City leaders address gang violence in Raleigh after second arrest in Crabtree Valley Mall shooting

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — Raleigh Police a second arrest Wednesday night, following a shooting at Crabtree Valley Mall over the weekend.

They arrested 22-year-old Jamarion Burton of Durham. He was charged with a felony after opening fire outside the mall on Saturday, shattering the windows of about 20 cars.

“It takes some courage for you to do ‘OK Corral’ in a public place,” said social justice advocate and former Raleigh gang member Kerwin Pittman. “What I’ve noticed about the field I’m in is that hurt people ‘hurt’ people. So what caused this man to commit this shooting? What drove him to do this?”

The incident was described in detail in court Tuesday by prosecutors at the initial hearing of 24-year-old Jacquez Brown of Durham as “an OK Corral-style gunfight between two rival gangs.”

This is the first time we have heard of an incident being considered ‘gang related’.

“While we certainly welcome people here, we don’t want to see problems,” Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said. “It was unfortunate that gang members from apparently another community decided to come to Raleigh to wreak havoc.”

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He said it was not just outside actors who came to the capital to cause trouble.

“We definitely have a part in crime and drugs,” he said.

Baldwin highlighted the police department’s new initiatives to prevent crime before it occurs.

Announced what is being done near and around Downtown Moore Square with private security.

“This is the kind of thing we want to prevent from happening, but it also requires collaboration between all departments and the police, such as how do we work together?” Mayor Baldwin said.

Pittman sees the job differently.

“Until we take this seriously as a whole and until city leaders take this seriously, not just with words saying we have a problem and doing something other than locking people up to solve these problems, this is going to sadly continue to happen,” he said. .

Kerwin said housing and mental health are very important, emphasizing that we cannot find a way out of this situation.

Crabtree said they have taken a number of precautions to keep shoppers safe, including security and RPD officers.