11:16
- ABC News
- January 24, 2022
Another violence interrupter shot dead
DaShawn McGrier is the third Safe Streets member to be killed in a year.
Video by Jessie DiMartino, Cristina Corujo
11:16
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott also attended the event and said that the city is \"determined to honor DaShawn's legacy in the best way we can -- by expanding community violence interventions across the city.\"
\"[Safe Streets Baltimore] is not just an organization, but a calling. DaShawn believed that we could build a better Baltimore. Let's show him that we can,\" Scott tweeted, along with photos of the event.
We are determined to honor DaShawn's legacy in the best way we can — by expanding community violence interventions across the city. @safestreetsbalt is not just an organization, but a calling. DaShawn believed that we could build a better Baltimore. Let's show him that we can. pic.twitter.com/C9pM9eJ26q
— Brandon M. Scott (@MayorBMScott) January 22, 2022
Ward said Safe Streets organizes shooting response events to \"denormalize\" gun violence -- especially in neighborhoods where shootings are common -- by creating an opportunity for the community to come together to honor the victims and send the message that, \"This is not OK.\" And on Saturday, they honored one of their own.
Violence interrupters also connect individuals with resources such as job placement opportunities and financial support.
Ward said that McGrier had been working as a violence interrupter for a little over a month, but had been a part of the Safe Streets community for a long time. He was a \"hard worker,\" she said, who was a welding student at the North American Trade School during the day and worked at the Safe Streets McElderry Park site at night to help mediate conflicts that could lead to shootings.
\"The work that is being done to stop this from happening is really, really important. And it makes it that much more important when you lose one of your own,\" she said.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/safe-streets-2016-gty-jc-211105_1636125287861_hpEmbed_3x2_384.jpg\")
Safe Streets is backed by the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE) and the 10 sites are operated by various nonprofits across the city, including Living Classrooms and Catholic Charities.
Baltimore is beautiful. 🧡
— Baltimore MONSE - Neighborhood Safety & Engagement (@BaltimoreMONSE) January 22, 2022
This afternoon's @SafeStreetsBalt shooting response in East Baltimore in honor of the life of DaShawn McGrier and all victims of gun violence in our city. pic.twitter.com/aa4dKeoaV8
McGrier's killing came as the Safe Streets community continues to mourn the deaths of two beloved longtime members who were killed over the past year and who had dedicated their lives to reducing gun violence.
Dante Barksdale, a Safe Streets outreach coordinator, and Kenyell \"Benny\" Wilson, a Safe Streets violence interrupter, were shot and killed in separate incidents in January and July. Two days before McGrier was killed, the community gathered to honor Barklesdale on the anniversary of his death.
This afternoon, the Safe Streets family gathered where Dante Barksdale was murdered one year ago.
— Baltimore MONSE - Neighborhood Safety & Engagement (@BaltimoreMONSE) January 17, 2022
Tater, as so many of us knew him, was not only a respected Safe Streets team member, but a beloved friend. He was one of the leading voices in our nation on gun violence prevention. pic.twitter.com/tJx56qeCnD
\"We were devastated, it was very traumatizing. It's very difficult to say their names or to think of them, and to not feel that consistent void in our hearts, because they were definitely individuals who impacted the community in such an incredible way,\" Rashad Singletary, the associate director of gun violence prevention at MONSE told ABC News last year. \"And for them to lose their lives to the same thing that we tried to save thousands of lives from, it was very, very disheartening and tragic.\"
Kenyell \"Benny\" Wilson had been a violence interrupter with Safe Streets Cherry Hill for nearly 9 years. He was fatally shot while grabbing food Thursday. pic.twitter.com/fhpbkl4jSR
— Paul Gessler (@PaulGessler) July 2, 2021
How violence interrupter programs work
Safe Streets was launched in Baltimore in 2007 in the McElderry Park neighborhood. It is one of several violence prevention programs in the country that is based on a model that started in Chicago in the mid 1990s.
According to experts who study and evaluate solutions to gun violence, research shows that the concept is \"promising,\" but challenges persist when it comes to implementation and funding.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/ceasefire-chicago-gty-jc-211105_1636125287852_hpEmbed_3x2_384.jpg\")
Safe Streets, for example, serves 10 target areas but only covers 2.6 square miles in a city that spans 92 miles of Maryland.
But researchers told ABC News that one of the things that makes it all worthwhile is seeing the violence interrupters asserting their influence to keep the peace.
\"[Violence interrupters] are from the same streets, grew up in the same areas and had the same experiences as young people, and so they just have more access and access means influence,\" said Jeffrey Butts, director of the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. \"The possibility of influencing someone's behavior and attitude is stronger if you come at them as an equal.\"
Violence interrupters also connect high risk individuals with resources that the organization offers, including job placement and financial support that could help alleviate some of the suffering -- conditions that lead some to resort to violence.
What the data shows
Recent studies have shown that Safe Streets programs have been effective at reducing gun violence in various neighborhoods.
A 2012 study published by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that Safe Streets workers were successful at reducing gun violence in three of four neighborhoods where the initial sites were established, Director of the Center for Gun Policy and Research at Johns Hopkins University Daniel Webster previously told ABC News.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/baltimore-six-shot-ap-jc-211105_1636125287846_hpEmbed_11x8_384.jpg\")
According to Webster, although results of a 2015 evaluation were more mixed, the studies found that young people in neighborhoods with violence interruption programs were less likely to believe gun violence was an acceptable way to respond to conflict.
Safe Streets workers mediated more than 2,300 conflicts in 2020, according to MONSE, and after gaining more funding from the city, the organization opened its tenth site in 2021.
\"Safe Streets workers mediate the very types of conflicts we saw tonight,\" Harrison said in a statement Wednesday. \"All the Safe Streets workers are to be applauded for their work in reducing gun violence and promoting a message of redemption and peace to the many young people of our city.\"
MONSE Director Shantay Jackson said that the mayor's office will be providing support to the family of the victims and the staff, including grief counseling.
\"This is a reminder of the courageous, yet dangerous job our frontline staff does each day when working with those at the highest risk of being a shooter or the victim of a shooting,\" she said in a statement.
Ward said that the \"tremendous loss\" highlights the need for violence-prevention work in Baltimore.
\"People are heartbroken,\" she said, \"and at the same time, [the] feeling or sense is this is the reason to double down.\"
ABC News' Abby Cruz and Kendall Ross contributed to this report.
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