ST. LOUIS — St. Louis city, police and community groups are trying to work on solutions to gun violence by enforcing various curfews and finding places for young people to go.
Finding things for teens and young people to do was one of the biggest factors uniting people on Sunday after a teen was killed in an early morning shooting early that also left several others injured.
“We understand that it takes all of the community members working together to actually make progress on this issue,” said Serena Muhammad with the St. Louis Mental Health Board.
The St. Louis Office Of Violence Prevention said one of the first steps toward progress is making positive spaces available to youth of all ages, starting with city rec centers like Wohl and Marquette which will stay open until 1 am for people 16 and up on the weekend.
“We know that the rec centers are already a trusted and safe space for countless families in the city of St. Louis, and we believe that by expanding access, it can also be a safe space for many more,” Muhammad said.
People who work with youth in the community like Eric Bailey and his non-profit Blessed Youth Outreach say it's challenging to find funding and the space young people will want to go to.
“I need to get a building to become a safe haven for our youth to have somewhere to go," he said. "For our youth to be able to come and be able to learn different things, to be able to not only learn about the ethics of work but prayer too."
Bailey said these teens are in need of direction.
“Well, most of them I talk to, they feel lost. They feel like they have something to prove. They don't want to feel weak,” Bailey said
On the law enforcement side of solutions, St. Louis Police Sergeant Charles Wall said the summer detail of officers have been working to enforce juvenile and park curfews.
“We have increased enforcement and there have been issues of enforcing that park curfew. And it happens to be juveniles in the parks whether it be Kiener Plaza or some of the other parks there on Market east of Tucker or west of Tucker,” Wall said.
Sgt. Wall said they want to work with both the parents and teens when it comes to enforcing the curfew.
“Talking specifically to juvenile curfew violations, typically what would happen is either parents are requested to come to the location where the juvenile has been found or the juvenile will be conveyed to a police facility where they will be held temporarily until a parent or guardian can respond,” Wall said.
Juvenile curfew on the weekend downtown is from midnight to 5 a.m. and park curfews are from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Police say downtown is not the space for teens and kids to be unsupervised past curfew time.