COLUMBUS, Ohio — As Columbus police continue to search for the person who shot and killed 19-year-old Royce Gilbert on Wednesday, the community is coming together for a call to action.
Gilbert’s death is the 15th homicide so far this year, which is the fewest at this time of year in more than seven years. But for the community, one homicide is too many.
Ralph Carter, founder of We Are Linden, said two people have died in the Linden area so far this year. Carter said he decided to bring the community together to ask two questions: What do we want and how do we get there?
"This is not just a Linden issue, this is a Columbus issue,” Carter said.
Carter put the call out to his partners in the city, reaching out to everyone from parents to kids, police officers, clergy groups, nonprofits, among others – to gather for a call to action.
"I wanted to make a bold statement, be very serious and intentional,” Carter said.
The community showed up by the dozen, with representatives from organizations like Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children, Columbus Public Health, the Office of Violence Prevention and others. Some of them even brought their children along, too.
"I came out here because I wanted to see improvement on the Linden community,” said 12-year-old Asyatu Athie, a Linden community member.
Athie came to the meeting with her mother. She even spoke to the group, sharing how the gun violence weighs on her heart.
"Whenever we see stuff on the news like that, we just think about it as like a regular day in this community, but it’s not regular, and those people had potential,” Athie said.
Adult leaders continue to try to convey that potential in each and every young member of their community.
"We want to make sure that we wrap our arms around our young people and letting them know that we care and their voice matters,” Carter said.
"The message is clear, we love our youth, we want to keep our community safe, and we cannot do this alone,” Columbus Police Assistant Chief LaShanna Potts said.
Potts said the department is partnering with groups in the community like never before.
"This is the community that we serve, this is the community that we love, and so when our community partners reach out for us to respond we should, and so that's why we were here today,” Potts said.
Everyone came together to share and to listen, uniting to influence positive change for the younger generations.
"The question I always ask the youth is, 'do you want to live?' Because you have to take these steps in order to change your mindset to have a long-lasting life. Make sure your younger self is looking out for your older self,” Carter said.
Carter said they plan to continue the work they do in the community and bring everyone together to support their goal of stopping the violence.