(WXYZ) — Operation Safe Neighborhoods, a state program funded with COVID cash has so far netted 205 illegal guns out of Michigan neighborhoods, with more expected.
It was nearly a year ago in this neighborhood that Marquese Smith lost his life to gun violence. Some in his family are praising the new push to get illegal guns off the streets while questioning the true impact.
“I miss him so much. He was my heart,” said Grandma Linda Jones. “Only thing I could see was the tarp over him and his shoes. The bottom of his shoes was the only thing I could see, he was laying on the ground - dead. I just don’t understand it. It’s senseless.”
December 15th, 2021, Marquese Smith was shot and killed along with his friend Teron Flowers. Their killer or killers are still not caught.
“I light that candle every night. And it will stay lit every night till we get justice,” said Jones.
Linda Jones is just one of too many families impacted by gun violence. On average in Michigan, there are more than 4,700 victims a year. Over 1,200 people killed, another 3,500 wounded, according to everystat.org.
“It really hurts, and I just don’t understand how they can just keep killing and killing and killing. It's like, it's a 9-5 job to them,” said Jones.
The Whitmer administration is trying to make a dent by getting illegal guns out of the hands of high-risk people convicted of felonies. Operation Safe Neighborhoods is a Michigan Department of Corrections program, teaming up with law enforcement to do parole checks on certain people with a criminal history of gun possession.
There are about 7,700, 20% between probationers 32,000 and parolees 8,500. Of the 1,767 check-ins so far, 205 guns have been retrieved, and 235 arrests.
For Jones, it’s a welcome development but comes with a fair amount of criticism.
“The more you take off, there’s more coming in. And I don’t know how they are going to fight this battle to get guns off the street. They’ve been doing it for a long time, and it hasn’t worked,” said Jones.
Linda is hoping it will help, “too many families are hurting, too many,” she said as she waits for justice.
“I miss him so much and I wasn’t going to put my lights up out front, but he enjoyed that," said Jones. "And that’s the only reason I put my lights up out front is because of him.”
If you have any information that could help detectives track down whoever killed Marquese and Teron, there is a $4,000 reward. Call Crimestoppers at 1-800-SPEAKUP, you will remain 100% anonymous.
