MEMPHIS, Tennessee — More children were shot last year than normal and this year the numbers are still climbing.
Whether we as a community can wrap our heads around it or not guns are injuring and taking the lives of young children in Memphis neighborhoods.
You may remember names like Ashlynn Luckett or LeQuan Boyd, two of at least 30 children killed from gun violence last year.
“Just sleeping at night, hearing gunshots for many children in the Memphis community is a difficult thing,” said Pastor Bill Adkins, the senior pastor at Greater Imani Church. “Some others even have their children sleeping on the floor and under beds and in bathtubs because of so many gunshots going on in the communities.”
This year Memphis police confirm 11 children have died, 10 of which were murders.
“For a child coming up like that’s got to be traumatizing for them to live in an environment that’s actually kind of like a war zone,” said Adkins.
Dr. Regan Williams is Le Bonheur's Trauma Services Medical Director and she said they received 89 children with firearm injures in 2019, 134 in 2020 and 48 so far this year.
“It is getting increasingly frustrating to continue to keep seeing children with these wounds and it’s particularly hard when they come in talking to you and they’ve got a wound that’s extremely painful and they’re scared and they’re anxious,” said Williams.
A young girl connected to Adkins’ church tragically died last year.
“8-year-old little Jordan Washington in the kitchen with her mother struck by a stray bullet and killed,” recalled Adkins. “In the kitchen. This is the tragedy that’s going around in Memphis right now.”
Le Bonheur said that they see a rise in young gunshot victims when school is out and during the summer.