ATLANTA — Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens joined Channel 2 Action News at 6 p.m. Monday to discuss solution after the deaths of more children in the city over the weekend.
Dickens told Channel 2′s Justin Farmer and Channel 2′s Linda Stouffer that is has been devastating to see the path that some teens have gone down.
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“We went through a whole year of solving a lot of these problems, particularly over the summer, where we had things for them to do. But just recently since school has been out, whether that was over the holiday of Thanksgiving or this weekend when school got out, these kids have begun to have violence on their minds and getting into trouble,” Dickens said.
“What we want to do is make sure we counter that by having safe spaces for them to go to during winter break.”
Dickens announced a list of free, safe spaces that families can use this winter from local YMCAs to parks and recreation centers. A full list can be found here on onesafecity.com.
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The latest deadly shooting happened on Saturday after a shootout between two groups at an apartment complex. A 14-year-old and 16-year-old died. A 15-year-old boy, a 15-year-old girl and an 11-year-old child were injured.
The shooting happened a month after two teens were killed in a shootout on the 17th Street Bridge near Atlantic Station.
Dickens said he has reached out to the families of the teens who have died.
“My heart goes out to these parents. I call each and every last one of them after an incident happens. They have my cellphone and we talk about how we get to this place. A lot of time they say they didn’t know where their student was. But they also knew they were hanging out with the wrong crowd,” Dickens said.
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