Tagged: crime

"Charlie Newton is an over-sized character," WFPL's Erin Keane says, "almost like a character in one of his books." Newton, author of "Start Shooting," will read and lead a workshop at Second Story Books this week, and Erin spoke with him about why he writes fiction (with a heavy emphasis on authenticity) rather than non-fiction. She joined us on Friday's Byline to talk about their conversation.

Louisville Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad testified before the Budget Committee on Wednesday that crime has increased by eight percent in the last year.

In recent weeks, the escalation of violence has concerned residents and gained the attention of community and city leaders. In May, a shooting spree in the Parkland neighborhood left three dead and three others injured including the brazen murder of Makeba Lee, 24, who was shot by Cheetara Goldsmith, 24, in front of officers.

Earlier this week, 15-year-old Tysha Spearman, a junior at Shawnee High School, was shot and killed and a 4-year-old was shot in the arm nearby the Parkway Place housing projects.

Conrad says the department is planning to create a new mobile unit that will target high crime areas and repeat offenders.

"For the coming year we are focusing on reducing violent crime. That should go without saying. We have pulled together a summer crime reduction task force, which involves identifying and arresting the worst of the worst, putting police officers in the most challenged areas, which we are referring to as hot spots," he says.

The U.S. Supreme Court has reinstated the death sentence for a 63-year old Kentucky inmate.

The decision overturns an appeals court ruling that granted David Eugene Matthews a retrial three decades after the double murder of his wife and mother-in-law. Matthews now returns to death row. Kentucky is currently in the process of revising its lethal injection procedures, so he will not be put to death until the state chooses a new execution method. Additional information from the Associated Press

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer has appointed the members of what's now called the Violence Prevention Workgroup. The panel was announced last month after back-to-back shootings in the West End.

Mayor Greg Fischer has assembled a work group to address violence in west Louisville.

U of L Arts and Sciences Dean Blaine Hudson will chair the group, and the rest of the members will be chosen from civic organizations, government, churches and the business community. The group will first take count of all the youth services programs and charities in West Louisville. The next step is to create a crisis response team to help victims of violence.

A series of brazen shootings in the streets of West Louisville left three dead and three injured yesterday.  Today, additional shots have been fired roughly 24 hours after the first of the shootings yesterday.

On WFPL's Friday news round up, Byline, our reporters Phillip M. Bailey and Devin Katayama reviewed  the events, taking stock of what is known and what remains unknown, discussing the danger of making assumptions before the facts are all in, and recapping what's been said in the flurry of press conferences since the shootings began.