BRONX TIMES REPORTER, A BTR UGUST 16-22, 2019 19
SUV workers spead voilence intervention posters and fl yers. Jacobi Hospital
East Bronx, SUV decries
double homicide in 49th Pct.
BY ALEX MITCHELL
After two young men were gunned
down in a double homicide on Sunday,
August 11, one Bronx community is
taking a different approach to protest
the senseless violence.
It was just before midnight when a
21-year-old man was shot in the neck
and a 17-year-old man took a bullet in
his torso at the Parkside Houses NYCHA
complex’s 2975 White Plains Road
property. The two were already dead
by the time offi cers from the 49th Precinct
arrived on the scene at nearby
2955 White Plains Road.
EMS responded to the location and
transported both victims to Jacobi
Hospital, where they were both formally
pronounced deceased.
However, Jacobi is just getting
started with its response to the fatal
shooting. Stand Up To Violence, a violence
intervention program done by
Jacobi held a march to the spot of the
deadly double homicide on the evening
of Wednesday, August 14.
“We view violence as a disease,”
said Carjah Dawkins, director of SUV.
“The cure to violence is bringing the
community together to fi nd ways to
prevent these kind of acts,” she continued
on.
In the program’s fi ve-year existence,
it had developed a few ‘target
areas’ within the east Bronx to push
for a reduction of violence and to intervene
with potentially dangerous situations
and the individuals that may be
inclined to commit such acts.
Sunday’s fatal shootings were
within that target area.
It was also the fi rst incident of gun
violence in one of SUV’s target areas
in 183 days and the fi rst homicide since
October of 2018.
“This is defi nitely a blow to us,”
Dawkins said, mentioning SUV’s involvement
with local youth community
centers given the young age of the
two male victims.
The program intends to work with
different community outlets to create
a large scale commemoration of the
shooting to serve as an indicator that
those sort of incidents will not be tolerated
and can be avoided.
“We can’t be numb to violence,” she
continued.
Besides the recent setback, Dawkins
explained that the program’s target
areas have seen a 44% reduction
in violence since SUV rolled out in full
force.
It’s also a task of the program to
send outreach workers into the communities
and target areas in efforts to
spread the message of violence alternatives
while doing similar to trauma
and gunshot victims that were transported
to Jacobi Hospital, even if not
from an SUV target area.
“Getting out and spreading a message
like this is very critical,” said
49th Precinct Community Council
president, Joe Thompson.
He explained the current shootings
remain under investigation as of press
time while reiterating the point that
community involvement and intervention
goes a long way in the ongoing
duel with violent crime.
“It is on the community to unite
and say that we will not tolerate this,”
he said.
“Even further, it’s on the community
to explain that there are alternatives
to such violent acts, the rally
brings awareness to that on all ends,”
Thompson continued.