Lots of kids downtown back on Friday night July 4th…Hearing maybe thousands of kids in that 8-15 age group and there was a shooting and two people were shot in Center City Park…Word was coming out, that one of the victims was a Guilford County Middle School basketball player and will not give a name, until this is totally confirmed…Saw reports on Facebook, and it was a sad commentary on what is happening in our local community…Parents taking young kids downtown and dropping them off, and leaving them to run around, and coming back to get them later…And with such large crowds, many times the innocent are getting hurt in the disturbances that are taking place, and it sounds like this might be the case with the young man from our Guilford County Schools…The crowds are large, and many times too large for the amount of police and security that are in the area….Hoping this young man that was injured is OK, and hoping that in the future, arrangements and precautions can be taken, so that incidents like this one are not happening within an ongoing basis…I am not a Paul Harvey, but I wish Paul was still around so he could offer up a few of his good down-to-earth solutions, that might help us with these current problems…Help is on the way, but when will it be arriving???
Have seen the billboards around town, and many of you have too…”Are You Getting Tired of all the Violence???” Something must be done…
+++++++++++Hearing that the injured young man was Jace Crumpton, from Southern Guilford Middle School….++++++++++Our thoughts and prayers go out to him, and his family…
from WFMY News.com:CLICK HERE
Hundreds run for cover after Fourth of July shooting
Greensboro police say two people were shot at Center City Park.
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Hundreds of people ran for cover after gunshots at Center City Park in Downtown Greensboro in the midst of Fourth of July festivities.
First responders also raced to the scene where Greensboro Police said two people were shot, both going to the hospital, one with life threatening injuries.
Greensboro dad, Steven Matthews said he had three terrified teenagers there, “my son ran directly from this park. My daughter ran directly from this park.”
Matthews said as soon as he got the call from his kids about a shooting, he made his way downtown as fast as he could, “I remember walking downtown and I’m walking against the crowd.”
He said he walking with a purpose, “my goal and main focus was getting downtown and securing and making sure my children were safe,” Matthews said.
Not only was Matthews a concerned parent throughout all of this. He’s the founder of a local youth development group, Punch 4 Pounds.
He said although his children weren’t injured, he has a lot of empathy for the victims and their families.
He also worries about all of the witnesses there at the time of the shooting, making a point to check in with his kids who were there, “we are at home having conversations about decompression. What are you thinking? How are you feeling?”
Greensboro wasn’t the only Triad city to see a shooting on Fourth of July. There was a situation in Winston-Salem too.
Police arrested a 16-year-old in connection to the shooting in the parking lot of Truist Park.
In response, Winston-Salem Police Chief William Penn jr. Said in part, “I am tired of events ending in violence. I am tired of seeing the men and women of the Winston-Salem Police Department dealing with your children and the chaos they are causing in our community. I am tired of innocent people and businesses being impacted by your child’s unruly behavior.”