CLEVELAND — One week after a shooting in Cleveland’s Public Square injured two teens, a church pastor is asking visitors and residents not to allow the recent violence to stop them from going downtown to enjoy the holiday season.
The Old Stone Church has been a fixture in Cleveland since the 1800s. Every year, Pastor Stephen Blonder Adams says the Christmas season and the extra services and holiday events that come with it brings more visitors to their doors.
“Even people who aren’t Christian often come to the Messiah because of the beautiful music,” Adams said. “It’s more intimate and the spiritual nature of it takes you to a new place.”
But this year, Adams worries the recent violence will stop visitors from enjoying festivities and services like the Old Stone Church's upcoming Messiah concert this Sunday at 1 p.m.
“There’s this myth that downtown Cleveland is this dangerous place,” he said. “It’s not targeted at any of the general public. I’ve not seen anything like that happening in downtown Cleveland.”
The church was open last week when police say two teens were shot in Public Square following the WinterLand celebration. Cleveland police officers were patrolling the area on foot after the tree lighting ceremony when they responded to a group of teenagers actively fighting and found the two gunshot victims.
“There’s a perception of safety and there’s the reality of safety and I feel like a lot of the hesitancy people have comes from that perception that downtown isn’t safe,” said Ed Eckart, Senior VP of Operations at Downtown Cleveland Inc.
Eckart said the holiday season is an important time to bring more people to Cleveland and help boost the economy. The organization has ambassadors working the streets across the city to help foster safety. He said more than 20,000 people currently live in the downtown area.
“If the reality was that downtown isn’t safe, our population would not be growing downtown,” he said. “The more people that come down, it makes the area safer because the more pedestrians and the more families we have coming down to enjoy the area, the more everyone else feels safer, right?”
3News’ Matt Rascon looked at crime numbers from the Cleveland Division of Police. Tragically, 147 people have been killed this year from January 1 to November 18. That’s up more than 7% compared to the same time last year. Felony assaults have increased nearly 4% compared to last year and robberies are up 1%.
But in District 3—which covers downtown— things look a little different during the same time frame:
- 26 homicides this year, which is down nearly 4% compared to the same time last year
- Felony assaults are down nearly 10%
- Burglaries have dropped by 13%
- But robberies are up 12% and robberies with a firearm are up 30%
Pastor Adams knows more needs to be done to help curb the violence in the city—particularly among youth.
“Well, it breaks my heart because it tells us there are so many more things that we need to address in society…We need to be creating an environment for them too that they don’t feel that’s an option to act out violently,” he said.
“We have to ask what in their life is taking them to that level that that’s acceptable?”
Still, the pastor hopes fear won’t keep people from visiting and celebrating this holiday season.
“Should we be alert? Should we be mindful? Should we approach everything with an abundance of caution? Absolutely,” he said. “But to allow a level of fear—that is not likely to manifest anything—to keep you from coming downtown, to keep you from worshiping in this sacred space or in any of the others in Cleveland, that gives power to those negative forces in the world that want you to be afraid.”
Previous Reporting:
- Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb discusses Public Square shooting and ongoing violent crime in city with 3News' Russ Mitchell
- Public Square shooting investigation: 1 of 2 arrested teens cleared of any involvement
- 2 teens shot in Cleveland Public Square: 15-year-old in critical condition, suspects in custody