Gun Violence in Philly

On November 29, 2021, a Temple University college student named Samuel Collington was shot and killed while walking home because of an attempted robbery.There were over 562 homicides in 2021. More than the number of days in a single year. It sets the record for the most homicides in the past 14 years.

“This should never have happened to anybody," said a college student at Temple. "But especially someone who actually cared about the surrounding neighborhood. That is what's so tragic about all of this."

Students new to Temple may be shocked by the violence that they see. However, it’s nothing new to people who have lived in North Philly their whole lives. Senior Sabree Warning is one of these residents, who has lost people to gun violence.

“Yea lot of times. It doesn’t really hit you until you realize you never going to see that person again," said Sabree.

There have been 523 homicides so far in 2021, more than the number of days in a year. Zoe, another Senior at Carver, has concerns about her own safety traveling to school each day.

“It’s concerning, I take public transportation, and it’s pretty scary because gun violence is big in our city,” said Zoe.

Students taking public transportation know that they must be aware at all times. You never know what could happen when you get on a bus, trolley, or train. I often catch public transportation with my friend, Tasean. He too has lost people to gun violence and has had to learn how to deal with this tragedy again and again.

“Getting that phone call, it’s heartbreaking," said Tasean. "It’s crazy because this is who I be with 24/7 and now you’re gone forever. I cried. I just couldn’t believe it.”

Losing someone to gun violence could be a challenging thing to deal with. I personally sometimes have dreams where I am with a friend of mine who died from gun violence. I went ahead and asked how my interviewees deal with their feelings to this day.

“Spending time with friends, family, and playing sports,” Sabree said.

“I listen to my music, hang out with my friends,” Tasean said

Though Zoe has never lost anyone personally to gun violence, she still sees how affects her friends. She explained to me how her friends deal with the pain of losing someone to gun violence.

“They mostly bottle it up," said Zoe. "They don’t talk about it a lot. But when they do, it is very emotional for them.”

To Sum it all up, gun violence is never the answer and it is decreasing our population and the fact that it is happening near schools is absurd. Please stop the violence. We have to do better at making our neighborhoods safe. Sharif Street, a Pennsylvania Senator, has acknowledged the real problem of gun violence that people face every day.

“If we don’t do anything,” he said, “then we’re all playing a game of Russian roulette with our families. It’s not a question of ‘whether.’ It’s just a question of ‘when’ it’ll hit close to home,” said Street.