The weekend saw a spate of mass shootings in cities across the country, leaving at least three people dead and 30 wounded. Winston-Salem is not part of those figures, but was not spared from the violence.
On Friday night, a shooting on East Devonshire Street killed one person and left three others wounded. As of press time, police had not released any information about the person who died. Those wounded were two men and a 17-year-old juvenile.
That shooting occurred just five hours after another man, 22-year-old Tristen Gadberry, was fatally shot outside of Skyline Village Apartments. An arrest has been made in that case.
Police have not said if the two shootings, which happened about 2 miles apart, are related.
Authorities say a third victim, Direz Shannon, 31, died after being shot following a confrontation outside of a large house party in the Easton neighborhood. One other person was wounded.
Over the two days, three people died and at least four were wounded from gun violence in the city.
In a recent interview with WFDD, Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough decried the rise of shootings in the area, saying the numbers were “jumping through the roof.”
Kimbrough says a focus needs to be placed on the root causes of gun violence, which he says includes poverty and a lack of educational opportunities in underserved communities.
Three mass shootings Friday night and early Saturday further stoked concerns a spike in U.S. gun violence during the coronavirus pandemic could continue into summer amid an easing of COVID-19 restrictions. Authorities said one of two suspects was arrested Saturday in the shooting in the Texas capital of Austin, but none in the Chicago or Savannah, Georgia, gunfire.
James Alan Fox, a criminologist and professor at Northeastern University, says a blend of people starting to get out, warmer weather, a high level of divisiveness, and a proliferation of guns make for “a potentially deadly mix.”