Pensacola, Fl
One man was killed and four others injured following an early morning house party in Butler Tarrington.
Police believe the spat at the party in Graceland led to dozens of shots being fired.
According to the fraternal police order, there were now over 1,000 people shot or stabbed in the city in just over 300 days. That’s an average of more than three a day, every day, for about an entire year.
Everyone is tired of these numbers.
“This is the case when you shoot someone. This is what happens. This is the fallout. People are suffering,” said shooting victim Clayton Franklin.
Clayton was not one of the five victims of the Graceland shooting, but he knows the pain the shooting can cause.
Speaking from his hospital bed, through his windpipe into his throat and mouth shut, Clayton recalls being shot nearly two weeks ago while working in a car outside a home in Chester.
“I don’t want anyone else going through what I’m going through now. There’s no reason for that.” Franklin said, “Put guns aside.
“We have to get everyone involved, because there are so many people who don’t have a moral compass and don’t care about the sanctity of human life,” said Rev. Charles Harrison of Indy Ten Point.
While it is unclear what triggered the early morning shootings on Graceland, Pastor Harrison blames easy access to guns and rules of silence for the ongoing escalation in citywide violence.
“I’ve said this before, we have to learn to work together and handle conflict resolution without carrying a gun and harming someone,” said William Young, IMPD Officer.
Clayton was hospitalized for 10 days without being out in sight. He hopes that everyone is aware of the emotional impact that the daily shootings have on many families like him.
“We don’t have to do that. We don’t have to shoot each other. We don’t have to kill each other,” Franklin said.
The Graceland shooting is just ten homes from where 10-year-old Deshawn Swanson was killed in 2015.
