ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — An Elizabeth City teen was out of the hospital Monday night after being injured in a shooting.
Police said it happened Sept. 18 at the Walker Landing Apartments, though they found the victim, a 15-year-old boy, off nearby Ray Street.
The Walker Landing Apartments, however, are no stranger to gun violence.
Out of the 180 shots fired reports citywide so far in 2023, seven of them were from the Walker Landing Apartments. Just last February, four teens between the ages of 15 and 19-years-old were shot in the same neighborhood.
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In 2022, Elizabeth City saw 161 shots fired reports, with five incidents coming from the apartment complex.
Vanessa Spellman says hearing about these shootings brings back painful memories. She lost her 19-year-old grandson to gun violence in 2018.
"I be thinking about what that family is going through," she said.
Spellman started the organization known as Mothers Against Gun Violence and All Violence. It advocates for families who have been impacted by gun violence.
Spellman told News 3's Jay Greene that she doesn't know of a perfect solution to gun violence, but she says people need to talk to their kids about putting the guns down.
"The problem we have in Elizabeth City is we don't come together," she said.
She believes kids need more to do in the area to keep them off the streets.
Elizabeth City Kirk Rivers said he's working with city council to give more kids opportunities.
"We have two new gyms coming online within the next 60 days, and so we're providing council with a lot of money to make sure that we have places for the youth to have a place to go and that's what's important," Rivers said.
The city will eventually have three gyms tied to the Knobbs Creek Recreation Center that will be within five to 10 minutes of neighborhoods where they're needed the most.
The mayor also touted the city's youth violence program which aims to involve parents in their child's activities in the city.
"We are holding parents accountable. Because once we let you know what your child is doing now, we expect for you to parent, we expect for you to start looking at things that might be able to help us to be able to nip crime, but we don't want to just put the children in jail and then let the system deal with it," the mayor said. "That's where I think that we're working through our program is to say we're going to involve everyone. But yet jail is an option. Jail is an option if you don't work with your child. If you don't, we know where they're going to end up and then the jail has to work to educate or give them skills necessary. But let's do that before they get in to get into probation. Let's not just put them in a system and then let the system deal with it."
Spellman agreed with the mayor, sharing this message for kids and their families.
"Put the guns down," she said. "Stay away from people you know who are doing bad things."
