The Charlottesville Police Department has responded to 50 calls related to shootings in 71 days, according to an incident report from the department.
Between Jan. 1 and March 12, city police responded to four homicides, 44 shots fired calls, an aggravated assault and a suicide. There have been five homicides in the Charlottesville area since the beginning of 2022, according to city and Albemarle County officials.
Gun violence in Charlottesville and Albemarle County has now taken the lives of 13 people and injured 22 others since Sept. 1 of last year, according to an ongoing Daily Progress tally.
The four homicides are the deaths of Osvaldo Lopez-Hernandez in Belmont, Eldridge “Skeeta” Smith in Fifeville, Nicklous Gregory Pendleton in 10th and Page and Justice Kilel in Fifeville. Police say arrests have been made in connection with all four deaths.
In Charlottesville, the police department has started to focus patrols on “hot spot” neighborhoods, implemented a “community walk and talk” program, held a gun violence forum and recently floated a gun buyback program.
According to data from Jefferson Area Community Corrections, group A crimes (which includes weapons offenses and homicides) in Charlottesville fell 36% between 2012 and 2021. Data for 2022 was not on the organization’s website.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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