17 people shot this weekend in Houston, including four teenagers
HOUSTON โ Between Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 17 people including four teenagers were shot in Houston, the most of any weekend this year and part of a growing trend of violence in the city. โWe havenโt seen this kind of violence, since the late 80s and early 90s when crack first hit the streets here in Houston,โ said Doug Griffith, the president of the Houston Police Officers Union. Mayor Sylvester Turner began his Monday press conference addressing the shootings, instead of COVID-19, calling his administrationโs commitment to reducing crime โour top priority.โโWe cannot blame everything on the pandemic in Houston,โ Turner said. โWe have a situation that we need to address in our city.โOf the 17 people shot over the weekend, six did not survive their injuries. โOur community/region had too much gun violence this weekend.
Mayor Turner, Black Lives Matter Houston address the future of police oversight board
โMy thought process is that weโre stagnated,โ said Ashton P. Woods of Black Lives Matter Houston. But the push for policing reform also came with a call for transparency โ including throughout the reform process. We just want reasonable changeโDoug Griffith, president of the Houston Police Officers Union, said the union supports most of the recommendations made by the mayorโs task force. Overall, Griffith said the current disciplinary process is extensive and fair to all sides. Woods argued the union has slowed down the reform process, a claim the union denies.