U.S. Attorney General to open gun violence prevention center in Northeast Ohio
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The rise of gun violence in Northeast Ohio is being acknowledged at the highest levels of the federal government.
On Tuesday, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland will be in Cleveland to announce a new Northeast Ohio Crime Gun Intelligence Center.
The Cleveland Center will be a centralized law enforcement hub that focuses exclusively on investigating and preventing gun violence in local communities.
The centers use cutting-edge technology, which feeds into nationwide databases, to more rapidly develop and pursue investigative leads that drive case clearance rates up, which in turn drive violent crime rates down, according to the Justice Department.
Garland will be joined at noon by Director Steven Dettelbach of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), U.S. Attorney Rebecca C. Lutzko for the Northern District of Ohio, and state and local law enforcement officials.
This month alone, police in Youngstown and Warren have investigated several shootings, some of which investigators believe involved automatic weapons
On June 3, police collected 42 shell casings after a car was shot up on Solar Street NW in Warren.
One week later in Youngstown, an 18-year-old woman was shot on Glenwood Avenue. Nearly 100 shell casings were found in a parking lot. YPD's Shotspotter recorded 131 rounds fired at the time of the murder.
Two days later a neighbor reported hearing between fifty and sixty gunshots along Garland Avenue, just north of Shehy Street on the city’s East Side. Officers said they found “numerous spent shell casings” in the intersection from both a pistol and a rifle.
