After weekend shootings, Kensington community members are feeling afraid and fed up

Kenneth Carruth and his wife were asleep in their Kensington home on Saturday night when two bullets exploded into their kitchen and home office. One flashed past Carruth’s computer monitor, and could have easily hit him had he been sitting at his desk. “There was literally nothing I [could] do,” he said.

The city’s latest shooting in Kensington, which left nine people wounded, was the closest that Carruth has come to Philadelphia’s violence. But he, like so many people in Kensington, is all too familiar with it landing near his doorstep; he pointed to two other shootings that have occurred just down his block since his family bought their home a couple years ago.

Community members here are scared and exasperated with the overwhelming violence in their neighborhood, and they say they feel like nothing meaningful is being done to stop it. “It’s been insane,” Carruth said.

Each time a shooting occurs, it deepens the fear and sadness of the city’s residents. That’s how Rosalind Pichardo, community coordinator for Invest in Safer Communities of Ceasefire PA, sees it. “Pumping gas, you can get shot. Playing football, you can get shot. Everyone in the city feels this way.”

“There’s no one here to (offer) support. The violence has a ripple effect.”

Pichardo, who lost a brother to gun violence in 2012, complained that Saturday night’s shooting was treated as if it were another day in the neighborhood, not a devastating community tragedy. “There’s no one here to (offer) support. The violence has a ripple effect.”

Carruth understands that there are no quick and easy solutions to deeply entrenched community problems that manifest through gun violence. But he and other Kensington residents still feel like nowhere near enough is being done about it. They’re afraid that tragic violence is treated as the norm.

“I understand that this is a very nuanced issue,” he said. “It can’t get resolved with just one wave [of] a wand, but … what does it take for us to get a camera installed? How many murders need to transpire, how many shootings need to [happen]?”

» READ MORE: A car used in Saturday’s Kensington shooting was also used in another shooting last month, Philly Police say

Pichardo, who will celebrate her 45th birthday next week, has lived in Kensington all her life and raised her two children. Now her grandchildren are growing up in Kensington.

She believes that the violence has only increased over the years because the problems in the community have worsened. “It’s gotten worse. The number of people who are unhoused, there is no solution. The number of people with substance abuse disorder, there is no solution.”

The Rev. Adan Mairena, of West Kensington Ministries, added that lost opportunity, generational trauma, and toxic masculinity all perpetuate the violence — and the solutions have to be intergenerational, holistic, relevant and culturally appropriate.

“I would have as many agencies, churches, and schools provide as many safe spaces as possible. And provide opportunities that are structured but make it so that people want to go” he said.

Every Friday night Mairena hosts youth at his church because he is looking for a way to provide a positive space amid the violence. Last Friday night, someone shot a gun only a block from the church.

“We are intentional about keeping our kids safe. We have 40 kids off the street. In some communities they worry about their kids’ SAT scores. We worry about keeping our kids alive,” Mairena said.

He started the church’s evening program in 2007, when he first arrived at West Kensington Ministries in Norris Square. Now, those teenagers have grown up and are sending their children to the Friday night program. “It’s become part of the norm.”

Community members have taken the problem-solving upon themselves, in part because they feel like the city has neglected them.

“Not only did they not have the urgency, we’re just not seeing any action at all. Like literally, there’s no action. Nothing’s changed,” said Carruth. “It’s typically the same response [from the city and the police] … ‘It’s in the queue. We’ll see what we can do. These acts of violence can’t be tolerated.’ And then, [we] wait until the next incident, then send some additional emails, file another police report. It’s the same song and dance.”

“How did we get here? From divestment that goes back 100-something years.”

There is more money coming to the city, according to Adam Garber, executive director of Ceasefire PA, who said that the state’s Commission on Crime and Delinquency will soon release the names of the recipients of the next round of Violence Intervention & Prevention (VIP) grants. Last winter, the city received $15 million in state funds to combat violence.

But community members are skeptical that spending money alone will do much to change things.

“How did we get here? From divestment that goes back 100-something years,” said Bill McKinney, executive director of New Kensington Community Development Corporation (NKCDC).

The disinvestment allowed the illegal drug economy to flourish, which brought with it escalating violence, he said. Addressing the problems of Kensington with piecemeal plans and programming will never be adequate, he added.

“We didn’t just get here because there are a bunch of bad actors in Kensington,” said McKinney.