Columbia police shares data demographics on shootings in light of recent gun violence incidents

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - The Columbia Police Department shared data on shooting demographics after two gun-related incidents that happened less than a week apart from each other.

According to a Person-Hit Shooting Demographics Report, 25 people have been shot from June 3, 2023, to June 3, of this year. The data also revealed that 92% of those victims are Black people, while just 8% of the victims are Whites and/or Hispanics. Gender in the data showed 72% were males and 28% were female.

Between 2019 and 2023, 434 people were shot. The most common age of shooting victims in both data sets were 19.

Below is a map of the common areas in Richland County where Columbia Police say most of the shootings occurred

The city of Columbia spoke a few weeks ago about crime numbers being down 18% compared to last year, but recent events have left gun violence advocates saying the fight to reduce violent crimes is far from over.

“It is so important for people to get involved just because those may not be your next-door neighbor. These are all our neighbors and we all can do something,” said the founder of Serve and Connect Kassy Alia Ray.

Both data sets also showed 60% of the shooting victims were between the ages of 17 and 39.

“Five of those are fatal,” said Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook about the 25 shootings since June of last year.

“In the hands of our young adults, the root of the issue is availability of guns that are falling into the hands of people that are not equipped to be responsible gun possessors or owners,” he added.

Gun violence advocates believe concentrated gun education will be the North Star for communities to continue navigating away from gun violence.

“I think people in general need to understand, not just young people. People need to understand guns are not toys and they should not be used mainly because I have a gun and I’m in an argument,” said director for the City of Columbia Office of Violent Crime Prevention Trevon Fordham.

“Matter of fact, last month we had Youth Violence Prevention Week. Last year we had one event for Youth Prevention Week, this year we had four events over the span of a week. Those all things that people still need to be educated on. We’re going to actually stress and we’re actually going to actually have some workshops here soon through a Bureau of Justice assistance. So we’ll actually be starting some of those workshops as well too,” he continued.

Serve and Connect has echoed the need to engage with youth and the surrounding community. Both they and the city have partnerships with other city and community organizations to conduct events such as a Jump Shots for Justice basketball event scheduled for August 2 and a sneaker drive promoting peace and unity on July 13.

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