SCRANTON, Pa. — As the investigation continues into the city of Scranton's fifth homicide of the year, the mayor talked with Newswatch 16 about the problems of violence and gangs that city leaders are faced with.
Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti acknowledges that violent incidents in the city are startling, but the mayor says this uptick in violence isn't just a Scranton problem.
"The situation where these things keep happening is tough to swallow. It is scary."
Mayor Cognetti echoes what many residents are feeling throughout Scranton, as last week, the city saw its fifth homicide in five months.
"Those are stark numbers. They're also still relatively low compared to what some cities suffer. So I don't want to overshoot by saying this is an unprecedented crisis," Mayor Cognetti said.
This year's number of homicides is higher than the past several years combined, and officials believe much of it was ignited by gang violence.
"Certainly, having an uptick of these homicides and, of course, the shooting of Det. Kyle Gilmartin has brought that up, but gangs are not new to northeastern Pennsylvania."
While police continue to investigate and make arrests for this most recent homicide on Jackson Street, Mayor Cognetti says they're working to attack this issue at the root.
"Are people housed safely? Are people hungry? Are kids getting the education they want? Do parents have the resources they need? Do parents know how to parent, and do they have what they need to parent? Are they able to safely get to work so they can safely provide for their families? There's a transportation element to it. There's a lot of things that need to fall into place that we're going to continue to work on."
A new intervention program is in the works for Scranton. It's a third-party program that would work with teens, families, and even gang members to intervene before violence happens. It will be modeled on programs in other areas, including York County, and has proven results.
"People that actually have their lived experience, or have been victims of this, or can somewhat speak to them than those in these positions will. That's the point—to have a third party not attached to the city, not attached to law enforcement, to help work out what those solutions are," the mayor said.
That intervention program in Scranton is in its beginning stages, so we're not sure exactly when that could hit the streets.
The mayor says city officials are not only working to curb the violence but also to get to the root of what's causing some teens to turn to gangs.
"There's no one thing that has changed. We have seen more kids that are getting to a point where they don't seem to care what the consequences are."
Consequences are hard to come by, as are juvenile detention beds. Right now, there's not a single bed across 13 counties in northeastern Pennsylvania, and nowhere to put Lackawanna County's most violent youth offenders.
"While we don't want to over-jail our youth, of course not, especially in northeastern Pennsylvania, given the history. There are some kids, unfortunately, that probably need to not be out in the community right now," Cognetti said.
This issue was highlighted last month when Kenneth Tapia, 17, was arrested for allegedly shooting and killing a man after a brawl at Weston Field turned deadly.
Because of the lack of detention beds, there was nowhere to house the teen, and a special hearing took place to put him in the Lackawanna County adult prison—a place that may help long-term as officials look at transforming an unused wing of the jail into juvenile detention beds.
"If it's not here, if it's somewhere else in the county, if it's somewhere in Luzerne, as long as we have more beds accessible for our police department," Cognetti said.
But the mayor says it's not just the city's responsibility; some of those consequences need to start at home.
"It's not just law enforcement, right? This isn't just on the backs of police officers and teachers. Parents have to step up."
With summer on the horizon, the city is doing its part, starting with a place that recently became the center of violence.
"We're redoing all of Weston Field. We are doing a skatepark. We're redoing the pool. We're making these investments in all of the corners of the city. A lot of it is to show these kids that we care. And show them that there are things to do that are not a gang lifestyle."