LEXINGTON, Ky. – A shooting in Lexington on Monday is renewing calls for community-driven prevention efforts, even as new figures show gun violence across the city has fallen dramatically.
Devine Carama, director of ONE Lexington, said reaching young people before conflict turns violent is at the heart of that work. “Do we want our young people to live and thrive or do we not? And I think this is a time where we got to step up as a community,” Carama said.
While the broader numbers show progress, Carama said the impact on young people and families can overshadow the gains.
“Obviously we’ve seen shootings and homicides down, but when the gun violence impacts young people, when it keeps hitting the same family, same community over and over again, you really don’t feel that progress,” Carama said.
The data points to a significant decline. According to ONE Lexington, there have been six gun-related homicides through October 31st this year, compared to 31 during the same period in 2022. Nonfatal shootings have also dropped from 111 to 42.
“We got to step up as a community and so my job is just to come out here, provide support, provide resources, but also give these people a voice and tell them that their voice deserves to be heard,” Carama said.
In an effort to reach young people, One Lexington is offering free anti-bullying workshops and assemblies for Fayette County students in grades five through eight through the end of the semester.
Carama said prevention also means getting to the source of conflict before it escalates. “Hopefully we can figure out what is the foundation of this conflict and how can we get to the root of it and stop it before retaliation continues,” Carama said.
Carama said anyone interested in getting involved can reach him by email at dcarama@lexingtonky.gov.
