Wilmington leaders make cease the violence plea

Wilmington officials came together today with one goal in mind and that was to urge residents to stop the violence.

The strong message came after the shooting death of 40 year old Jason C. Hicks in the city’s Hedgeville neighborhood. According to police, Hicks was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds on Wednesday night.

While police investigate that incident, leaders came together in the 1100 block of Elm Street, the same neighborhood of the shooting to talk to residents about the impact of violence. Wilmington Police Chief Bobby Cummings, City Council President Theo Gregory and City Council Member Sherry Dorsey Walker presence was felt by the crowd.

“One of the things that is the most disturbing is whenever we have Black on Black crime, people want to remain silent. Well, I’m tired of the silence,” Dorsey-Walker said.

Council member Dorsey –Walker added that the goal is to also encourage those involved in crimes to avoid any retaliatory action related to the Hedgeville homicide as well as Friday’s shooting outside of the Shades of Blue restaurant on Governor Printz Boulevard.

“What happens a lot of times in the city, whenever there is a shooting we tend to always have people who will do something in response to a shooting, so what we are trying to do is get in front of it. We don’t know what people plan to do but right now what our desire is, is to try to let people know that we are not going to tolerate this in our communities,” Dorsey-Walker said.