More guns recovered from streets in continued RCSD, CPD gun violence blitz

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott and Columbia Police Department Chief Skip Holbrook held a news conference and discussed their blitz to get dangerous criminals off the streets.

Lott and Holbrook formed a joint task force last month to combat gun violence.

Wednesday's news conference discussed a 30-day update on their 60-day initiative to reduce gun crime and related violent crimes in Richland County and the City of Columbia.

"We still got too many guns in our community, we still got too many people using these guns, and we got too many people dying from these guns," Lott said.

According to Lott and Holbrook, the initiative has been a success. Sheriff Lott said more than a dozen of the worst offenders are behind bars.

"We started a list of the ones that we were really after," Lott said. "Out of the initial list that we've created, we've arrested 16 of those that we consider some of the worst of the worst."

So far, the county has seized 80 guns, and 50 have been seized in the city but both Lott and Holbrook also say there are ways the community can help with these efforts.

"When you go home at night, don't leave your guns in the car," Lott said. "These bad guys know that people are doing that. They're breaking in cars. That's one of the sources of the guns that they're using in these shootings."

Lott said the shootings haven't stopped, either. In the past 30 days, Lott said, there's been six murders.

Holbrook said CPD has dealt with 20 shootings and six people wounded.

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