COVINGTON, Ga. — As the rate of gun violence continues to rise, city leaders have made plans to “take back” their community.

In recent weeks, there has been a string of shooting incidents reported across the city of Covington. Nearly two weeks ago, Covington Police Chief Stacey Cotton warned government officials that shooting incidents would continue and ultimately lead to innocent deaths, should no action be taken.

After taking a strong stance against such violence and calling for change, a “Takin’ Back Our Community - West Ward” rally has been slated for Saturday, April 2, in the Nelson Heights community. 

Councilman Kenneth Morgan, who has organized the event scheduled for 3-6 p.m. at the lot adjacent to the Nelson Heights Community Center, said the issue was one he took personally.

“This was something that was really placed within my heart and within my spirit,” Morgan said during a Monday, March 7, council meeting. 

“While I am a city councilman that represents the entire city, as a West Ward candidate, [ongoing gun violence in the West Ward is] personal to me. It should be personal to Mr. [Councilman Anthony] Henderson and it should be personal to Ms. [Councilwoman] Charika Davis. That heavy crime area is predominantly people that look like us. And that’s why it was important for us, the three of us, to talk to those constituents in that neighborhood so that they would hear our voices. So that they could hear the concern we have for that particular community, and not just that community, but every community. We want to do the Nelson Heights community, we want to do the Green Acres community, we want to do Jefferson Village — any area where there is crime that is going on in our city.”

Morgan said he believed change would only happen as long as the council and community were united.

“I realize that as a community we’re going to have to do this thing together,” Morgan said, “because, I mean, after a recent conversation with [Cotton], I had a young lady reach out to me and her attitude was, ‘Hey, that’s y’all. That’s y’all neighborhood. That’s y’all killing each other.’ And I simply told her that while it may be happening in the west right now, unless we work together as a community, it will be over in the east. For us to look the other way and say, ‘OK, that’s happening in your neighborhood,’ that’s not the way we should live as a community.”

Morgan said the plan was to host events as a way to build camaraderie and, most importantly, “take back the fear.” 

“What needs to happen is there needs to be a camaraderie between everybody — the police department, those neighborhoods — where we can get information out to those people, let them know they can use some anonymous lines,” he said. “We are there to try to help take back the fear from those neighborhoods. No one should ever be afraid to go outside after 6 p.m.”

During his spirited comments, Morgan also shared that he believed more police precincts throughout the troubled areas of the city were necessary to combat the ongoing issue.

“I’ve been on council for six years … I’ve said from day one, we need police precincts in some of the worst neighborhoods in our city,” Morgan said. “I said it then and I say it now. I know people don’t want police precincts in their neighborhood, but let me tell you something. As a West Ward candidate, I will be the first one to say that if it comes to the point that we have to put a police precinct in Nelson Heights and the Green Acres area, I will be one of the first ones to do it, and you know why? First of all, because I have been elected as a West Ward candidate and, whether people want things in their neighborhood or not, it is my responsibility to make sure that those people who are trying to do right are protected from the people that are trying to destroy those neighborhoods. And if people don’t like what I say, when I say it, my seat comes up in two years. You have the opportunity to vote me right on out in 2024.

"But as long as I’m on this city council and a West Ward representative, I’m going to do everything I can to make sure we support our neighborhood, make sure that we support our police department, and, at the end of the day, we’ve got to do this thing together as a community. 

“If we don’t do this as a community, it’s not going to get done,” he added. “It shouldn’t be east-west, black-white, because at the end of the day, crime is crime, criminals are criminals. Our criminals need to be dealt with, I don’t care who he is, what ethnicity he holds.”

Before Morgan’s comments, other council members took time to discuss the growing gun violence and, again, called for action.

Councilman Don Floyd said he heard several firearm discharges near his home in the East Ward, coming from what he believed was the direction of Nelson Heights.

“We’ve got to do something,” he said.

In response, Cotton shared that an arrest had been made that potentially help “tamper” things down, but he said it seemed area juveniles were being involved to “do the dirty work.” And those causing the most turmoil were “strangers,” Cotton said, not originally from Covington.

To increase police presence, Cotton said they were paying overtime for officers to have up to two patrol cars in the problematic areas at all times. 

Cotton said not all shooting incidents had been drug related or gang related. Most were just one person being angry or upset at another over things some might consider minuscule. 

Covington native Norris Freeman expressed his concerns to the council, pleading also for action to be taken. He said there were people from Miami, Florida, coming to do the shooting. 

“We’ve got to get it together,” he said. “Or somebody is definitely going to get killed.”

Cotton then reminded Freeman and members of the public that work was being done to combat the gun violence.

Davis encouraged people to attend the April 2 rally at Nelson Heights to “show their support, offer ideas and suggestions … ways that we can help you and help our community.”

Councilwoman Fleeta Baggett said the issue was one that needed to be tackled citywide, not just limited to one ward over the other. She said she planned to be at the April 2 event and support the cause. Baggett also encouraged residents that “if you hear something, say something.”

Keck said change would only happen when the collective mindset was changed. Moving forward, she said, her mindset would be addressing crime.

“Covington is starting to see the crime that we’ve heard about, and it's headed east,” Keck said. “And we can do everything we can to stop it, but until there’s a mindset change, it’s only going to get worse… This community is going to get stronger. Together we can help make this better. It’s going to take some work and it’s going to take some money. And as we go into the budget session, crime is the first thing on my mind.”