'It's Outrageous': Tuscaloosa Mayor Speaks Out After Latest Shooting

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Tuscaloosa city leaders on Tuesday discussed the latest act of violence in the community, as officials grasp at options to address the noticeable uptick in gun violence in recent months.

Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter and breaking news alerts.

As Patch previously reported, four individuals — including two juvenile suspects — have been charged with attempted murder and assault following a shooting at The Village at Brook Meadows apartments Monday afternoon that resulted in a 3-year-old boy being struck by gunfire.

Fortunately, police said on Monday that the child's injuries were not believed to be life-threatening. Still, the incident marks the most recent shooting in Tuscaloosa that inadvertently injured a child.

"It’s outrageous that a three year old is at a pool on a spring day and he ends up having to be airlifted to [Birmingham]," Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox said Tuesday during the City Council's pre-meeting briefing.

The problem with violence in Tuscaloosa is a pervasive one, but also one that has been difficult to take a proactive approach to address, despite the myriad efforts by the city, churches and civic groups to better engage youth in the community.

Rather, Maddox said the most pressing needs at present should focus on state leadership and addressing problems with the juvenile justice system.

After praising the efforts of the Tuscaloosa Police Department and other local groups who have been involved in the battle against gun violence, the mayor said attention should turn toward lobbying the city's partners at the state level, in addition to judges tasked with sentencing offenders.

"We can’t continue to retain and re-arrest," Maddox said. "We can't continue to detain and detain the same individuals over and over and over and over again ... If we have to knock on every door of every judge, state legislator, we need help from that level."

Tuscaloosa leaders and others around the state hope some reprieve might result from the passage of Aniah's Law, which will appear on the General Election ballot in November as a constitutional amendment.

Named in honor of Southern Union Community College Aniah Blanchard — who was murdered by a man in Auburn who was out on bond for violent offenses — the bill would give judges the authority to deny bond for offenders who meet certain criteria.

As it stands, Alabama state law only permits judges to deny bond to offenders charged with capital murder.

"I believe our [district attorney] is doing all he can, but being arrested and being detained and if there’s not consequences after, then we’re going to continue to see this situation repeat itself over and over again," Maddox said.

District 4 Councilman Lee Busby pondered aloud if the city had the authority to implement more "draconian" statutes aimed at holding violent offenders accountable, while Council President Kip Tyner posed the possibility of a curfew.

To Busby's point, Tuscaloosa's hands are tied by the fact that bond schedules and sentencing guidelines are formed at the state level in the Alabama Legislature.

Maddox then pointed out that, in many recent cases, suspects involved in violent crimes have been juveniles, which makes the problem that much more complicated for city leaders to address.

The mayor said generally there is history behind a juvenile who commits an act of violence, which he said puts the onus on the juvenile justice system to address the way it approaches rehabilitation.

"We see this across the nation but that doesn’t make that acceptable here in our community," Maddox said. "We’re going to do everything from the police department and put every resource available to continue to make it very, very difficult for those who want to create chaos in our community to do so."

And it's not to say things are not being done from a crime-fighting perspective. Indeed, as Patch reported last week, a multi-agency operation by federal, state and local law enforcement resulted in more than 30 arrests in Tuscaloosa.

The goal of the large-scale operation, officials said, was targeting the sources of violent crime, such as illegally-owned and stolen firearms and arresting those who are not permitted to carry a firearm.

Still, though, Maddox stressed the need for the city's partners in state government to step up and provide additional solutions to a problem that seems to only be getting worse.

"I think we as leaders need to engage our state leaders and judges more and push the system to provide us more help," he said.

Have a news tip or suggestion on how I can improve Tuscaloosa Patch? Maybe you're interested in having your business become one of the latest sponsors for Tuscaloosa Patch? Email all inquiries to me at ryan.phillips@patch.com.