LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- After a violent week in Louisville, questions are being raised about what's being done with money the U.S. Department of Justice gave the city in February to combat gun violence in the Newburg neighborhood.
This comes after a man was shot and killed near Petersburg Park in Newburg around 9 p.m. Thursday.
Friday afternoon, the scene at the park was much different. It was busy, not with police officers and crime scene tape, but with children and families on the playground.
The gazebo was packed with Ray Jumah and a dozen of his relatives and family members, getting ready for a Friday night cookout less than 24 hours after it was the site of a murder they had no idea about.
"Now it is starting to feel like Chicago," Jumah said.
Thursday night, police lights and crime tape set the stage for the city's eighth murder in five days. Gun violence has plagued sections of the city for years.
In February, the DOJ awarded the city a roughly $2 million grant to help curb gun violence in Newburg with a three-year pilot project called the "Newburg Gun Violence Reduction Project." The goal is to cut down on non-fatal shootings and homicides like Thursday's.
"It is a long time coming, why would you wait until it gets so bad," asked Arthur Duncan, a regular in Petersburg Park.
WDRB News asked the city's Office of Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods, which is managing the grant, where the project stands.
"We are in the process of hiring a community manager and outreach case coordinator in Newburg as we continue to build the infrastructure for this outreach," Loni White said in a statement to WDRB News. "In fact, to further address this development in this Newburg-specific geographical pilot, we are holding an informational session next Tuesday specifically for those in Newburg who are interested in possibly becoming involved employment-wise."
The grant will also fund an additional Violence Interrupter site in Newburg, which uses community members in the city's highest-risk neighborhoods to prevent potentially violent situations.
"I'm on guard wherever I go, and I think a lot of citizens are the same way," Duncan said.
OSHN already has similar Violence Interrupter sites in neighborhoods across the city, including Portland, Shawnee, Russell, Smoketown and California
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- Louisville police search for suspects after man shot and killed in Newburg
- City of Louisville, DOJ target Newburg for crime reduction grant
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