Community members gather to fight violence in Salisbury

SALISBURY, N.C. — An anti-violence summit was held Saturday following months of violent crime in Salisbury, which in one instance resulted in the death of a 7-year-old girl.

In December, Allen was shot more than 20 times while she slept inside her grandmother's home.

Her slaying is still unsolved.

Organizers put the summit together in just three weeks.

Several dozen people were there by noon and organizers said nearly 200 attended.

“It's one murder after another and there's really not time for us as a community to grieve,’ said Tonya Cross, a Salisbury resident.

Organizer Al Heggins said that  Ayanna's death was a wake-up call that set the community gathering in motion.

"We felt like as a community, enough is enough," Heggins said. "We don't to see any more of our children dying.  We want our community members to feel safe."

They broke out into small groups where they talked, listed their concerns, solutions and shared their stories.

“I'm having to get my mother in the middle of the night because she's afraid to sleep in her own home,” said Soloman McAuley, a youth advocate for more than 20 years.

Organizers said their goal was to work through the pain and ultimately come up with a plan.

“Often times you will here a lot of people talking and no one actually doing anything,” McAuley said. “The greatest thing we can do is to be accountable. Violence may not affect my family like it affects someone else's family, but at the end of the day we're all affected by violence.”

The police chief in Salisbury declined to attend.

Since last year, nearly 20 people have been slain in Salisbury and Rowan County.

Cox Media Group