ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - It's almost time for the annual St. Louis question: "gunshot or firework?" It happens every New Year's Eve in the moments after the clock strikes midnight.
In 2018, this backyard video camera in St. Louis captured 10 straight minutes of gunfire. Bullets came down and went through roofs, shattered windows, and missed a woman by inches, according to news reports the next day.
This year, four neighborhoods in south St. Louis are working together to stop celebratory gunfire on New Year’s Eve.
Forest Park Southeast Neighborhood Association President Dan Doelling says they've joined with three other neighborhood groups to fight it. His area, plus Shaw, Tower Grove East and Tower Grove Heights, plus the Tower Grove Baptist Church youth group, are distributing door hangers with instructions on how to respond.
The hangers give numbers to residents so they can call authorities and report gunfire:
• St. Louis Police Department: 911 or for non-emergency, 314-231-1212
• Crime Stoppers: 1-866-371-TIPS (8477)
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The program began in Shaw, with the Shaw Neighborhood Ownership Model (NOM). The St. Louis Police Department recognized the group recently for making a difference.
Doelling thinks neighborhood associations can be the point of impact for a lot of the city's challenging issues.
"I think you're able to come together and make some significant change happen," Doelling says.
The Shaw NOM is a citizen led neighborhood outreach organization dedicated to crime reduction through public safety promotion and best practices. In coordination with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office and other neighborhood organizations, Shaw
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