Over the past couple of weeks, Lima has seen a rash of gun violence, but this is an issue that the Black Ministerial Alliance says they are ready to tackle.
An elderly man and a teenage girl were caught in a crossfire after leaving a graduation party earlier this month. A week later 19-year-old Christian Laws was found shot and killed on Lark Avenue. Just this past Friday multiple people exchanged gunfire at the intersection of Cole Street and Edgewood Drive. The Black Ministerial Alliance wants to see the shootings stopped and is trying to come up with a solution to this problem.
Pastor Cleven Jones of Shiloh Baptist Church says the gun violence is senseless and something needs to be done.
“We want the gun violence to stop,” said Jones. “We want these young men to put the guns down. We want them to realize that they are our future.”
He believes the best way to end the gun violence is by approaching the situation head on.
“We want to be proactive,” he said. “We want to reach out to the community. We want to try and reach these young men and try to talk to them and try to get them to realize the consequences of their actions.”
Reaching out to the young men in the community and letting them know that they are appreciated is what one pastor says would be the first step to putting an end to this problem.
“They need to be reached out to show them that we love them, show that we are here for them and to show them that whatever the problem may be that they can come and talk to us,” said Arthur Butler, pastor of Providence Missionary Baptist church.
The pastors say they plan to reach out to the community soon to begin working on a plan that helps lower the gun violence in the community.
