PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A grassroots effort to combat shootings in Philadelphia is moving forward, despite a threat to volunteers who were taking part last week.
For the last month, a group called Operation Hug the Block has been patrolling neighborhoods on the 77 blocks that have had ten or more shootings since 2015. About 10 volunteers walk through the street with a police officer from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. to pose a “visible deterrence” to gun violence.
But at about 1 a.m. on Sept. 17, one of the organizers, Jamal Johnson, was standing with a volunteer at A Street and East Indiana Avenue when a man on a bike wearing a hoodie and mask rode around the intersection for a while, then yelled that they need to shut their operation down. He followed that by saying, “They’re about to come over and clear this out.”
Johnson took it as a threat and called the patrol back, along with the police officer who was escorting the group. They decided to end that night’s session, but the next night, they continued their mission.
“It would be pretty naive of us to believe that at some point we weren’t going to have some type of confrontation,” Johnson said.
In fact, the group's Co-organizer Mazzie Casher says the incident only encouraged him.
“It kind of was for me a turning point where we knew, okay, we’re starting to be effective because obviously there’s a segment of the population that’s okay with the way things are.
Several City Council members denounced the threats and pledged to patrol with the group in the coming weeks. The group intends to patrol 77 blocks by Election Day.