Sister Rose Carter, executive director of the Alliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing Our Neighborhoods organization (ACTION), leads a group of several hundred in prayer during the Stop the Violence Community Prayer vigil Wednesday evening in Youngstown.... Correspondent photo / Sean Barron

YOUNGSTOWN — A spate of recent shootings and other acts of violence continue to occur across much of the city, but so are action plans intended to tackle it.

“It’s going to take more than events. We’ve got to be in this for the long haul,” the Rev. Kenneth L. Simon, pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church in Youngstown, told more than 200 who gathered for Wednesday evening’s Stop the Violence Community Prayer vigil at the former Bottom Dollar store, 2649 Glenwood Ave., on the South Side.

Simon was referring to individual and collective efforts he and many religious leaders and others say are crucial for tackling violence that continues to plague the city and many of its neighborhoods.

The 90-minute event came on the heels of a shooting around 2 a.m. Tuesday outside of the Savo Bar & Grille, 2800 South Ave., that killed Abdul Muhammad, 30, and injured a man, 26, who was hospitalized. Muhammad’s death marks this year’s 15th homicide in the city.

Also, Cornell Kennedy Jr., 18, was shot to death early Friday evening in the 100 block of Seneca Street on the North Side before police found his body shortly after 7 p.m. on the road with a large crowd nearby.

Simon, who also acted as master of ceremonies, noted that the Stop the Violence campaign is partnering with the Community Initiative to Reduce Violence effort, the Youngstown Police Department, Mayor Jamael Tito Brown and church pastors throughout the city. Merely arresting those who commit acts of violence isn’t enough; a spiritual component, along with mentoring and mediation efforts, also is needed, Simon explained.

Several clergy members took turns reading aloud prayers for family members affected by, and perpetrators of, gun and other forms of violence. They also prayed against retaliatory violence and for safety-force members, churches and greater community intervention, as well as mentoring and mediation efforts, and peace in the city.

The Rev. Lewis W. Macklin II, pastor of Holy Trinity Missionary Baptist Church in Youngstown, read aloud from and personalized the passage in 2 Chronicles 7:14, which states that those who turn to God and stop sinning will receive forgiveness, and that he will again make their land fertile.

“Youngstown is positioned for healing of the land,” Macklin said.

This “unacceptable” uptick in violence is threatening to undermine progress the city is making and is corrosive to Youngstown’s fabric and what many people have come to love about the city, police Chief Carl Davis said.

“If we allow it, it can pull us apart when we need to come together,” he added.

It’s also imperative to not allow violent acts to define the city’s character and residents, said Brown, who added that he’s heard all too often the distinct and familiar cry from those who inherently know they have lost loved ones via violent acts.

“It’s a painful sight to see a young life snuffed out and so much potential gone,” the mayor said.

Simon told the crowd that Wednesday’s prayer vigil, which he called “a movement,” is the foundation upon which ongoing and sustained efforts throughout the summer to curb gun and other forms of violence will be built. People must be willing to make sacrifices to tackle the festering problem, though he expressed optimism that the desired results from such actions, combined with spiritual guidance, will prevail.

“We have to take the streets back,” he added.

The gathering ended with attendees singing “We Shall Overcome,” which was the mantra of the modern civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s.

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