South Bend leaders call for an end to gun violence

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Community leaders, educators and the South Bend Police Department, along with several others gathered Friday morning to share a message to the community, put the guns down.

After a violent start to the year, Lynn Coleman, a trailblazer in South Bend, urged people to stop gun violence.

"We all suffer for it or benefit from it when it stops. Come on y'all, we need some help," said Coleman.

The group, which includes Riley High School principal Shawn Henderson, hopes their plea will touch the hearts of the city's youth before they make a life-altering decision they can never take back.

"A week or so ago, I had to let my entire freshman class know," Henderson paused, fighting back strong emotions as he recalls sharing devastating news to teenagers. "That a member of their graduating class will no longer be with us. I have to make sure I take mental notes and physical notes to make sure that I honor him at his commencement ceremony in June of 2029. It has to stop," Henderson continued.

Coleman says the main goal is to get young people to understand they can't turn back the hands of time.

"It’s not a video game, okay? It’s real. You can’t go and shoot somebody, pull the trigger and 10 rounds come out the gun and hit somebody that you might not even be mad at, go and push restart all over. No, somebody just got shot," Coleman shared

The group emphasized real actions have real consequences that impact everyone and a prison sentence doesn't just impact the person pulling the trigger. It impacts their family, friends, classmates, neighbors and all those around them.

South Bend Police Chief, Scott Ruszkowski, knows the impact of poor actions all too well and says he continues to focus on prevention. 

"The message is, here are these things that are available to you. Please take them, we're begging you to take them. If you don't and you go down the same path, meaning, if you don't put your gun down, if you continue shooting and hurting people violently, we're going to put you in handcuffs," Chief Ruszkowski stated.

Coleman says many of the people who stood with him today attended on such short notice. He says that goes to show how many people care for the community and care about the youth and their decisions.

He describes having various leaders together for this cause as monumental.