taking so long for these cases to go federal?"

Elliott eventually left the meeting before it adjourned, an hour and a half in, after asking Waters "if the department has asked for any grants from the Department of Justice," according to the minutes, "as she said DAs across the country have done. She also asked if the magistrates could do more."

Elliott cited concerns about heroin use and asked if the DA was aware of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program through the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

Elliott said one of the reasons she left was because she was thinking of her younger brother that had been shot multiple times on Pinkston Street in 1995 before moving away. She also expressed a frustration in what she sees as a lack of meaningful action to address local gun violence.

"I feel in my heart this community is in despair because there's an overwhelming number of African-American young males that are dying here," Elliott said. "We just put a T-shirt on, 'Rest in Peace' on Facebook... and that's it.

"When does the conversation go to action? We've talked about this enough," Elliott said. "We've seen enough people die. But to allow these young people to go into the facility and come right back out, knowing that there's a rival whether it's gang-related or not — They're shooting at each other — We should have a better system in place. Because it's inevitable. Somebody is going to get shot."

Recent violence

The Public Safety Committee Meeting came on the heels of a high-profile May shootout at the BP station at 601 W. Andrews Ave. involving multiple participants. Security camera video showed two men in the gunfight carrying and using what appeared to be AR-15 pattern firearms.

Then, Barrow called it an "absurdly shocking" incident.

Henderson Assistant Police Chief Vance Johnson said in the June 15 meeting the department responds to an average of 102 calls a day. According to the meeting minutes, he said "there is processing time involved for each arrest that prevents the department from working on prevention. The department is short-staffed but there is a need to look for something to solve the problem before it gets to the police. Housing stock, drug problems are all part of the problem. He added that 40% of those in jail have mental health problems."

A bystander's video of a portion of the incident near the South Henderson Ballpark shows a chaotic scene that included more than just gunshots, which can be heard in the background, with a crowd swarming around a woman being pistol-whipped by another woman.

Mayor Eddie Ellington told The Dispatch following the South Henderson incident, in which Henderson Police seized several firearms, "Gun violence along with harmful and reckless behavior continues to threaten our neighborhoods and city. However, we're going to turn this repeated disappointment and pain into a purpose. This a top priority of our City Council and administration."

Elliott credited Henderson Police and the Vance County Sheriff's Department for doing their part to combat gun violence, but wants to address any breakdowns at the judicial level, and said local law enforcement could use the aid of a special task force.

"You get six guns, fully automatic AR-15s off these teenagers here," Coffey said. "Why is that not commons sense that we have a real issue here and a real problem here? And it's a safety hazard."

"It's a public health crisis," Elliott added. "It shuts down our hospitals, our emergency rooms — It shuts down communities. It shuts down parents from letting their kids go outside... People are scared of going outside. We are in crisis. We need to recognize that we are in crisis."

Answers

Responding to Coffey's initial question regarding people waiting for extended periods of time in jail for court cases, Waters said before the pandemic, most cases were heard within 20 months. In 2021, there was a rise in violent crime nationwide, he said, but the pandemic did not suspend the rights of offenders.

Waters added, according to the meeting minutes, that "his office staff came to work every day during the pandemic to work on cases. He said the timeline for homicides is approximately 24 months depending on how long it takes to collect the necessary information. If the courts are closed, as they were during the pandemic, it takes longer to process an offender.

"Another issue Mr. Waters mentioned is the lack of jurors. Mr. Waters was asked about federal cases to which he said the federal system picks the cases they want to prosecute and currently they are taking far less cases than in the past. Ms. Coffey asked if there was anything the council could do to get the federal system to become more involved. Mr. Waters responded there was nothing that he is aware of that could help."

Waters said he is open to utilizing grants, in response to Elliott's inquiry, but that he had never applied for the grant Elliott mentioned.

Elliott's question about High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas went unanswered due to an apparent interruption in the meeting.

According to the DEA, High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas "provide assistance to federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States."

The U.S. House of Representatives passed wide-ranging, bipartisan gun violence legislation Friday that could alter the specifics of the City Council ordinance, Elliott said.

"Is it fixable?" Elliott said. "I think a lot of things aren't said because they want businesses to come. Well, we can't lie to these businesses, but we can show them we're doing our due diligence on trying to make this better."