ST. PETERSBURG, FL -- The mayor of St. Petersburg urged his residents not to use guns to settle disputes, in response to word that his city has seen 12 murders in 2021, That's only three less than the total for all of 2020.
"Put the guns down," Rick Kriseman said to reporters, while acknowledging that those likely to pick a gun up in anger probably weren't listening anyway. "No problem is worth taking a life." Kriseman said those who won't give up on gun violence need to leave town. "We are a safe city... we are a loving city."
Police Chief Anthony Holloway announced the arrest of two men in the Tuesday killing of 19-year-old Dquaz Davis. His detectives continue looking for the person(s) responsible for the death of 21-year-old K'Mia Simmons. She was a passenger in a car going across 22nd Street at 18th Avenue South Tuesday night when someone shot into the car as she was holding her one year old baby. She died and bullets narrowly missed her two year old, sitting in the back in a car seat.
Holloway says the killing was not random, and apparently the man driving the car was the intended target. Holloway says he fled the scene with the children, leaving Simmons dead or dying.
Kriseman says he plans to extend several gun violence prevention initiatives, including the Not My Son program.
Holloway rejected notions that St. Petersburg is unsafe, pointing out that his officers have solved 11 out of 12 murders this year.
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