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In the early hours of Thursday morning before the City Commission meeting, a fatal shooting occurred just blocks from City Hall.
The Gainesville Police Department says one man, who called 911 reporting he had been shot, was rushed to the hospital.
When GPD arrived at the scene in the 200 block of Northwest 3rd Avenue, officers tactically approached the home and found two others — a man and a woman — dead.
After searching the area, GPD could not find a suspect.
Later that day, the Gainesville City Commission declared gun violence a “public health issue.”
The commission is making plans to address what it calls a ‘crisis’ — calling upon the Alachua County Commission to partner in the effort to curb incidents like this one.
The plan would rely heavily on community involvement, public safety research, improving access to opportunity and housing, and fine-tuning or developing programs aimed at preventing and stemming gun crimes.
Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker, in whose district the deadly Thursday shooting occurred, says she wants open conversations on how to address the issue.
“What we understand is that the police department has their strategy and they just outlined much of the work that they’re doing and that they will continue,” Duncan-Walker said. “But we understand clearly, and the statistics have shown us — even national trends have shown us — that preventing gun violence takes more than police.”
Collecting data to chart the success of local efforts online would be the final piece of the proposal.
