'We need your help': Police chief calls for action amid wave of Peoria gun violence

Peoria police Chief Eric Echevarria and Peoria Mayor Rita Ali once again called on parents in the Peoria community to "step up" and take accountability for their children as a wave of gun violence wreaked havoc on the city Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

Their calls for parents to take action against the violence come as four juveniles were shot Wednesday night in a mass shooting that injured six, leaving two people critically wounded.

Thursday morning, two more shootings took place, killing two people and injuring another. All of the victims in Thursday morning's shootings were adults.

Echevarria said Wednesday night's shooting on Marquette Street was not related to the two shootings Thursday morning. The Thursday shootings on Antoinette Street and Helen Street were related, however. He would not elaborate how they were related, citing an ongoing investigation.

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"I plead with our parents that you know where your children are and who they are with. I also ask parents to not contribute to the delinquency of your minors by supporting or encouraging bad behavior," Echevarria said. "We are losing too many young lives, and we need your help."

Echevarria said there are a lot of adults in Peoria who know what is going on with the violence and they need to step up and help the police.

"The adults know what is going on," Echevarria said. "There is no secret out here. There are no secrets in Peoria. I haven't been here a long time, but I know Peoria doesn't have any secrets. Any little thing that anybody does in Peoria, everybody knows about it, it's immediately on Facebook, on social media. People know what's going on, people need to speak up. This 'no snitch' mentality has to stop."

Ali said she wanted to assure the city that these incidents were not "widespread" and have been occurring in specific neighborhoods in Peoria and have been among "targeted groups of individuals."

"The violence that has happened in Peoria's south side last night and today should not reflect on the community members that live there," Ali said. "They, too, are tired of living with the violence."

Ali, who grew up in South Peoria, said this violence is personal for her.

"These acts break the hearts of the people who live there, work there and have chose to have their home there," Ali said. "I am asking for the sake of our families and our community, to put down the guns and stop the shooting."

City Councilmember Denise Jackson, whose 1st District encompasses South Peoria, said that "crime is kind of like cancer," in the sense that it will spread around the city unless people address it.

"When you've got one weak link, the entire city tends to be impacted," Jackson said.

Jackson said any young people or parents who need help can find a "plethora" of programs available to them in Peoria.

Peoria's spike in violence is not gang related, police say

Echevarria said the shootings were not gang related, but rather are the result of unorganized groups of people fighting with each other in Peoria.

"The community needs to know that all of these shootings are not gang related, but rather targeted and isolated between groups of individuals having conflict with each other," Echevarria said.

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There is no "hierarchy" among the groups that are combating each other in Peoria right now, Echevarria said.

"There's no rules and protocols and procedures like you would see in a typical gang," Echevarria said. "These are kids or young adults who have these beefs against each other, whether it's something that happened on social media or some old beefs they've had from other times that have been rehashed. ... There is no hierarchy here. This is just disorder from these kids or young adults who don't know how to problem solve other than pulling out a gun and shooting somebody."

Echevarria said there will be a stronger and more visible presence of police officers in South Peoria and the East Bluff neighborhoods where much of the recent violence has been centered. He said the Illinois State Police will assist the Peoria Police Department over Labor Day weekend.

"Police are doing their job, but it's not just their job," Ali said. "This is a job for all of us, and everyone has something within their power to contribute, to make it safer."

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This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Peoria IL surge in gun violence not gang related, police chief says