ST. LOUIS (AP) — Several hundred people turned out for a town hall meeting to address rampant gun violence in St. Louis, and emotions boiled over.
Democratic U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay and the St. Louis Aldermanic Black Caucus hosted the event Wednesday at Harris-Stowe State University amid an upsurge in homicides in St. Louis. The city has already seen 134 killings this year, compared to 119 at the same time in 2018.
Even more troubling has been a trend toward children being the victims of the killings. At least a dozen children have been killed since April. Four children were homicide victims for all of 2018.
At one point a man stood up and yelled that city officials weren't doing enough to curb the violence. He had to be escorted out.