ROANOKE, Va – After a shooting early Sunday morning seen by large crowds in Downtown Roanoke, the police are still trying to piece together what happened.
“We take these incidents very seriously, we have citizens that were shot so that’s going to be a thorough investigation,” Roanoke City Police Deputy Chief Chester Smith said.
Investigators were on the scene on Campbell Avenue for more than 10 hours collecting evidence and speaking to witnesses.
“The goal is to make an arrest and bring it to justice, also as we always do downtown we always enhance our presence and the number of officers downtown,” Smith said.
When asked about the department’s restructuring to address gang violence in the city, Smith says he feels it has been making an impact.
“That’s always a continuous effort and I think we’ve made a lot of progress as far as the communication and the intel that we are receiving and I think it’s going to get better as time goes on and we continue to work through that process,” Smith said.
The city’s RESET Coordinator Lloyd Merchant says there is a common theme among people in our area impacted by the violence roanoke has seen in recent months.
“They want to be able to come outside and enjoy the area where they live without the fear of some kind of violent offense that’s been going on that they would have to go inside and be elsewhere,” Merchant said.
At this time there has been no information about a suspect or any arrests made in this case, but Smith wants the community to know they are taking it seriously and working to address the problem every day.
“We have a safe community, downtown is safe please come out have a good time and we will be there to do what we can to make sure everybody is safe. Have fun, enjoy downtown,” Smith said.
The city’s RESET team plans on doing one of their community walks either Tuesday or Wednesday in the areas impacted by gun violence.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call 540-344-8500 and share what you know.
You can also text 274637; please begin the text with “RoanokePD” to ensure it’s properly sent. Both calls and texts can remain anonymous