ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones reacts to a violent holiday weekend in downtown St. Louis.
On Tuesday afternoon, it was the first time she spoke to reporters since the downtown activity unfolded.
Between July 4-7, police said 24 people were shot in 16 different shooting incidents. Officers also arrested 37 people downtown, with 15 arrests involving firearms. A total of 39 firearms were seized.
"We are making the proper investments with our police in overtime to make sure downtown is safe and vibrant and beautiful. We are also pulling in our private partners to reinforce that message. We're doing everything that we can to make sure that downtown stays safe for anybody who wants to come visit and have fun here," Jones said.
Jones told reporters her own teenage son was downtown on the Fourth of July.
Jones explained, "Unfortunately, he was downtown just before all of that happened. He was driving around with his friends, but he saw the danger coming and he thought well enough to say, 'I have to get out of here before things get bad.'"
Jones said she believes police did everything they could, and she thanked officers for being active.
With multiple guns seized and several shootings, 5 On Your Side reporter Justina Coronel asked if she thinks the city's new open carry ban is working.
Jones responded, "I think this calls more attention to what the state is not doing. I'm not trying to pass the buck at all, but what I am saying is that the state created the conditions that we are currently living under. Everybody has access to a gun, and when everyone has access to a gun, that makes our communities less safe."
Coronel followed up by asking, "What can the city do, then?"
"The city has done everything we can do but our hands are tied because of our lax gun laws and the preemption laws that the state has already passed," Jones saidd.
St. Louis Police Chief Robert Tracy backed up what the mayor said in a town hall Monday, which addressed the downtown community.
"My message is that in this state, it's not illegal to carry a firearm. It's not illegal for a juvenile to carry a firearm, we do have an ordinance in place but it's a summons that goes to municipal court that has some teeth but not a lot of teeth," Tracy added.
Tracy continued by saying, "If you’re a convicted felon and you’re going to carry a gun and shoot a gun downtown, we’re going to hold you accountable and you’re going to hear some things from our new Circuit Attorney that maybe in the past... when I first showed up, those things were not being addressed as well as they should’ve been. Now, we are addressing those things."
Tracy was sworn in January 2023, months before the swearing in of current St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore in May 2023, after former Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner resigned.
When the idea of closing Citygarden or Kiener Plaza at night was posed, Jones shut it down.
"What kind of message does that send to the community when we close things down at night? It says you're not welcome here and that's not the message we want to send. But also, we don't want people just dropping their kids off downtown because that's not what they should be doing either," Jones shared.
She also pointed to a new regional initiative called Save Lives Now, with a goal to reduce homicides by 20 percent in three years.
The plan is in the works and won't have boots on the ground until early next year.