Community, law enforcement confront felons about gun violence in Columbia
Community members and police confronted criminal troublemakers Thursday to tell them they are sick of gun violence in north Columbia.
Roughly 150 people, some under the instruction of parole or probation officers, packed into the Eau Claire Print Building in north Columbia for an initiative aimed at deterring violence in north Columbia.
Ceasefire Columbia was hosted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Columbia Police Department with hopes of convincing 50 felons out on parole or probation to stay out of trouble. The 50 chosen were repeat offenders identified as the most likely to commit or be a victim of a violent crime, Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook said.
For roughly 90 minutes, leaders from local, state and federal law enforcement agencies warned that the troublemakers’ next offenses would land them in a federal penitentiary, and community members and social workers pleaded with them to change and seek help. Adorning the walls were posters with mugshots, names and sentences of people in prison because they had violated parole or probation.
Perhaps the most impassioned plea came from Roberta McKelvin, a 56-year-old north Columbia resident who wore a T-shirt with a picture of her late son on the front. McKelvin explained how her son’s killing in November 2013 has rocked her and her family.
“Put the guns down,” she pleaded, saying later she hoped they would learn how gun violence affects families.
“When you take someone’s life like that, you not only take their life, you take their family’s life,” she said.
Ivan Carter, outreach coordinator with the Midlands Fatherhood Coalition, also gave a rousing plea. Carter told the felons he and his brother were in a similar situation a decade ago. Carter, 32, who plans to graduate from the University of South Carolina next December, said he turned his life around after his brother was killed, and that they can do the same thing if they heed law enforcement’s warning.
“Those empty seats that’s right next to you guys, I wish that my brother was sitting in that seat,” Carter said.
Sam Davis, a city councilman who represents north Columbia, told the felons he also came from a similar background and didn’t realize he grew up in “the ghetto” until he went to college.
Davis told the crowd he had to call in gunshots when he left his house Wednesday morning. North Columbia residents who have invested in the area don’t deserve gun violence or the stigma it brings, Davis said.
“The bottom line is you have got to stop,” Davis said. “Just stop. That makes everybody’s life a whole lot better, including mine. I’m willing to help anybody who wants to help themselves. The people who live out here want to do that, and they know that they need to do that, because there’s so much that’s good about this neighborhood, about this part of town.”
Holbrook said his department received more than 1,400 calls of shots fired last year, yielding 118 confirmed victims shot. A “high and disproportionate number” of those calls were in north Columbia, he said.
The department’s North Region has reported 319 violent crimes, including seven homicides, to date in 2015.
“That’s unacceptable,” Holbrook said. “You’re going to hear from the community, and we’re going to tell you right now that it’s going to stop.”
“Operation Ceasefire” was first introduced in Boston in the mid-90s and has proven successful in reducing gun violence, reducing arrest and imprisonment and strengthening disadvantaged communities, Holbrook said. Similar programs have been introduced in several cities in South Carolina.
Of the law enforcement officials who spoke, nearly all told the felons to embrace Ceasefire Columbia as an opportunity. But they vowed to bring the felons to justice if they pick up a gun again.
“All I’m going to ask you to do is not have a gun and stop killing each other,” said U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles.
Holbrook said he watched the audience during the event and said they were attentive.
“I think we reached some,” he said.
Avery G. Wilks: 803-771-8362, @averygwilks
This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 8:20 AM with the headline "Community, law enforcement confront felons about gun violence in Columbia."