MINNEAPOLIS - One day after a 5-year-old boy was shot and killed while sleeping in a north Minneapolis home, community groups are coming together to vow to stop the violence.
"We put together 'enough is enough, no one dies,' which is an immediate outreach to all the residents of north Minneapolis," said Roberta Englund, Executive Director of the Folwell Neighborhood Association.
Neighborhood associations, churches and businesses are launching the new outreach campaign on Facebook, Twitter and e-mail and through postcards, posters and fliers in the north Minneapolis community. The campaign is in response to the June 26 killing of Nizzle George, 5, who was shot in the back while sleeping in a home in the 4500 block of Bryant Avenue North.
"It's that return to an idea that it takes a village to raise a child, protect a child, it takes a village for people to just have a connection to one another, look out for your neighbors, look out for your friends, talk to people," said Jonathan Palmer, a member of the Northside Neighborhoods Council.
Meantime, other local organizations dedicated to ending gun violence say this latest shooting -- which comes exactly six months after a 3-year-old boy was shot in his north Minneapolis home -- only emphasizes the urgent need to address the gun problem.
"I think the community is really pushing to have, not just news media attention, but policy-makers attention on this," said Heather Martens, executive director of Protect Minnesota.
"How is that guns are getting on the street? How is it that a young person can get a gun and shoot it on the streets of any city in this country?" she asked.
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