CLEVELAND — Charles See is busier than ever responding to violent situations involving teenagers through his non-profit, "Stop The Pain."
"We've got youngsters 10, 12 years old involved in gun-related incidents," See said.
Thursday afternoon, during a press conference to find a 17-year-old wanted in a slew of violent crimes, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley shared some startling juvenile crime statistics.
"With the charging in this case, it brings the total number of juveniles charged this year with homicide, murder, aggravated murder; sadly, we have broken our record. We are up to 36, and we still have a quarter left. Last year's number was 35 in 12 months. We have 36 through 9 months," O'Malley said.
O'Malley said the unfortunate reality is juveniles are becoming too comfortable using deadly weapons, an issue plaguing the community.
"Just in the last seven days, we saw a 3-year-old murdered in my former ward of Denison Avenue, who took a bullet to the back while sitting in a car seat," O'Malley said.
O'Malley continued, "Too often, we're seeing one senseless homicide lead to another senseless homicide rooted in retaliation. It appears to be an escalation where they're trying to obtain weapons to 'out gun' each other."
See said "Stop the Pain" is trying to help solve the growing problem by building trust with young people.
"We spent a lot of time with a young man who had gotten jumped. His initial response because he did have a weapon was to respond. But he called one of our staff, and he told them what happened, and we responded to the house. He surrendered the firearm, which we eventually turned in," See said.
See said his group is mentoring young men and women, walking alongside them as role models, and setting them up with jobs and social services they might need. See said those mentor programs need more volunteers to work with these teens.
"I'm talking about a program called my other son, my other daughter where 2 or three adults become responsible for befriending one young person and then walking that young person through the gauntlet, so they have a person they can respond to when they're in trouble when there is need there," See said.
"Stop the Pain," and Cuyahoga County officials agree youth crime has to be the community's number one priority.
"I'm issuing a clarion call, particularly to the male community. We must come together and befriend and walk beside these young men, so they begin to understand what appropriate behavior looks like," See said.
