The other public health crisis: Gun violence spikes in the U.S. amid pandemic
More than 12,000 shooting deaths have been recorded in the U.S. so far this year
In the year and a half since the pandemic began, deadly gun violence in the U.S. has spiked, often tearing at racialized communities that are disproportionately impacted by such shootings.
The National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice found that homicides increased by 30 per cent in 2020, with the majority of the deaths a result of gun violence. It's a trend that's continued this year, with the number of homicides in the first quarter of the year up 24 per cent over the same period in 2020 and up 49 per cent over 2019.
A total of 19,411 people were killed in shootings in 2020, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit that collects data from some 7,500 sources. This year, there have already been 12,148 shooting deaths so far.
Experts say the violence has been exacerbated by a rise in gun sales and a fraying of social and community services as the pandemic took hold.
"I want it to stop — the police got to do their job," said Sherrie Jones, who lives in Congress Heights, one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Washington, D.C., and the site of a recent drive-by shooting.
Jones is standing in front of a rainbow-coloured mural of a little girl with her hair pulled back in braids, flashing a peace sign. The child depicted on the wall of a corner store is six-year-old Nyiah Courtney, killed in the shooting while riding her scooter. Five others were injured that night, including Nyiah's parents.
"Shootings happen, but this is the first time we experienced something like this," said Jones, a friend of Nyiah's mother. "I'm a mother and I can't imagine something like this happening to my child."
Nyiah's death on July 16 was the first of three shootings in a single week in the U.S. capital. Just one day later, shots rang out during a Major League Baseball game outside Nationals Park. Then five days after that, a barrage of bullets sent crowds of patio diners scrambling for cover in the trendy neighbourhood of Logan Circle.
Since March 2020, there have been more than 900 shootings in Washington, resulting in more than 240 deaths, according to the website AmericanViolence.Org, which tracks gun violence across the U.S. It's a level of shootings that hasn't been seen in the city in 16 years.
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased economic disparity across American cities while disrupting the work of community organizations that focus on preventing violence, said Andrea Headley, a Georgetown University professor who researches race, crime and policing.
"People are losing their jobs. They have more idle time. We've seen an increase in gun sales and we've seen a disruption in the community and social fabric," she said.
Non-profit organizations that do violence intervention work were particularly affected by the pandemic, Headley said.
And just as the pandemic disproportionately impacted Black and Brown communities, so too did the rise in gun violence.
"These are communities that often have been disinvested in and under-resourced, so gun violence is not new to them," said Headley.
U.S. President Joe Biden has called gun violence "an epidemic in America," and his administration has set aside more than $470 billion dollars to help cities fight gun violence. Three-quarters of that will go toward bolstering law enforcement and combating the trafficking of illegal weapons. The remainder will be allocated to social programs, such as youth employment and violence interruption strategies.
Headley says reducing gun violence will require finding the right balance.
"We need to have a police force that is adequately protecting and serving all community members while also investing in alternatives to police such as public health models," she said.
In Washington, D.C., the violence is now spilling into gentrified neighbourhoods, such as Logan Circle, where crime rates are low. An evening shooting in the area last month injured two, ringing out among pedestrians and crowds gathered for dinner. Witnesses describe hearing as many as 30 gunshots. It prompted questions at a White House briefing and a walk-about by the city's chief of police.
Caroline Clement and Mike Donnelly, two young professionals in their 20s, were on their first date at a Mexican restaurant in the area when they heard loud popping sounds just before sunset.
"You could see bullets hitting the ground, causing sparks; I wanted to convince myself that it was just fireworks," said Clement. She said she initially froze — until her companion grabbed her and pulled her into the restaurant. She toppled over another customer and lost her gold sandals fleeing the scene.
That's when they saw a man in a bloodied business suit.
"The bystander who got shot came in right after us, and you could see the wound in his side," said Donnelly. "Immediately people were tending to him and making sure that he was all right. And that's really, I think, when it hit us that it was actually a shooting."
Earlier this year, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser declared gun violence a public health crisis, using the latest spate of shootings to request $11 million US to hire 170 more police officers.
In the city where "Black Lives Matter" is permanently painted on a street, council refused to approve the mayor's request in full. Instead, councillors voted to allocate half the funds the mayor requested for policing to social programs.
WATCH | 'Community defender' talks about the shooting death of 6-year-old Nyiah Courtney:
Back in Congress Heights, J.R. Jones, a self-described "community defender," isn't confident that more police officers will stop the violence. He wants to see officers walking the beat and out on bikes, but is doubtful that will happen.
He's lived in southeast Washington for three decades and is often found outside the store where Nyiah was killed.
"They're just showing up for the cameras. They're not protecting us for real," said Jones, pointing to a police car parked down the street.
"Police got families, too. They want to go home … they're not going to chase the dudes because they shoot back over here."
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