Roanoke City officials remain vigilant to curb city gun violence, even during holiday lull

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - All was calm, and all was bright over the holidays in the City of Roanoke.

“We’ve had a pretty remarkable silence and a spell of no gun violence and that’s been so refreshing for our community,” says Roanoke City Councilman Joe Cobb.

The pause was broken this past weekend.

“Then to have these recent incidents and the severity of them has just brought it all back,” Cobb adds.

Five shootings in as many days, one of them deadly, have reminded Roanoke City officials to stay on guard and vigilant in their efforts to curb the violence.

“We can’t let up,” he continues. “We have to be consistent and persistent in our efforts and I would say for the next several years, because we want to put things in place that are not just going to reduce gun violence now and in the future, but for the next 10 years, the next 20 years. We want to do things that culturally will shift the climate that we are in, and that’s going to take our community working together.”

Earlier this week, Roanoke City Police Chief Sam Roman said his agency has seen an increase in cooperation from the community with authorities, an element that will not only help with investigation, but also deterrence.

“Our police do an incredible work of investigating these and our community is doing an incredible job of not only raising awareness, but directing funds towards continuing violence interruption efforts,” Cobb explains. “In February, at our Gun Violence Prevention Commission meeting, we’re going to start rolling out those opportunities for the community to be engaged and to apply for those funds so we can get them active in the community.”

The Gun Violence Prevention Commission will meet at 10 a.m. via Zoom Friday, February 18.

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