Trenton calls for end of violence after child shot
TRENTON (WPVI) -- For the first time, the family of a 9-year-old girl who was shot outside her grandparents' house is talking about the crime.
"Her mother says she's doing just fine. She's sitting up, talking, eating, and everything," grandfather Anthony Robbins said.
Relatives say the 9-year-old girl hit by gunfire Monday afternoon is traumatized, but recovering. Revealing new details, they say she was sitting in her stepfather's car on Bellevue Avenue and when he got out for a moment gunfire erupted. The wounded child then ran up the street to her grandparents' home.
"If the gangsters and drug dealers of Trenton think nothing of cutting down a child with indiscriminate gunfire then they better start thinking twice about the full force of law that will be bearing down upon them this summer," Acting New Jersey Attorney General John Hoffman said Wednesday.
The Attorney General has announced that state county and local police have already begun another surge of police presence in Trenton targeting high crime areas and focusing on guns drugs and hardcore criminals. A similar surge last summer cut murders and shootings by a third
"I think it's a good idea because I have a 2-year-old and I would be afraid to let him play outside on the front porch," resident Tamika Wright said.
"Especially little kids that are getting injured that really don't deserve to so it'd be great for them to do it," resident Angel Diaz said.
The Baldwin brothers of West Trenton doubt the stepped up police patrols will have a lasting effect.
"They start walking the streets, it'll slow it up definitely a little bit," Mike Baldwin said.
"Once they left off just a little bit, everything just came back like; it's not going to stop," Corey Baldwin said.
Authorities say ramping up police presence and tougher criminal prosecutions will help dial back the violence. They say residents often know who's committed a crime, but won't tell police.
"That information has to get to our detectives so we could make the arrest and lock these individuals up," Trenton Police Director Ralph Rivera said.
