City leaders are tackling gang violence in Raleigh after the second arrest in the Crabtree Valley Mall shooting

RALEIGH, NC (WTVD) — The raleigh police have a second arrest on Wednesday evening after a shootout at Crabtree Valley Mall last weekend.

They arrested 22-year-old Jamarion Burton of Durham. He was charged with a felony after opening fire outside the mall on Saturday, smashing the windows of nearly two dozen cars.

“Doing the ‘OK Corral’ in a public place takes some guts,” said Kerwin Pittman, a social justice advocate and former gang member from Raleigh. “What I realize about the field I’m in is that hurting people, ‘hurting’ people. So what drove this man to this shooting? What drove him to do this?”

The incident was described in detail in court Tuesday by prosecutors as an “OK Corral-style shootout between two rival gangs” during the first appearance of 24-year-old Jacquez Brown of Durham.

This is one of the first times we’ve heard of an incident being recognized as “gang related.”

“While we certainly welcome people here, we don’t want to see any problems,” Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said. “It was unfortunate, apparently, gang members from another community decided to come to Raleigh to wreak havoc.”

She said it is not just outside actors who come to the capital to cause trouble.

“We certainly have our own share of crime and drug incidents,” she said.

Baldwin highlighted new police initiatives to prevent crime before it happens.

She praised what is being done in and around the downtown area Moore Square with private security.

“That’s the kind of thing we want to prevent, but that also requires cooperation between all departments, the police, like how are we going to work together?” That’s what Mayor Baldwin said.

Pittman sees the work in a different way.

“Until we take it seriously as a whole and city leaders take it seriously, and not just say in words that we have a problem and do something other than lock people up to address these problems, unfortunately it will continue to happen,” he said. .

Kerwin said housing and mental health are critical, emphasizing that we cannot buy our way out of the situation.

Crabtree said they have taken a number of measures to protect shoppers, including security and RPD officers.