In-depth coverage
Springfield News-Sun Reporter Allison Wichie reviewed five years of shooting cases for this story, as well as interview police investigators, families of victims and community organizers.
50: Shootings investigated by Springfield Police Division last year, including both assaults and deaths
7: Shooting deaths in Springfield last year
37: Unsolved shootings, including both assaults and deaths, in Springfield last year
Springfield police investigated the highest number of gun-related homicides in the past five years in 2014 and law enforcement, families of victims and residents are calling for a community response to stop the violence.
The Springfield News-Sun reviewed data on shootings in the city since 2010 and found that police investigated 50 firearm-related assaults and deaths in 2014, or nearly one shooting victim per week.
The push to curb violent crime and gun violence must be community-wide, Springfield Police Division Chief Stephen Moody said.
“It’s a public health crisis — it’s one part of the community’s public health crisis and it impacts the whole community,” he said.
Many of those cases last year — 37 — are unsolved. Arrests had been made in six cases and police identified shooters in another six cases but due to circumstances beyond their control, no arrest was made.
More than half of the 206 shootings investigated since 2010 remain open cases, including the killing of Schuyler Mollett in Aug. 8, 2013.
“It’s miserable, it’s very painful knowing that your brother was murdered and shot six times,” said his sister Hayleigh Mollett.
“My question is always, ‘Why?’ But I’ll never get the full story,” she said.
Gotten out of hand
The recent gun violence isn’t the worst Moody has seen in his more than 30 years on the force, but it “has gotten out of hand” at times in the last year and a half.
Fatal and nonfatal gun crime on the national and local levels has declined since its peak in the mid-1990s, according to a U.S. Justice Department report.
Firearm-related homicides dropped 39 percent in the U.S. and nonfatal firearm crimes fell 69 percent from 1993 to 2011, the report says.
The number of murders and aggravated assaults reported in Springfield in that same time period mirrors those trends, according to data from the Ohio Department of Public Safety.
Much of the gun violence in the city since the fall of 2013 has been inter-related, Moody said, and instigated by groups that chose to resolve their conflicts from behind the trigger.
Gunfire has erupted over arguments about anything from drugs to a person who believes they were disrespected or slighted, Moody said.
“They get into a beef with each other and instead of working it out by maybe going to someone they trust to be an intermediary, they think it’s easier to pick the gun up,” he said.
At shooting scenes, tension between the community and police can be felt, Moody said.
“Immediately we’re dealing with the anger of someone having a loved one or dear friend taken from them or terribly injured,” he said. “We understand that because people want something, want answers or an arrest now.”
He often reaches out to the networks of community leaders to diffuse that tension.
“It’s vital and that’s what community policing is all about — the most important part of that term is the ‘community,’” Moody said.
Trust and communication between law enforcement and people is key to solving cases, the chief said.
“All the forensics in the world are great, but homicide work is still a lot about walking and talking with people,” he said. “It’s pulling it all together to put together a puzzle.”
Entire community grieves
Part of the solution to end gun violence involves getting those who pull the trigger off the streets, Moody said.
More than half of the 206 shootings reported to the Springfield Police Division since 2010 are open cases or haven’t resulted in an arrest, according to crime data.
Schuyler Mollett was shot six times in the back in a parking lot at the corner of Stanton Avenue and North Limestone Street in 2013.
His death is one of the nine unsolved shooting deaths in Springfield since 2010.
“It’s not just the family that grieves, it’s the entire community,” Hayleigh Mollett said.
When a homicide happens, she said the community loses it’s sense of security. The crimes also affect Springfield’s image, Moody said.
Schuyler Mollett’s mother, Leslie Blevins, now works with the families of other victims to help them with their grief and is an anti-gun violence advocate.
“I pray daily that the person who shot Schuyler and the people who were there, that God graces them to come forward so that they can begin to heal and so that our family can move forward,” she said.
Community’s role
Reducing violence will require effort from across the community, local residents said.
Kelly Walker — the mother of George Walker Jr. who was shot and killed near the intersections of Grand and Lowry avenues on May 30 — and her children went door to door along the street where he was murdered and asked for witnesses to provide information so an arrest could be made.
The family focused their energy on finding justice through an arrest, she said, instead of retaliating with more violence.
The Walkers took that information and worked with police, leading to the arrest of a suspect. Charges were filed in October, but have been dropped since the death of a key witness in the case, prosecutors said.
That flow of communication between the community and law enforcement is essential to build trust, solve crimes and prevent further violence, leaders said. Information can be safely funneled to law enforcement through organizations like the Peacekeepers or pastors at local churches, Moody said.
Families of victims of violence play a big role in preventing more violence, said Robyn Smith, director of the victim’s witness program through the Clark County Prosecutor’s Office.
Smith is called to the scenes of violent crimes to immediately connect with families as they navigate through the investigation after a violent assault or homicide. The program was started in 2011 and Smith said it has made an impact on both the lives affected by the violence and the investigations.
“We’ve seen that community members have the biggest role because they know what’s happening and they have the power to stop it,” she said.
Witnesses or friends and family who know that arguments could lead to more crime need to be responsible and take action against violence, Smith said.
“Somebody has to stand up for what is right or wrong and somebody has to care that the violence ends before it will stop,” she said.
The culture of violence must end before gunfire will stop, said Bruce Williams, leader of the Peacekeepers, a non-violence organization in Springfield.
“If the parents and if the grandparents and the nieces and the nephews and the cousins would stop glorifying violence and really see violence for what it is – it’s the end of a person’s life,” said Bruce Williams, leader of the Peacekeepers.
The Peacekeepers are a local chapter of a global non-violence group that works with youth to improve the community and walk neighborhoods to promote peace.
Adults in the city have formed working relationships, but it is harder to reach the young adults who are often at the center of the violence, Williams said.
“A lot of young folks don’t have the patience and violence is their only mindset,” he said. “We have to change that mindset.”
Part of that change will happen when children and young adults receive positive mentoring from parents and peers, said Blevins, Schuyler Mollett’s mother.
“It’s your responsibility to teach your children about gun violence and your responsibility as a parent to demand better behavior and teach them the morals that you believe they should live by,” she said.
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