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ALTON - The growing list of funerals and hurt families that follow each shooting in Alton is prompting city officials to seek solutions. Fourth Ward Alderwoman Rosetta Brown led the discussion at Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting, stating the city has seen an epidemic of youth gun violence.
“We had a 14-year-old shot who was shot Fourth of July night in the midst of popping firecrackers. We had a 16-year-old who was sitting in her window on Central Avenue two nights before that - because people were coming down the street shooting, if she would’ve [moved to the left], she would’ve gotten shot,” Brown said. “I did a major vigil for a young lady not too long ago - I’m up with mothers, I’m at hospitals, I’m everywhere just trying to get a grasp on, ‘How do we get this gun violence under control?’”
While Brown said she’s doing everything she can - including organizing field trips, providing socks, food, and more - to keep kids in safe environments, she’s now calling on others to offer suggestions as the problem worsens.
“Jarrett, you’re doing a really good job,” she said to Police Chief Jarrett Ford. “But for some reason, our youth, they’re being targeted. They're out of hand at this point, and I’m very much concerned and suggestions are needed.”
Ford said that while the problem of youth violence isn’t unique to Alton, the police are just one part of the solution.
“We’re not alone in the fact that youth violence is up, it’s up everywhere,” Ford said. “Like you, I’m tired of talking to parents that are hurting, I’m tired of my people going through and seeing what they’re seeing.
“To me, it all starts at home. [It] starts with proper parenting and being involved, being present. When you have incident after incident with basically the same thing, it’s always unsupervised teens and it leads to this time and time again.”
He added that the toll each shooting takes on the community is felt by everyone involved, from first responders to family members.
“The Fire Department, they do all the runs and take them to the hospital and treat them, and sometimes they don’t make it - and that’s tough on a firefighter, I’m sure. It’s tough on us when we do CPR on a child and then they don’t make it,” Ford said. “As a community, it hurts everybody from the families to the neighborhoods to us to the Fire Department, and I don’t know the answer.”
Ford later said that while helping people parent better isn’t necessarily a “Police Department function,” he’s open to suggestions and willing to be part of the solution.
Alderman David Gan suggested creating a committee to specifically address the issue of youth violence, allowing the city to work together with local schools and other organizations to identify the root of the issue and “put these kids to work.”
Brown said she tried to set up such a committee with a previous resolution which was never introduced separately as she intended, but instead absorbed into another resolution concerning the city’s Child Friendly Cities Initiative. Gan suggested the city revisit the idea with a separate resolution going forward.
A full recording of the July 8, 2024 Alton Committee of the Whole meeting is available at the top of this story, on the Riverbender.com Facebook page, or on Riverbender.com/video. All Alton Committee of the Whole meetings can also be watched live or on demand on the Riverbender.com Facebook page, Roku app, or YouTube channel.
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