New Haven Independent

Posted by: jawbone | January 4, 2010 9:44 AM

Some quick laser math tells me that we can then expect approximately 120 homicides in the city this year if the early trend keeps up.

Posted by: Concerned | January 4, 2010 10:18 AM

When are we going to admit that New Haven's streets are a war zone? A 13 year-old boy shot his 13 year-old ex-girlfriend...thirteen! Our streets are in the hands of 13 year-olds with handguns. The gangs have infiltrated this city and the leaders have no real idea what they are dealing with.

Posted by: Norton Street | January 4, 2010 11:23 AM

Concerned,
Many of New Haven's working poor residents and their families are experiencing and committing acts of extreme violence through cultural degradation symptoms that originate from a mid 20th century movement away from investing in centralized urban places that is still around today. This symptoms are observable in most if not all post-industrial towns and cities in the northeast. The solutions are complex and contrary to what has been accepted as normal activities over the last 6 or 7 decades. There is no easy way out of this enormous problem that we created than allowed to degrade, mutate and thrive into the sub-culture that exists today, but I do not think exaggerating these conditions does anything other than convince people that this is a helpless cause, when really we have the solutions at our disposal, its just a matter of getting the information out there and enacting on it. There is no doubt that there is too much violence in the city, and in many other places across the country and world, but it is no where close to being 'a war zone'.

Posted by: Concerned | January 4, 2010 11:37 AM

57 year olds being shot in the head and KILLED...a 13 year-old carrying a weapon and shooting at another 13 year-old....people on Olive/Academy being assaulted on a regular basis as they walk home is not an exaggeration, it is real...calling it a war zone is a wake up call that something different must be done...and that this must seen through a different perspective! P.S. The gangs on the streets see themselves as being at "war" whether we see it or not.

Posted by: john | January 4, 2010 3:00 PM

@nortonstreet: i agree, exaggeration is unhelpful. yet making excuses, however valid, is equally likely to "convince people that this is a helpless cause." same old same old.

Posted by: teewee | January 5, 2010 2:42 PM

Enough is enough lets get this in check right now,By the summer we'll be at 25 homicides if this doesn't get put in check immediately shooting in broad daylight, 13 year old shooting a girl it's terrible. I myself think it's time that we all do something I'm up for whatever it takes to curve this violence in this city It's looking like it's gonna be like 1992.