ST PAUL, Minn. — "When I heard that 15 people were shot, one dead, like I said it's gut wrenching," Twin Cities community leader Tyrone Terrill said.
Terrill has spent the last three decades serving as a community leader in the Twin Cities. He's usually one of the first to hear about tragedies in the community, but yesterday, Terrill says he was left in disbelief.
"It's harmful and hurtful no matter what," said Terrill.
A shootout at the Truck Park restaurant overnight Sunday left 14 injured and a 27-year old woman dead.
"It's terrible," said Terrill. "I saw the business community say it's the impact on their businesses, but the Black community, we feel the trauma of it," said Terrill.
So far this year, there have been 32 homicides in St. Paul. This latest shooting comes just weeks after a quadruple homicide, where four people from St. Paul were found dead in an abandoned SUV in Wisconsin.
Some of them, familiar to Terrill.
"I knew two of the families very well," said Terrill. "It was really disheartening," said New Hope Baptist Church senior pastor, Rev. Runney Patterson. "I'm kind of angry and sad," said Patterson.
Rev. Patterson heads the '21 Days of Peace' program in St. Paul, a gun violence prevention program helping to bridge the gap in the community after recent violence.
"It's disheartening when one person gets shot, but when you hear 15, and one person lost their life, and though one person lost their life it could have been a bigger tragedy," said Patterson.
While both hope there are real solutions after this latest tragedy.
"There's a grandmother who can't sit on her front porch, kids who can't go to McDonald's, it's just been repeated, time and time again these senseless murders," said Terrill.
They're continuing to pray for the families affected by gun violence.
"I keep saying that this is not a Black problem, it's not a white problem, it's a human problem and I believe the change has to start at home," said Patterson.