Eagle Tribune: Lawrence, faith community come together to curb violence

View original: Lawrence Eagle Tribune

In March, while the city was in the midst of a string of shootings that left seven dead — more than any year since 2011 — Mayor Daniel Rivera called Police Chief James Fitzpatrick and several priests and pastors to his office for a meeting.

"Basically, we had gotten to wit's end about what else we could do about the violence," Rivera said. "I asked the faith community to come together to have a discussion about how we deal with it in a more fundamental way because they have a place in people's hearts and people's lives that city officials just don't have."

Rivera, Fitzpatrick, the Rev. Joel Almono and the Rev. Susan Santos led a press conference Thursday in the offices of Grace Episcopal Church, where they announced a strategic plan they developed to respond to the city's increasing violence.

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