ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Civic, political and religious leaders gathered in Allentown Sunday afternoon to call for action to end gun violence after a string of shootings in the city Friday night left six people injured and two more dead, including a one-year-old boy.
“A one-year-old has been murdered in our city. And the question is, how's the city going to respond?” Hasshan Batts, director of Promise Neighborhoods Lehigh Valley, said from the steps of the organization’s offices at 333 Union St.
“We're not here today to hold hands and sing… those days are over, man. We're here for a call to action.”
Batts, like the other speakers from Promise Neighborhoods, including 20-year-old Allentown School Board member Zaleeae Sierra, demanded community members do what they can to combat gun violence in the city.
“The action we want to see is people across the community coming together and offering support to the youth and people that are struggling,” said Batts. Especially, he said, business owners need to create jobs, and therefore opportunity, for teens and young adults in Allentown.
“We always want to focus on interpersonal violence, but we need the community to begin to recognize that when people don't have jobs they grab guns. So how do we come together to create jobs and opportunities?”
Standing beside the speakers were several mothers of Allentown residents killed by gun violence in the last few years. Interspersed behind them stood politicians from every level of government — Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk, State Representative Joshua Seigel, Representative Susan Wild, among others — along with leaders from civic and faith organizations in the area. None of the politicians spoke at the news conference.
Over a six-hour period Friday night, police responded to three separate shootings, at the 100 block of Chestnut St., the 1600 block of Hanover Ave. and the 300 block of Ridge Ave.
Allentown police Capt. Daniel Gross said investigators do not believe any of the three shootings were connected.
At the press conference Sunday, Allentown Police Chief Charles Roca said the police had no new information about the three shootings, but encouraged anyone with knowledge of the shootings to contact the department’s Tip411 information line. He said investigating the shootings was the department's "top priority."
"This is an example today of us being able to come together and working as a village to make sure that we're meeting the needs of our community, and that we're also working together to be preventive of crimes," said Roca.
Jim Deegan contributed to this report.
