‘We can not be a city where kids are getting caught in the crossfire’: Mayor Mike Savage

The comments come two days after an 11-year-old girl stuck by a bullet in a West End shooting

CITYnews halifax \ Meghan Groff

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The mayor of Halifax says gun violence in the municipality is unacceptable. 

“We can not be a city where kids are getting caught in the crossfire,” Mike Savage told CityNews Halifax on Thursday.

The comments come two days after an 11-year-old girl was hit by a bullet in a West End shooting.

The child was outside of a residence on Federal Avenue when it happened Tuesday night and was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

“It’s just through the grace of whoever you believe in that that girl wasn’t killed,” Savage said.

She is the second child to recently be struck by gunfire. Eight-year-old Lee’Marion Cain was killed in a shooting in December.

“The chief [of police] is working on a plan specifically around this issue,” Savage stated.

“Whether it’s related to COVID and people are just being tired of being cooped up, gun violence is up across the country, and it’s up here, and it is concerning.”

Savage said enforcement and penalties are needed, but we also need to get at the root causes of violence.

“There’s a lot of really positive things that are happening at the community level, but some of them have been funded by the federal government, then all of a sudden the funding stops,” he explained. “You may have a strategy that’s doing good work, then the funding runs out.”

“So we’re always trying to make sure that the right amount of resources are put into these issues, and we’re listening to community as we do it.”

Investigators say there’s no reason to believe the girl was targeted and they’re asking anyone with information about the shooting to come forward.

“Any information, no matter how small, is what could be needed to further advance the investigation,” HRP said Wednesday in a news release.

Police can be reached at 902-490-5020 and anonymous tips can be submitted through Crime Stoppers.