A teen shot in the neck while riding in an SUV. Two teens shot on the porch of a North Hawthorne Street home. Five teens injured in a shooting near Coolidge Park.
These are just a sampling of recent violent crimes involving Chattanooga teenagers.
To address the problem, city and community leaders are looking to build on the police department’s work by partnering mentors, police officers, families, churches and anyone else interested in preventing violence among local teens.
Interim Chattanooga police Chief Mark Rawlston said violent crime among younger teens seems to have ramped up in the last 10 years. Ten years ago, it was “unheard of” to find a 14-year-old with a handgun, he said, “but there seems to be a proliferation of handguns available to teenagers.”
Overall crime numbers are down 1.3 percent from 2008 to 2009, according to the police annual report, while juvenile arrests are down 13 percent for the same time period.