CDC set to discuss study on Wilmington violence

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is set to soon release some of its findings on the violence epidemic in Wilmington.

Nearly a year after the CDC officials visited the City of Wilmington in June 2014, they are back on Friday to meet privately with a group of stakeholders to discuss what’s in the preliminary report.

Wilmington City Council Member Hanifa Shabazz, D-4th District, who was instrumental in bringing in the CDC, said officials have reviewed approximately 300 criminal cases from 2009 to 2014. Some of the cases were centered on people who committed crimes while others dealt with the victims.

“The whole thing that got me going is the fact that it can’t be in our nature to self destruct,” said Shabbazz who added that only an ill person would continuously commit a crime.

This isn’t the first time the CDC has made its way to Delaware. In 2012, close to a dozen young people committed suicide in Kent and Sussex counties. As a result, federal CDC officials were asked by the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services to investigate the deaths. The CDC attributed those deaths to a combination of mental health issues and social problems.

“If the CDC came in for suicides, why not homicides,” Shabazz said.

According to Shabazz, she’s patiently waiting for the results although she expected to hear something by November of last year.

“The least they (CDC) can tell us is what we are doing is right, or what we can do to heal this problem,” Shabazz said.

The final report is expected to be completed and public by the end of summer.