LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Reducing violent crime in Louisville is sole focus of a new partnership announced between state and local agencies.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg and Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman announced the Violent Crime Reduction Team on Thursday. It includes the local courts, commonwealth's attorney, Louisville Metro Police and county attorney's office.
"What brings us all together is our unified commitment to reducing violence crime in Louisville," Greenberg said. "This is a top priority for our city. The numbers of shooting and homicides that we've seen over the last few years is simply unacceptable."
Krista Gwynn said she and her husband, Navada, lost their son two days before Christmas in 2019 when he was shot and killed on West Market Street on his way home from work. The man who shot Christian Gwynn was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but he could be out sooner.
Two years later, the Gwynns' daughter was injured in a shooting at a local park.
"The day my daughter got shot, I texted Christopher 2X, David Nicholson, Russell Coleman and Rand Paul," Krista Gwynn said.
The text messages led to a bedside hospital visit from Coleman, who would eventually be elected Kentucky attorney general.
"He came and he hugged my husband as a father to a father," she said. "He was there for my husband."
On Thursday, the Gwynns stood with Coleman, Greenberg and others to help announce the partnership to address violent crime.
Coleman said the bipartisan effort is aimed at sending a powerful message to criminals.
"Historically, the Office of the Kentucky Attorney General has not had an active role in law enforcement here in Jefferson County," he said. "That ends now."
After hearing from Gwynn, newly installed LMPD Chief Paul Humphrey said LMPD will be focused on cutting violent crime.
"There's a crime triangle that we talk about asserting ourselves in, right?" Humphrey said. "There's opportunity, there's a victim and there's a suspect.
"The men and women of LMPD will look for them day and night and make sure that they are not the next suspect, and we will put them behind bars for as long as it takes until they get the message that this lifestyle is not going to work."
Plans for the Violent Crime Reduction Partnership include establishing a new Attorney General's Office location in Louisville. It will be staffed by two prosecutors and a detective to take on violent criminal cases. It will also work with the commonwealth's attorney.
The agreement between the AG's office and Commonwealth's Attorney Office dedicates resources from the attorney general's Special Prosecutions Unit and the Department of Criminal Investigations to handle non-fatal shootings, convicted felons in possession of a firearm and other gun intervention prosecutions.
Greenberg's office said Louisville had 400 non-fatal shootings in 2023. He said the new partnership has the potential to take more of those criminals off the streets.
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