Lima Police Chief Kevin Martin says the month of January saw more gun violence than they've seen in previous years. Tuesday night there were two shootings just hours apart.
"It is in my mind a miracle that we have not had anyone murdered so far this year," Chief Martin said.
The first one around 3pm when 21-year-old Austin Conrad was shot riding his moped near the 600 block of Madison. Conrad was later treated and released. The second one just hours later near south pine street where 51-year-old Jeffrey Roach was shot in the chest. He is currently in stable condition.
"I'm frankly sick and tired of hearing, just like this morning coming in and having to be briefed on two people," Chief Martin said.
So far this year 8 shootings have occurred since January first. In 20-15 there were 40 total shootings, which means we've already hit about 20 percent of the total shootings of all of last year..in one month.
"So that's why we are going to be increasing our patrols in these areas at a very highly visible, highly proactive way, trying to get these illegal guns off the street," Chief Martin said.
Chief Martin says some of the shootings do appear to be gang related. He says detectives and patrol are working to make connections between shooting locations to know where to best place their resources.
"We are going to be working extra hard to try to stop anymore of these from happening before we do have a homicide," Chief Martin said.
If anyone has information about the shootings or future gun violence please contact the Lima Police Department.
