The City of Greensboro passed a grim milestone on Saturday, Dec. 12.
With what has become an all too standard press release, the Greensboro Police Department (GPD) announced the 60th homicide of 2020.
The press release from GPD Public Information Officer Ron Glenn states: “UPDATE: One of the victims in this incident has succumbed to her injuries and this case is now being investigated as a homicide. The deceased victim has been identified as Christina Marie Jones, 18 years old, of Greensboro. The second victim had injuries not considered to be life threatening. The investigation is ongoing.”
The earlier report had listed the event as an “Aggravated Assault” and states, “(December 12, 2020) At approximately 3:32 p.m. Greensboro Police responded to the intersection of South Street and Ogden Street in reference to a discharge of a firearm call. Upon arrival police located two victims suffering from a gunshot wound. Both victims were transported to a local hospital.”
When Greensboro Police Chief Brian James gave his report on violent crime to the City Council at a work session on Dec. 7, he reported that there had been 57 homicides in Greensboro in 2020 compared to 45 homicides in 2019 and 40 in 2018. He also reported that the number of assaults with firearms in Greensboro had increased by 17 percent in 2020 over 2019.
James had held a press conference on Nov. 30 to talk about the rise in violent crime and the 56 homicides so far in 2020.
On July 7, James held a press conference to ask for the community’s help after there had been seven homicides in seven days. At that time there had been 29 homicides in Greensboro for the year and James said that at the current rate Greensboro would set a new record for homicides in 2020.
That new record was set with the 46th homicide this year and with over two weeks left in the year the new record will be a very grim one.
That is what happens when you handcuff police and want to defund them. I bet most of the crime is in the communities that are crying the most for less police.
Or… when people have nothing to lose, nothing to live for because their government their neighbors have abandoned them. The poor commit crimes out of desperation. The war on drugs is a failure. The war on our poor is a failure. You want to spend money to fix the problem? Invest in infrastructure, schools, childcare, raising low income wages. The data is there that increasing police spending does nothing to solve the underlying issues.
I believe the $500 K you GAVE to councilwoman Johnson should have been used to hire more police and raise the salaries of those already employed. How much interest in her bank account is she profiting from our tax dollars? We may not know as the sorry council Gave the money away with NO accountability!
How many lives could have been saved with more police on the street? Communities need to start working with the police. Community leaders who state they do not want or need the police presence are obviously wrong.
How many more lives will be lost this year due to the ignorance, arrogance, anti-police attitude of our city council?
FACT-We are ranked number one in the state for most dangerous city. Wonder how many corporations are
looking elsewhere?
Let’s get some more information. Ask them how many shootings for the year not just deaths. I know of at least 4 shootings from 3pm-9pm Sat 12/12. Why are they hiding that this was gang related.
Citizens are not given the full picture in these homicides. Are they gang or drug related? Are people drunk? Are they innocent bystanders? These answers give a fuller picture of the problems. Any murder is tragic but there could be underlying issues.
You are right Georgia….the public needs to know the whole truth about whats going on and the full picture. We should be told the details and yes, any murder is a tragedy and huge lost to any family.
I keep telling everyone, we need to give more money to ‘Cure Violence’ so that they can resolve the escalating violence in Greensboro. I mean more law enforcement is NOT the answer to violent crime. Jeez people, wake up!
Feelings and emotions, white guilt and an endless supply of taxpayer dollars funneled through the various Shadow LLCs and ‘Nonprofits’ run by Sitting Council/Commissioners is DEFINITELY the way to solve this problem! I mean we’ve had overwhelming success these past few years haven’t we?
We need a new fund. A Snitch Fund that is well advertised. Nobody likes snitches but if these murderers had the fear of God put in them that people are watching and willing to make money to put them away they might think twice. Somebody knows something out there.
The 92 million dollar performance arts center should help. Also the millions of dollars over the years directly to council members nonprofit’s should pay off any day now. Our city leaders are more concerned about mandates and threats to business owners and handing our money and rezoning related works projects than any substantive discussion or actions.
On a council where the Mayor pushes for legal gun sales to law abiding citizens at Coliseum gun shows be unconstitutionally shut down and a council member spouse can get pulled and charged with speeding with a illegally purchased and illegally hidden gun and have zero consequences we can see how hypocritical and ineffective they are.
Well said Alex…I totally agree.
There is more unrest this year. Plain and simple. There’s been more free time to express and delve into said unrest, and people have been more cooped up or boxed in with all this virus mess. I’d have xpected the numbers to be higher with the sheer amount of gunfire I hear out here.