‘Epidemic’ of youth gun crime grows in Columbia as safety gets spotlight in council election
Gun violence among teens and people in their early 20s has risen to the level of an epidemic across Columbia, local law enforcement leaders have been saying. In September, three teenagers between the ages of 16-17, all students at north Columbia’s Eau Claire High School, died in a shooting with other teens. The violence mirrors a similar tragedy that occurred last year, in which two seniors at Eau Claire died in back-to-back violent incidents.
Police report that the majority of shooting victims in Columbia are people 15-24 years old.
At the same time, the Columbia Police Department, like other public safety agencies nationwide, has struggled with staffing.
As an election approaches in the shadow of ongoing violence against and among young people in the community, candidates for Columbia City Council say something has got to give. Here is what the three candidates running for the at-large council seat up for election say they would do to address crime, specifically gun violence, if elected.
Gun crime
“I see it through a lens of having experience being in corrections and seeing that, and now working on the other side of the fence and seeing the full cycle of how people end up behind bars,” said Christa Williams, who owns Uncle Willie’s Grocery Store on North Main Street and who previously worked for the S.C. Department of Corrections.
To Williams, the largest driving factor affecting teens and young adults who turn to gun violence is a lack of family structure.
“It took a village to raise me,” she said, adding that city leaders, including those on City Council, need to show leadership by publicly advocating for the family structure and for two-parent households.
Williams said job programs and education are also part of what is needed, but she stressed that nothing can replace strong leadership at home, adding “we need fathers in the home.”
Local attorney Tyler Bailey and businessman Jesse Bullard, who are also running for the at-large seat, agreed with the stance that the city needs to find more ways to support youth and keep them occupied and out of trouble.
“And the final piece of that puzzle, I think, is keeping (people) locked up once they get arrested,” Bullard said.
Local and state leaders have long criticized lax bond procedures that often allow someone arrested for a violent crime to be released on bond the same day. Many call this a “catch and release” program.
“While City Council does not have a vote when it comes to bond reform and how judges and prosecutors handle those cases, we do have a voice, and I think that having a loud voice on City Council to make sure that we’re applying pressure in the right areas to to keep these folks locked up and to stop the revolving door is going to be really important” Bullard said.
Bailey wants the city to focus its resources differently.
He agreed that for years there has been discussion about needing bond reform, “but we need to look at how we’re going to reach these kids, because these kids aren’t reading bond statutes” before reaching for firearms, Bailey said.
Bailey pointed to a program in Columbia that existed in the late ‘90s and early 2000s through an Eisenhower Foundation Grant called Koban, Inc. Named for a Japanese style of community policing, the program created a “safe-haven” at the Gonzales Gardens public housing complex in the mid-’90s that offered mentoring, after-school tutoring and other activities to keep youth 7-17 years old occupied and out of trouble.
“I like the idea of what we’re doing. We are changing our emphasis by saying what can we do outside of just policing,” Bailey said in reference to the city’s newly created crime prevention office, which is intended to be a touchpoint connecting community groups, faith leaders and more while working to steer young people away from gun violence. “But I think we want to make some direct investment and really get more innovative with how we engage young people.”
Williams, Bullard and Bailey all stressed the need to support law enforcement and ensure the Columbia Police Department is well-staffed and given adequate city resources, which has been a challenge for law enforcement agencies nationwide, including in Columbia.
Bailey also said the city should still consider putting laws in place regarding ghost guns and illegal firearms, regardless of a state court ruling that deemed previous city ordinances related to gun control illegal. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson sued the city over the ordinances — and won — arguing that state laws on guns take precedence over municipal laws.
Bailey said the city should continue pushing for something enforceable.
Other public safety concerns
Williams can connect much of her platform to the myriad vacant lots and abandoned buildings dotting Columbia and says the problem creates a public safety issue as much as it just makes neighborhoods appear run-down and uncared for.
“And once you stigmatize areas in that way, you are going to have an increase in crime, you are going to have an increase in a lot of things that statistics-wise say this is not good for the community,” Williams said.
Bailey agreed that the vacant lots and general blight in parts of the city contribute to crime issues.
Williams also stressed the need for more communication between Columbia’s law enforcement and the numerous universities in the city and said the universities need to have more structured accountability for students who don’t follow the rules.
Bullard pointed to pedestrian safety as another public safety concern that he hopes the city will focus more on in the future.
He referenced areas such as Five Points and Devine Street that have grown dramatically in recent years and need pedestrian improvements. (Five Points is set to get some of those improvements starting in early 2024 at the latest.)
About the candidates
Christa Williams owns Uncle Willie’s Grocery Store on North Main Street and previously worked with the S.C. Department of Corrections and is a current member of the Army National Guard.
She ran for City Council District 1 in 2021 but lost that race to Tina Herbert. She opened her grocery store in an area without any after that election because she said so many people told her that was what was needed in the community.
Williams said she’s running because she is sick of seeing politicians promising the world to get elected and then not delivering.
“People want someone that is going to be honest about getting results in their community,” she said. “I want to be that personal council member, regardless of whether everybody else is agreeing on something. If the community is saying that we want a particular thing, that’s the direction that I want to go in.”
Tyler Bailey is an attorney in Columbia practicing at his own firm and specializing in civil rights and personal injury law, among other areas. Bailey said he is running because he is from Columbia and has seen some communities be left out of the city’s growth.
Bailey ran for City Council at-large in 2021 but lost in a run-off election against Aditi Bussells.
City Council doesn’t necessarily face the same gridlock as Congress or even the State House, Bailey said, so there’s room to really get things done and impact communities.
“I’m a product of the community and I could bring people together to see how we need to address it,” Bailey said, adding that he thinks council needs “an advocate for people, for communities, who is not beholden to anybody or pursuing a narrow interest.”
Jesse Bullard has lived in Columbia for 20 years. He said he decided to run for City Council because he felt like the city was complacent.
“I didn’t feel like the city was progressing at the same rate that some of our neighboring major market areas in the state were progressing,” Bullard said.
A longtime entrepreneur, he started with Southern Way Catering after graduating from USC and has grown that business from roughly a dozen full-time employees when he started to now more than 300.
I’ve spent my whole career in the service business, hospitality, and taking care of others is really all I know,” Bullard said. “I think that an effective city government is run like a service business with the taxpayers being our customers.”
Elections for Columbia City Council will be Tuesday, Nov. 7. In addition to the at-large seat, elected by a citywide vote, there are two district seats on the ballot: Incumbent Councilman Ed McDowell is running unopposed in District 2, and incumbent Councilman Will Brennan faces former council member Moe Baddourah in District 3.
This story was originally published October 18, 2023 at 9:12 AM.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct the number of employees who worked at Southern Way Catering when it opened.
