Chief Fletcher Says Violence Reduction Initiative in On Track

CHATTANOOGA, TN (WDEF-TV) – Chattanooga’s Violence Reduction Initiative is actually on-track.
That’s the word from Police Chief Fred Fletcher as he begins his second full week on the job.
But the city had a violent weekend with a total of 4 shooting incidents.
Not all shootings are gang-related.

KYLE WORLEY, ATTACKED AT HIS HOME "I said ‘hey, is anyone back there? I took two steps toward the shed and that’s when the guy popped-out from around this corner and unloads like two rounds at point blank range..maybe six or seven feet…it goes into my shoulder and honestly I didn’t even know it hit me for a good two minutes afterwards."

Kyle Worley is putting a face on gun violence in Chattanooga.
That incident happened Sunday at his home on East 14th Street.
Luckily his injuries were minor.
But it was a violent weekend and it casts a shadow over the cities efforts to reduce violence.

CHIEF FRED FLETCHER, CHATTANOOGA POLICE DEPARTMENT "As you know we had 4 shootings involved over the weekend. As far as we could tell right now ..Only one of those shootings is group involved. The other three have a variety of sources."

Fred Fletcher wouldn’t say which of the incidents was possibly gang-related.
He stepped into a violence reduction program that began back in March.

CHIEF FLETCHER "We are working hard on the group involved ones and year to date…through our efforts in the Violence Reduction Initiative, group-involved, non-fatal shootings are actually down 20%. "

So far in 2014, there have been 56 shootings compared to 70 last year at this time.
Fletcher says part of his job now is motivating people to come to the people who can help them .

CHIEF FLETCHER "I was out this weekend after these shootings, personally meeting with the families of our victims and asking them ‘please call us when you see something that looks unusual or that looks crime-related..call us ..Let us handle it….please be involved’— and we got a very favorable response."

The Chattanooga Violence Reduction Initiative is now in its 4th month.

All five of the shooting victims from this weekend have non-life threatening injuries.
There have been 12 homicides in the city this year.