As the Denver Police Department (DPD) continues to provide updates on two shootings that happened in the city on Easter Sunday, youth violence experts worry that this summer could be the deadliest yet.
Earlier this week, DPD confirmed 43-year-old Sharon Ware died soon after being shot around 6 p.m. at Russell Square Park, and 18-year-old Pharrow Ware who was also shot succumbed to his injuries a week later. Hours before that shooting, near the intersection of S. Broadway and W. Maple Avenue, 26-year-old Torin Fluker was shot and killed.
It is a pattern that concerns Jason McBride, founder and executive director of McBride Impact.
“Well, he was part of the Game Changers group, and, you know, good kid trying to get it together," he told Denver7's Micah Smith. "And sometimes our pasts catch up with us. And from what I understand, there were some young men that just, you know, had some issues with him from the past, and that was that."
▶️ WATCH: Youth violence expert Jason McBride shares concerns following recent deadly shootings
McBride said some young people are skipping basic conflict resolution and going straight to violence.
However, a new study out of the Park Hill neighborhood, released earlier this month, found a large drop in youth violence over the past five years in that area. Denver7 sat down with Beverly Kingston, sociologist and director of the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence to learn more. She explained there was a drop in this kind of violence between 2016 and 2021 — a 75% drop in youth arrests.
Learn more about that report from Park Hill in the video below.
"I think that for any young person that has died or been killed, we don't know who these people were going to be," McBride said. "You know, we're going to lose potential doctors, lawyers, politicians — people who are going to carry us into the future. And we have to start addressing it."
He is now urging parents to step up and have tough conversations with their kids at home.
"I go to funerals for kids every year, and I went to six last summer, and so I don't want that this year. Let's make sure you wrap your arms around your young people, know what they're doing, know where they're at and let them know how important they are to you,” McBride said.
McBride is also calling on officials to reallocate funds to create more summer jobs and resources to keep kids busy and safe.
