Hundreds attend Stop the Violence rally

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - The Fort Wayne Urban League held a rally Friday night to get ideas from community members on ways to stop the violence throughout the city.

Hundreds of individuals attended the meeting. There was a line outside of the Fort Wayne Urban League's building off of Hanna Street right before the meeting began.

Once everyone was inside, Jonathan Ray, Fort Wayne Urban League's CEO, welcomed everyone. After that, people were divided into a group of six. The point of the meeting was to have each group present their ideas and comments on what should be done to end the violence in the city.

There have been five shootings this week alone , four of them fatal. There have been 10 homicides since the start of the year . Some of the young adults who attended were very vocal about how they can help.

"Maybe we can help be the voice instead of you all looking to the Chamber of Commerce because we know these people," said one group member.

Charlotte Richardson attended the meeting. It was personal for her to attend this rally because her son was shot and killed back in 2010. She said the killer still has not been found. She's optimistic this time around that the community will come together and find a real and meaningful solution to all the violence.

"It's awesome to know that we have all the support," she said. "I think we going to hopefully get something accomplished."

She said the police and the community should be working together, but certain responsibilities on both parties isn't been addressed.

"Stop being afraid to speak up and tell the police what you know," Richardson said. "For the police, get out there and do some foot work instead of just waiting on information to fall out the sky."

There will be another meeting hosted by the Fort Wayne Urban League. Contact them for more details.