ATLANTA — Atlanta experienced a violent spring break and Easter weekend.
With summer quickly approaching, a group of youth leaders, city officials and community organizations are searching for solutions to teen violence.
Channel 2’s Steve Gehlbach was at Atlanta City Hall on Wednesday, where leaders gathered for a round table discussion focused on stopping the violence.
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The conversation at the round table focused on root causes that are driving teen and gun violence in the city, and trying to turn prevention into practice.
The idea of holding a “Future of Youth Round Table” came in response to the violence seen across Atlanta, which included the death of a 16-year-old girl who was shot in Piedmont Park on 404 Day.
The death of Tianah Robinson was just one of several deadly shootings that weekend.
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“It was people going to war with each other and she got in the way, innocent bystander,” Myrian Craft, HWPL Georgia spokesperson, said.
Other violence over spring break included a three-year-old shot and killed at an apartment on Washington Street just after midnight on Easter morning and four teens shot on Sparks Street that night.
“We realized it was a needed time to have a solution and discussion together with the city so we can provide more outlets,” Craft said.
The next weekend, a 12-year-old was shot and killed while a group of boys played with a gun inside a southeast Atlanta home.
“It only takes one stupid decision made by just one or two individuals that can really cause a ripple effect,” Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said.
Working with the Mayor’s Office of Violence Reduction, HWPL, a non-profit dedicated to conflict resolution and achieving peace, is looking for strategies to keep guns out of children’s hands and address causes of youth violence.
the organization is planning their own “peace takeovers” for the summer, rather than having mass teen takeovers like what have been happening across the metro Atlanta area for several weeks.
“We want to make sure we can mitigate that too, provide spaces for the teens so they can have more areas to gather, cause they didn’t have moments and that’s what they wanted to look for,” Craft said.
More than 30 community organizations met at City Hall for the round table and to coordinate responses, resources and opportunities.
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