HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (WAVY) — In what seems like back-to-back incidents, Hampton Roads youths are falling victim to gun violence at staggering numbers.
Three kids were shot in the area this week, a 14-year-old boy and a 12-year-old boy in Newport News and a 16-year-old boy in Suffolk.
They joined a tragic and growing group of juveniles who were shot in Hampton Roads, with three teens losing their lives in January alone.
Following the violence, Troy Ketchmore of Ketchmore Kids answered one main question: Why is this happening?
“It’s always sad because young people, they’re trying to figure it out and a lot of times, they don’t know how to mediate conflict,” he said. “A lot of it is driven by fear. Because I talk to kids all the time; some, they want to chill, but they’re scared that if they put their gun down, then their ops or the people they’re beefing with — they have their weapons.”
He told 10 On Your Side those kinds of shootings break communities.
“And then when the younger people come up, and they’re at odds with each other,” he said, “that creates a situation because now your nephew is beefing with my son.”
But how can this be fixed?
Ketchmore said in order to do that, everyone must get more involved in their communities.
He explained what that means.
“You have to make it your duty to know their names,” he said, “to know who they are, where they stay, what y’all in to — you know, you’ve got to get in their business.”
He added it also helps to keep young ones busy through extracurricular activities.
He said his organization is working with different cities to help make that a reality.
