AKRON BEACON SERIES

Did the shooting of a 7-year-old pee wee football player tamp down gun violence in Akron? It also ripped a path of destruction through his family, his football team, his friends, his school and his community. That single bullet damaged more than just Tyren's body. That bullet was one of about a dozen allegedly fired by a 16-year-old boy in a crowd of hundreds in the middle of back-to-back pee wee football games on a Sunday afternoon in Akron. On the first day of school, a surgeon was stitching his abdomen back together after a bullet tore through several organs in his 50-pound body earlier that week. Tyren Thompson wasn't with his classmates at Helen Arnold to start the year.

Bullet fired at Lane Field ruptures little boy's spleen, shatters Akron community's heart It was the first time Tyren has been at the school since being shot at a peewee football game in Akron. Lamonica Davis, principal at Helen Arnold CLC shows a video to former student Tyren Thompson, 7 during an assembly at the school in Akron. So, editors urged our team to begin looking for a deeper understanding of what's happening in Akron and across Summit County.Īs you will see, they've delivered. Those police narratives inform us all but can become routine and detached from the real pain inflicted on so many people. Many months ago, our conversation turned to the never-ending barrage of gun violence shared weekly by Akron police.

AKRON BEACON SERIES

Inside 'Akron in the Crossfire,' a new Beacon Journal series on gun violenceįrom Editor Michael Shearer: Our reporting team gathers every week to discuss the journalism we know matters the most to our readers. These kids are running wild,” said Stephanie, 72, of East Akron.Īt the city’s dangerous intersection of youths and guns, residents painted a nuanced picture of a problem decades in the making - a problem that’s evolved into something more sinister since the upheaval of social and economic structures during the pandemic. “I don’t know if there’s anything we can do. cities is seeing a sharp uptick in teens and young adults killing each other with guns. Residents in high-crime areas fear a creeping sense of normalcy in Akron, which like other major U.S. 'Get the guns out of the hands of the kids.' Akron residents share gun violence solutions Residents were offered anonymity to speak candidly about the violence, including active murder investigations and the source of guns in their neighborhoods. These five neighborhoods include 4% of Akron homes and residents but 13% of the city’s reported shootings. Census Bureau population estimates, reporters and photographers mapped the per capita concentrations of reported gunfire and canvassed the five highest-impact city blocks in South Akron, East Akron, Sherbondy Hill, Summit Lake and West Akron.

Guided by police reports and 911 calls that point to the most frequent neighborhoods for shootings, Beacon Journal reporters and photographers knocked on doors and talked about gun violence on front porches to better understand life set to the soundtrack of gunshots. 'I am scared.' Residents share their stories in 5 Akron neighborhoods with most gunshots Dana, who stays in South Akron, talks about losing her 17-year-old son who was shot and killed in April of 2021.

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