Charlotte Leaders Say Conflict Resolution Is To Blame For Gun Violence

CHARLOTTE, NC– “We are living in those times, are we prepared for them,” said CMPD Homicide Detective, Gary McFadden.

CMPD Homicide Detective Gary McFadden works crime for a living. He says with more people turning to violence to solve problems the city, businesses and individuals need to be prepared.

“A lot of businesses have security measures it’s probably in a manual on the shelf but have you equipped each employee with a task during a crisis,” said McFadden.

‘Crisis’ is a word that Willie Ratchford with Charlotte- Mecklenburg Community Relations says is far too prevalent these days.

“What is wrong with us as a country, are we going crazy because we seem to see so much of it on a daily basis,” said Ratchford.

So far this year in Charlotte there have been 41 homicides and CMPD says most all of them were people who knew each other and arguments escalated to gun violence. Ratchford has a theory about the biggest problem.

“We don’t teach our children, and adults for that matter how to manage conflict,” said Ratchford.

Which he says has created a normalization of violence in our society as a way to deal with a problem. McFadden agrees saying kids need these lessons starting in school and all summer long.

“How do we handle conflict, conflict resolution is where we need to be directed in summer camps, summer programs now for the summer,” said McFadden.