Trainers Derek 'Bozy' Ennis and George Mosee felt that Shakur Stevenson failed to perform in his lackluster, subpar, dreadfully bad win over Edwin De Los
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Longtime friends Mazzie Casher (left) and Steven Pickens created the Philly Truce app, aimed at mediating neighborhood disputes before theuy erupt in violence. (Emma Lee/WHYY)
Mazzie Casher and Steven Pickens haven’t personally lost anyone to gun violence. But they grew up together in the 1990s, when Philadelphia routinely recorded more than 400 murders a year, and don’t want to see that history repeat itself.
Pickens said they decided to take action in October after learning about another fatal shooting in West Philly that left a young man dead.
He felt overcome with despair.
“It was basically just pouring out at that time like, we have to do something,” said Pickens, 46, an emergency medical technician.
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Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney and Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw confer during a press event at Olney Transportation Center, where a mass shooting occurred on Feb. 17, 2021. (Emma Lee/WHYY)
Amid a historic surge in shootings and homicides, Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration is proposing an additional $18.7 million for anti-violence efforts during the next fiscal year. The funding would be used to expand a pair of violence intervention programs, a transitional jobs initiative, as well as the city’s blight remediation efforts, among other priorities.
If approved by City Council, the total investment into anti-violence programming during FY22 would be $35.5 million out of a $5.18 billion proposed spending plan, less than 5% of the $727 million the Kenney administration wants to spend on the police department.
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Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw speaks at Olney Transportation Center, where a mass shooting occurred on Feb. 17, 2021. (Emma Lee/WHYY)
City prosecutors and police stood inside a cavernous West Philadelphia church earlier this month to announce that four men now face criminal charges for allegedly injuring nine people, including three children, in a series of retaliatory shootings in 2018 and 2019.
The charges stemmed from a lengthy grand jury process. Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw credited ballistics evidence, cell phone records, and surveillance footage. She said evidence culled from social media also proved to be “invaluable” to the investigation launched under the umbrella of the city’s Gun Violence Task Force.