Uniontown residents on edge after recent string of violent crimes
Pastor Adam Lawson tells Channel 11 News the community has been frustrated over recent violence across Uniontown.
“It’s hard to sum up in one word,” Lawson said. “I think one of the words I used last night was deterioration. And it’s rapid.”
Lawson is the pastor of Fresh Fire Church. He said when heard about the fatal shooting of 38-year-old Anthony Jones just blocks away from his church earlier this month, he was stunned.
Police say 14-year-old Antonyo Owens is the boy who pulled the trigger.
“When a 14-year-old picks up a gun and thinks that’s the solution and doesn’t realize the repercussion of that, there’s something we have to do as a community,” Lawson said.
That shooting forced a plan into action Lawson initially wanted to start last year.
He held a meeting last night at his church, where he said he brought together more than 100 community members, 30 city leaders, and state representatives.
“I really felt like, especially as a church, as a pastor, I’m not responsible just for my congregation, I’m a pastor to this city,” Lawson said. “I’m responsible for what happened. What could I have done differently? What could we do that’s more? That was really the reason, I thought, ‘we need to call all of our leaders in our community and say, ‘together we have to do more, and what is that?’’”
He said through this coalition, churches, organizations, and those who live in the city can pull their resources together and hold leaders accountable for change. They plan to hold meetings regularly.
Lawson told Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek he’s optimistic.
“I’m more hopeful than I was three weeks ago,” Lawson said. “I’m more hopeful even than I was a week ago.”
The next meeting for that coalition will be at his church next week.
If you’re interested in participating, you can head to the church’s website, https://www.freshfirechurch.net/home
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