TOLEDO, Ohio — Fourteen-year-old Terrance Green was shot and killed Monday afternoon in north Toledo. Two other victims injured in the shooting were also described as juvenile males.
Toledo's leader of the Save Our Community initiative, Malcolm Cunningham, said the number of youths killed in shootings is a troubling statistic.
According to data kept by WTOL 11, there were 65 homicides in Toledo at this time last year. Six of the victims were between the ages of 14 and 17. Monday's shooting put this year's total at 41, 10 of whom are between 14 and 17.
"We know that it's become younger," Cunningham said on WTOL 11's Leading Edge during a discussion about gun violence in Toledo. "We know that victims that are youth, that age range has gone down to around 16 or 17 unfortunately."
However, there have been fewer homicides in north Toledo in 2023 than there were in 2022. At this time last year, there had been 13 homicides in the area, eight of which were shootings. This year, there have been six.
"There's been a slight shift," Cunningham said. "We continue to have a presence with the Save Our Community initiative in the Junction and Englewood area and north Toledo. We recently were approved to move into the east side of Toledo as well."
The problem, he says, is conflict resolution and the need to get through to kids that there is another way.
"There are ways to mediate conflicts that don't have to lead to violence, and there are ways to advance peace," Cunningham said.
Cunningham has been in his role with Save Our Community for six months and says the initiative is starting to make inroads in the neighborhoods. But when violence like Green's shooting death on Monday happens, he said people still need to believe in the work.
"Reality is, this is the work that we chose, and our North star is saving people's lives," he said. "And going upstream from that, they don't even get to the point where they pick up a gun."
On Tuesday, Toledo City Council will vote on $2 million in funding for staffing and more community programs for Save Our Community,