It was not a good weekend in the city of Chester.
It was the same, old story.
The scourge of the city, random street violence in the form of gunshots, a sound that can be heard all too often, returned with a vengeance.
The mayhem started early Saturday morning when a man was shot and killed on the 900 block of Clover Lane. Police believe Robert Tyrone Morris, a contractor, was shot during a robbery attempt. He was just steps away from the rear of the home on the 900 block of Keystone Road where Shipley said he lived with his grandfather and his uncle.
Things got even worse Saturday afternoon when a car rolled up to a group of young people standing on a corner.
Gunfire broke out, Police believe shots were fired from a burgundy-colored SUV. When the gunfire stopped, a 17-year-old was dead and other teens were wounded. A 40-year-old man who had the misfortune of walking through the area, was the victim of a random bullet.
This comes just two weeks after another street shooting left a man dead and an 82-year-old woman who was just sitting on her sofa inside her home in critical condition after a stray bullet hit her in the neck.
Residents are fearful - and fed up. They want something done.
It's hard to blame them.
While we tracked all this gun mayhem in the city over the weekend, I was struck by something else. Do you think expanded background checks would have changed anything that happened in the city over the weekend? Me neither.
Illegal guns are the problem in the city. I don't think any kind of background check are going to stop that.
I'm not sure what will. But I know that residents there don't deserve to live in the state of fear that so many of them are now describing.
It's now up to Mayor John Linder and Police Chief Joe Bail to stop the violence. They won't be able to do it alone. They will need help in the community.
But as another long summer looms, the city of Chester needs to draw a line in the sand against violence.
They need to declare war on the guns and the thugs wielding them who are making life there miserable for the many law-abiding residents.
And they need to do it soon.
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