NEW LONDON, Conn. (WTNH) — The Bible says, “Where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them.” The same was true on a raw, wet Friday night in New London. A few dozen of the faithful gathered at Trinity Missionary Baptist Church to address a recent surge in violent crime, like Trina Charles.
“Sometimes you do get a little scared to go outside when it’s late at night,” said Charles. Her neighborhood along Blackhall Street has seen much of the violence recently. “You just never know what you’re going to be getting into when you’re walking out your door, getting out of your car just to get back to your house,” she continued.Original Story: Community forum held after rash of violence in New London
The neighbors in attendance were also hoping to understand why one murder in 2016 has turned into four people killed in 2017, all since October, and with another week to go before the New Year.
“I just wanted to hear from the police just to see what they were doing,” Charles told News 8’s Mario Boone. For their part, police are asking the public to be an extra pair of eyes and ears in the streets and report criminal activity.
“It’s going to take, as we’ve said, the police and community working together as a collaborative, and I think we’re well on our way,” said Rev. Wade Hyslop, pastor of Trinity. Hyslop convened the meeting during the busy Christmas weekend because of the urgency of the situation.
“We were talking about maybe we should wait until after the holiday and we said no,” according to Hyslop. “We might as well go ahead with it now.”
The pastor said he’s determined to stem the violence, and he offered a pointed message for violent criminals forcing residents to live in fear.
“This is community is not going to put up with this any longer.”
