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WHAT TO KNOW TODAY
Why young people carry where the violence is high. A new Department of Justice-funded study by researchers at the Center for Court Innovation tracked 16- to 24-year-olds in New York City neighborhoods with elevated rates of gun violence. Nearly 90 percent of participants said that they had owned or carried guns, citing the constant and unpredictable threat of violence and a lack of trust in the police as primary factors. Among the report’s recommendations: more public safety solutions outside of law enforcement, better funding for jobs programs and street outreach workers, and increased access to trauma therapy and other social services.
At least 21 people were shot, one fatally, at a cookout in Washington, D.C. The incident occurred early Sunday morning when several shooters exchanged gunfire at a neighborhood gathering that drew hundreds. “I really don’t understand how my child’s life is just gone,” said the mother of slain 17-year-old Christopher Brown. A 22-year-old off-duty police officer was also critically wounded and was fighting for her life, the police chief said. “We’ve had some challenges but nothing to the magnitude of this,” a local anti-violence organizer said of the block in the Southeast neighborhood where the shooting happened.
In Denver, a mass shooting at a park left nine people injured. Police said the victims were at a family gathering on Sunday afternoon when a shooter opened fire from a passing car. Police said the victims — who included several young people of unspecified ages — were all expected to survive. A violent weekend: The incidents in Denver and Washington, D.C., were among eight mass shootings that claimed two lives and left 60 people wounded across the country, according to Gun Violence Archive.
Black drivers in Minneapolis made up 78 percent of police searches at traffic stops. Meanwhile, white drivers comprised 12 percent of cases despite making up the vast majority of city residents, according to new data released by the Hennepin County Public Defender’s Office and verified by The Star Tribune. Mary Moriarty, the chief public defender in Hennepin County, said she hopes the disproportionate data on traffic enforcement can help spur police reform. “My goal is to prevent the next Philando Castile,” she said, referring to the Black resident who was fatally shot by a Minneapolis police officer in 2016 after a traffic stop search.
New Hampshire’s GOP governor vetoed a red flag bill. The law would have let family members and cops petition a court to remove guns from someone deemed to be a risk to themselves or others. Governor Chris Sununu said the measure violated due process for law-abiding citizens. Nineteen states have red flag laws on the books.
DATA POINT
Minneapolis Police found guns or drugs on white drivers at slightly higher rates than Black ones, according to a 2017-2018 analysis of traffic stop searches by the Hennepin County Public Defender’s Office. [The Star Tribune]
