Community leaders spoke inside the building where shots were fired into an office window
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A shooting in Nicetown sent a man to the hospital and left behind damage on a building shared by a Pennsylvania state senator and the Philadelphia NAACP.
The organization is calling on the community and elected officials for change.
The NAACP and community partners made the demand inside a building with a boarded-up window, after gunfire made its way into the office Monday night on Germantown Avenue near Windrim Avenue in North Philadelphia. State Senator Sharif Street shares that office building.
Leaders with the NAACP stood with others who want to put an end to gun violence, all with the same message to the community.
“We can’t keep doing this. We have to find a way to change what is happening,” said Philadelphia NAACP President Catherine Hicks.
“We have to get the guns off the streets. We have to get those who are doing those shootings, these senseless shootings, to understand that you are not just hurting one family. You are hurting an entire community.”
People involved with other organizations that share the same mission say they need funding from the city and state levels. Until then, they want to be a common resource.
“If we stand together, things will change,” said Philadelphia NAACP Vice President Bishop Louis J. Felton.
Many of these groups say they want to help keep families safe and aid in mental health services.
“You are hurting your people,” said Hicks.
“We are imploring that you come to us. Let us try to help you.”
The leaders added that funding from the city and state levels are crucial to help those groups who are on the ground, working with neighbors and kids in school.
They said that when it comes to neighbors in every community throughout the city, people need to speak up.
Original article via KYW News Radio