Yet another trio of senseless gang related murders occurred just after Savannah’s July 4th celebrations were winding down a bit after midnight on the 5th. Among the dead were two of the three gang member killers and a well liked local service industry worker who was an innocent bystander. The targets of this gangland slaying all survived their injuries.
This failed drive-by murder of rivals occurred in the heart of Savannah’s downtown City Market tourist district of bars, restaurants and clubs. The incident occurred despite the monitoring of this eight block area by over 25 government surveillance cameras and positioning of over a dozen uniformed and plain clothes cops in the area. The gangs just don’t give a damn.
(A still from a city surveillance camera video taken at the moment that the white SUV’s occupants began to fire their weapons).
The community’s reaction was instant and swift. Hundreds marched on City Hall and its Commissioners less than 48 hours later, while the Commission was in session. The marchers were respectful in their mourning and demands for change. The Mayor, City Commissioners and Police Chief were sensitive and said all the right things with truly heartfelt sentiment. The Mayor frankly said “Make no mistake. We are war with gangs in our community. We are at war with those who want to disrupt any law abiding citizen and wreak havoc upon our beloved city.”
Sadly, the Mayor went on to say that policies can’t be changed in the heat of the moment and “we must stay with our strategic plan” to curb gang related violence.
So far, the plan ain’t working and the law abiders are losing the war. 2017’s murder toll in this small community of 220,000 now stands at 25 after 2015’s toll of 53 and 2016’s of 52. The previous five years’ average murder toll was below 30.
In an offhanded parenthetical, the local paper reported that less than 15 minutes after the above incident, “officers heard shots fired in the area of Jefferson Street and Broughton Street (about three blocks away from the initial shooting). They responded to the scene and located a 17-year-old suffering from non-life-threatening (gun shot wound) injuries.”
In response, Savannahians are not just fearful, they are pissed. During the past three days, angry letters to the paper demanded implementation of stop and frisk, another 25% increase to an already burgeoning police force, more cameras and National Guard patrols on downtown city streets and in our neighborhoods.
Most telling was a hand written note on the editorial page of the July 7th edition of the local morning daily. W found this paper on one of the tables of our favorite coffee bar, The Sentient Bean.
As some of you know, this coffee shop is a treasured hang out for the locals who live in the Victorian District around Forsyth Park. Most of its multi-racial and ethnic customers tend to be on the younger and more progressive side of the political and cultural spectrum.
As you can see below, the note is a chillingly direct declaration of real war sentiment from a normally pacific portion of the local populace. This ongoing carnage is now real to them.
I wonder when if ever we will cease resisting the inconsequential and get down to it as Neil Young wrote many decades ago:
Kid gangsters, drug sales flowing
We’ve always been on our own
This summer people finally hear the drumming
Another dead in the Market
Gotta get down to it
Gangsters are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago
What if you knew him
And found him dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?
Gotta get down to it
Gangsters are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew him
And found him dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?
Kid gangsters, drug sales flowing
We’ve always been on our own
This summer people finally hear the drumming
Another dead in the Market
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