COLUMBUS, Ohio _ Waking up has been torture since Nov. 22 for Keeandra Brown, with the realization every morning that her son, 18-year-old Brenden Brown, is gone.
On Dec. 30, she was flanked by three other members of a sorority she never asked to join _ women who have lost a family member to gun violence _ as she spoke at Columbus Police headquarters.
Columbus police are working to prevent as many homicides as possible and bring closure and justice to the families who have suffered the loss of a loved one to violence, Deputy Chief Tim Becker said.
And while the homicide rate has declined from a record-high 152 in 2017 (including nine deaths involved in the Mount Carmel investigation) to 104 in 2019 as of Dec. 30, the decline is not significant enough.
To that end, detectives across several units with Columbus Police are working to combine their gathered intelligence and employ new techniques to prevent homicides.
Becker said the felony gun crime investigation unit has increased its staffing to handle the 723 cases it has been involved with as of Dec. 27. The goal is to get illegal guns off the street before they are used in a homicide.
"This is the first chance to get a potential shooter off the street," he said.
In 2019, 80% of homicides have been a result of shootings, Becker said.
Detectives are also focused on solving felonious assaults, such as nonfatal shootings, beatings and other cases involving serious injuries, to prevent street justice from leading to a homicide.
There were 755 felonious assaults reported in Columbus in 2018, and 740 had been reported in 2019, as of Thursday.
"Street justice is not a solution; it just perpetuates the problem," Becker said.
The level of violence, while relatively small compared to the city's population, should offend everyone within Columbus, Becker said.
He cited estimates from the National Center for Homicide Research that every homicide results in a financial impact of about $17.25 million _ including the costs associated with the criminal justice process, loss of future income, and social services for surviving family members.
The city of Columbus has suffered a potential financial loss of about $7.5 billion as a result of the more than 370 homicides that have occurred since 2017, based on those estimates, Becker said.
And of those homicides, about 150 are unsolved.
"Many people out there know who is responsible," Becker said.
He and the family members of several homicide victims implored the city to have a collective resolution for 2020 of cooperating with investigations and refusing to tolerate violence.
"Disrespect should never equal death," Becker said.
Police are continuing to evaluate data on the homicides that have occurred in 2019 to have officers in areas that have shown an increase in violent crime.
In 2019, North and South Linden have seen a combined 20 homicides as of Monday morning, making them the deadliest areas in the city for the year to date.
Precinct 14, on the Far East Side, also has seen an increase in homicides _ from one in 2018 to eight this year.
One of those eight homicides was Brenden Brown. He had been shot inside a car on the Far East Side near Shady Lane Elementary School. Brown is believed to have been attending a memorial vigil near the school when he was shot.
His case remains unsolved.
"I do not want anyone to feel the way I feel every day," Keeandra Brown said. "If you know something, say something."
Brown and the other grieving relatives embraced following the news conference on Dec. 30, drawing strength from each other as they continue to mourn.
Ernestine Beatty lost her son, 32-year-old Michael Shawn Beatty, in July 2016.
"Our family is still so broken," Beatty said. "No family should go through what we're going through."
Beatty was found shot outside a home on East 18th Avenue in South Linden. His case remains unsolved.
Lisa Burgess is now helping to raise the four children her son, 32-year-old Corday Burgess, left behind when he was shot to death on Dec. 20, 2017. She said her grandchildren still have Christmas presents on a shelf they were not able to give their father.
"His kids are so, so lost because they don't know what happened," she said.
