Lexington activist group calls for change as city’s gun violence issues persist

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) -As Wear Orange Weekend comes to a close, calls to end gun violence continue across the nation. Here in Lexington, one activist group is also seeking change after another deadly shooting on Saturday.

Bryna Reed is a volunteer with Lexington activist group BUILD. Since 2015, she has served on the violence steering committee. During that year, Lexington police data shows there were 16 homicides. Seven years on, the city has surpassed that mark in less than six months.

“Every time I wake up in the morning I think what news is there going to be?” said Reed. “What homicide has happened?”

Reed says she’s saddened each time someone loses their life.

”With the murder that happened here in Lexington this weekend, this family was supposed to be mourning the loss of their family member who had been murdered and they can’t even do that,” Reed said. “They can’t even put their family member to rest in peace.”

But she’s also grown frustrated by the increasing regularity of these instances.

”Quite frankly, it makes me very angry because it doesn’t have to be the way that it is,” said Reed.

Reed and BUILD are advocating for a Group Violence Intervention (GVI) strategy to be implemented. She says it could have impacted the way this most recent gun death unfolded.

“You have to think it has to be somehow related,” Reed said. “Which tells us it’s exactly the type of homicide, it’s exactly the type of interaction that group violence intervention could’ve possibly prevented.”

City leaders, including Mayor Linda Gorton, have said GVI would not work for Lexington.

In a March letter to BUILD, Gorton says it could target communities of color, straining relationships between those communities and law enforcement. Gorton also said it has not worked in some cities they have researched.

But Reed cites the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which says GVI has not been adequately funded in some cities which attempt to implement it. With Lexington on pace for another record-breaking year, Reed says it’s worth trying.

”What can it hurt at this point?” said Reed. “If it saves one life, certainly it’s worth it.”

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