Chattanooga ties its 10-year high with shootings in a calendar year
The 164 shootings in the city equals the high set in 2016
The amount of gun violence in Chattanooga in 2021 is staggering. Shootings have increased in number every year since 2018. The possibility of more shootings increases with each passing day, and we still have a couple weeks left this year!
The number of the day is 164. That’s the number of shootings Chattanooga has seen in calendar year 2021. It also ties the high number set back in 2016.
Chattanooga isn’t Milwaukee or Chicago, but the uptick in shootings gave 24/7 WallStreet.com enough of a reason to call Chattanooga the 43rd most dangerous city in America.
“Chattanooga has a violence problem…at this point, and I think it does stem, many times, from the economics of it,” said Chattanooga City Council Chair Chip Henderson.
His colleague on City Council, District 8 representative Anthony Byrd, said “Poverty. No opportunities. Selfishness. Hate. Jealousy. There’s so many levels, you know?”
Addressing those levels, so far, hasn’t produced much in the way of results. At radio station WGOW, program director Kevin West has a running tally on a whiteboard in his studio. He sees part of the issue being that Mayor Tim Kelly is looking for a police chief.
“An organization needs a leader to set the tone for the organization, and put strategic plans in place that the organization can then carry out, so…it’s going to have to help, I would think, to finally have a police chief at the head of the department.”
Henderson: “A lot of the things that we were doing to try to help curb the violence we weren’t able to do during the pandemic, and I think we’re starting to see some results of us not being able to implement many of the programs we had in place.”
Programs can address some things, but Byrd says they don’t address what goes on in the minds of those committing the violence.
Byrd: “In a lot of our communities, we carry what’s called a long-term grievance, and with that grievance, we’re in a constant state of ‘against.’ I’m against you for something. You’ve done something to my family. You’ve done something to me, and, so, those things just go on for generations and generations.”
Mayor Kelly says there are two Chattanoogas: ones separated by economics, culture and other factors. City leaders say it’s time to fix it sooner rather than later.
Henderson: “Until we really address the issue of two Chattanoogas, then we’ll continue to see much of the same that we’re seeing.”
Byrd: “Be the change you want to see. If you’re tired of violence, don’t create violence. If you’re tired of hatred, create love, and so I think that’s a part we all got to work on, and if we start to do it through news channels like yourself, then we see other people doing it. Then, that’s when things will change.”
Mayor Kelly says he expects a police chief to be in place by the end of February of 2022. Until then, Chattanooga has to rely on its citizens to stop the violence.
